Welcome to Talamh Beo

info@talamhbeo.ie

A CAP Fit For Purpose

A Rights Based CAP, Fit for Purpose

Our Focus Points

Delivers Fair Incomes for Farmers
Delivers Rural Regeneration
Delivers for Nature and the Environment
Delivers for Citizens Locally & Globally
Delivers for Women
Delivers Food Sovereignty

Our full submission created after consultation with our members is available to read or download below, but we would like to summarise some of our main points.

If you are a member and would like to join this group about climate change & biodiversity, click here and leave us your details.

Agroecological farming needs a voice in the discussions. Agroecological farming, where people and the environment are put first, is not represented at stakeholder tables. Talamh Beo leads agroecological farming (regenerative / permaculture / holistic/ biological / organic) on the ground and should champion it at agricultural stakeholder forums as a social partner.

Talamh Beo supports a transition to Agroecological farming systems. 
We want to see the CAP move away from a focus on industry, agribusiness, growth and global markets towards a focus livelihoods for family farms, builds resilient and thriving communities and ecosystems and supports food sovereignty, care and well-being.

If we want to increase organic farms to 7.5% (which is pitifully low), we need to open up the scheme and give it better supports.
As it stands, the numbers of organic farmers are decreasing. There is an island of people who can be fed chemical free, nutrient-dense food grown locally in healthy communities. We need a good local food policy with recognition for the local producer and supports to enable livelihoods off of family farms.
Eco-schemes in Pillar 1 should first be about regenerating ecosystems to thriving using a results-based approach. Once the ecosystems are healthy, then we can look to using them (orrather, working with them) to deliver other services like carbon sequestration and biofuels, etc.CAP money is public money. We’d like to see it spent regenerating our land, environment and rural communities, rather than spending it propping up a livestock and dairy export industry.
Less is more.
We want to see a rights-based CAP Strategic Plan built on human rights, the rights of family farmers and people who live and work in rural areas (UNDROP), the Sustainable Development Goals and the obligations accorded to nature in the form of water, habitat, bird and other directives.

Talamh Beo wants all landworkers to have equal access to BISS payments – 100% convergence from the start of the new CAP in 2023! We want equal payment for delivery of the same responsibilities, regulations and targets (climate, water, biodiversity, pollution etc). All people who work on and produce off their land should be able to access BISS payments

Irish citizens want to live in a thriving environment and have access to high quality food produced by farmers earning a fair wage whilst regenerating ecosystems and soils. This local food should be affordable to all people, including the most vulnerable and marginalised communities in our society. If we can give out milk at schools, we can give families vouchers for chemical free, nutrient-dense locally grown produce.

Women were identified with young farmers as a vulnerable category and in need of assistance to get started. But only young farmers (male and female) were given the average entitlements value. Many women are still on 60% of the average. This must be rectified – women farmers should receive average entitlement value payments. Women farmers must have equal access to CAP resources.
 
We also acknowledge single parents, widows and widowers, spinsters and bachelors and people with disabilities farming and living on their own to be in the same vulnerable category.
 
Vulnerable women (single women,single parents, widows, spinsters, disabilities) are unable to access credit and thus not able to participate in TAMS and other schemes where you have to pay first and claim back later. Anyone who cannot access credit, should be able to access microcredit.
 
Women farmers must have equal access to land and be able to use their land without disturbance.
We want to see gender mainstreaming across the agricultural board.
It’s time to actively open the taps to let in the contribution that women have to make. From the Oireachtas Joint Committee for Agriculture, to the Department, its agencies Teagasc and Bord Bia, farm representation bodies and agricultural colleges – gender mainstreaming is needed. There’s more acceptance on the ground for a hardworking woman farmer than there is from the government, the Department and its agencies.
Many women and men living and farming on their own are not able to engage and participate in determining their future and livelihoods, as they are occupied parenting / caring. Social inclusion schemes must be put in place to allow all the opportunity to engage and contribute to regenerating our agricultural sector.

Housing is as much a problem on farms as it is everywhere else. Many families living on land do so in inadequate housing or with inadequate sanitation and services. We need new thinking and solutions to ensure all people have safe, secure, warm and dry homes.

You can view or download our full, comprehensive 2021 CAP submission below or read our explainers. 

Our CAP Submission
Vol. 4 Common Agricultural Policy - Beginners
Vol. 4 Common Agricultural Policy - Advanced

Want to join our movement? Become a member!

Membership Options

You can show your support for Talamh Beo in many ways. We appreciate social media followers, likes & shares, website visits, newsletter signups and donations. Our reach and proven following is important to lend weight to our voice in discussions regarding Ireland’s agriculture and food policies. If you want to add your voice to our discussions and policy making, or support us in a more practical way which will allow us to continue our work, we would ask that you consider becoming a member of Talamh Beo and making a small financial contribution to our efforts. 

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