A New Deal for farming communities

Big business dominates the agricultural sector. In meat processing, for example, three companies – ABP, Dawn Meats and Kepak – dominate the industry. This means ordinary farmers get roughly 15 to 20 percent less than their counterparts in Britain. People Before Profit want to rebalance the sector in favour of small and medium-sized ventures. To do this we would:

• Take the big agri-producers into public ownership.

• Promote cooperative models of farm ownership.

• Reform Common Agricultural Policy payments to make payments more equal. Seek to put a ceiling on direct payments at €30,000 annually.

• Incentivise the development of organic farming for local consumption and direct farmer markets.

• Incentivise an increase in tillage farming from 10 percent to 40 percent.

• Examine the viability of creating a domestic hemp industry. This would reduce our carbon footprint and tackle the corporate power of companies like Cement Roadstone.

• Prioritise organic fertilisers; turn slurry into biofuel.

• Ban industrial-mechanical algae production in favour of more environmentally-friendly methods.

• Support farmers affected by Brexit.

• Fully oppose Mercosur and other forms of neoliberal free-trade agreements.