WEXFORD, Ireland - Looking out over a herd of young bulls grazing on some of Ireland's lushest meadows, farmer Des Greene ponders an uncertain future as the European Union prepares another set of farm policy reforms.
Across the EU, farmers are concerned about the reform process, which has already reduced the aid traditionally paid to bolster crop prices. In a new package of changes to be unveiled this week, that trend will continue. Farmers have relied on the EU for steady incomes under the Common Agricultural Policy - costing some 40 billion euros ($39 billion) a year - but in future will have meet tougher environmental and animal welfare standards to receive payouts from Brussels.
Many are now looking at alternative ways of making a living from the countryside.
Greene's cattle farm nestles in 46 hectares (110 acres) of Ireland's best farming land, but his investments and long term plans may be thrown into doubt by the reforms.
"Planning for the future is very difficult in the light of ongoing reforms in EU farm policy. If the support mechanisms in place now are removed, it is hard to know if further investments in livestock will reap their worth in the long term," he said.
EU Farm Commissioner Franz Fischler was due to unveil his plans on July 10 and has said he would use the mid-term review to increase spending on rural development, taking more money from traditional crop subsidies and aid payments.
SINGLE PAYMENT PLANNED
The most controversial part of Fischler's new proposals is a plan to replace product-related subsidies with one single payment per farmer based on previous payments. This will also be dependent on strict animal welfare and environmental standards.
Drafts of the proposals show that farmers receiving more than 300,000 euros ($297,000) a year from EU coffers would have their aid capped and all direct payments would be trimmed by three percent a year to fund higher rural development spending.
The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) said its members were concerned the new system would drain off money to help restructure the rural economies of east European countries expected to join the EU soon.
And the proposals come at a politically sensitive time, ahead of a second Irish referendum on the Nice treaty which contains a set of reforms considered essential for EU enlargement. The referendum is likely to be held in October.
"Farmers over here are very disillusioned but I think that we should vote 'yes' for the Nice treaty because we cannot begrudge poor farmers coming in from the east in the interest of peace above all," Greene said.
The IFA also said it supported a yes vote to the Nice treaty, but said it was unfair that such a major reform should follow so quickly the changes agreed in 1999.
"Farmers need certainty, you cannot keep changing the whole support system every three years. Farmers have to be able to plan with a bit of security," an IFA official told Reuters.
FARMERS WORRIED
The idea of a gradual withdrawal of subsidies concerns Greene's wife Bridget, who manages the accounts and grapples with the endless bureaucracy involved in applying for EU funds.
As a part-time nurse and mother of four, her salary adds an important 20 percent to the family income.
"Cattle sales make up roughly 33 percent of our total income but about 23 percent of our income comes from EU farm aid...," she said.
"Without EU...payments and without our own off-farm incomes we would have to live on cattle sales alone and it would be a struggle", she said.
European Commission officials say the new reforms will not let farmers down. And, if agreed by EU governments, they will drastically simplify current procedures. There will be one flat rate payment based on the amount of those subsidies each farmer received in the last three years.
They will receive the aid regardless of whether they continue production at the same level or switch to producing something else.
"In the past, the direct payment system did not distinguish between quality and quantity, so if a farmer over-produced the EU would just buy it into storage anyway," one EU official said.
"With one flat rate payment - which they will get whether they produce or not - farmers won't be tempted to base farm decisions on what they can earn from various EU aids and will focus on what works best for them," he added.
Farmers interested in producing high quality food in environmentally friendly ways would be given funds to invest in their activities - a form of public compensation, he said.
OTHER IDEAS
Despite all the uncertainty, Greene does not live off handouts from Brussels alone and in the last 10 years has branched out. Swapping his tractor for a four-wheel drive, he travels all over the county de-horning calves and tending to hooves.
"I have something I can develop into something bigger if it looks like farming really has no future," he said.
The Greenes are already drawing up plans to renovate a period outbuilding as holiday apartments for city families.
"Eventually I will build tennis courts and a mini-golf course. And the beach is only 14 kilometres away," Greene said.
But he fears their efforts may prove futile if neighbouring farmers also diversify into tourism.
"We just do not have the population or the weather...If all the farmers around have similar plans then it'll be hard to make it pay" he said.
Greene has also developed his carpentry skills with the aim of turning out furniture and toys.
Watching as two of his children, arms waving, herd calves down the lane, Greene reflects on whether traditional family farming is fast becoming an anachronism.
"I just hope that if I specialise in quality farming I can at least stay in the game because it is a way of life and I enjoy it," he said.:
