Talks aimed at radically changing the European Union's Common Agricultural (CAP) policy have broken up this evening withouit agreemetnt. More meetings have been sheduled for next week.
The EU Agriculture Commissioner Mr Franz Fischler had been hoping for agreement ahead of the summit of EU leaders taking place this weekend in Greece.
While significant progress was reported, France and Ireland were among the country's concerned about the proposals, particularly in the dairy sector.
Irish farming groups rejected the latest compromise document at the talks in Luxembourg today where EU agriculture ministers tried to agree reform the 40-year-old CAP, the single most expensive element of the bloc's annual budget.
Mr Fischler wants to break the link between subsidy and production, blamed in the past for the EU's wine lakes and beef and butter mountains. This idea is known as decoupling.
Macra na Feirme president Mr Thomas Honner urged the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, to reject the proposals presented to the Council of Ministers this afternoon.
Mr Honner said the negotiations had taken "a step backwards" on the cereal side with the re-introduction of a price-cut of 2.5 per cent in the intervention price for wheat.
ICMSA president, Mr Pat O'Rourke said the minister had no alternative but to object to the latest proposals.
While lower cuts have been proposed in milk supports, the Commission has also reduced the level of compensation offered, which would reduce farm incomes by up to 40 per cent, he said.
"This tactic is no basis for a deal," Mr O'Rourke added.
He said the minister must establish the necessary legal framework to allow him the flexibility to introduce a scheme in Ireland to cover the farmers' losses.
Fine Gael's agriculture spokesman, Mr Billy Timmins also said the Minister for Agriculture must not accept the document presented this afternoon because it contained only minor changes. If necessary the matter would have to be dealt with by the heads of state, he said.