FARMERS have been told the era of the "cheque in the post" has peaked. In future they must increase productivity to maintain their incomes, the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Yates, warned.
Unless there were major gains in productivity at farm level, incomes would, at best, stagnate, he said. Farmers must now look inside their own gates to maintain the level of increase in incomes which had taken place during the past four years.
"At the very best we are dealing with a status quo situation after that decline," the Minister said at yesterday's launch of the Teagasc advisory and training programme.
Farm incomes, he said, had risen 40 per cent during the past four years. When reduced payments were taken into account, net farm incomes were now 50 per cent higher than in 1991.
But these income rises were due almost exclusively to a massive increase direct income supports through headage and premium payments and to price buoyancy, particularly in milk.
"Direct payments amounted to £750 million in 1995, or more than 35 per cent of total farm in come. When export refunds on live cattle, beef and dairy product bare added in, subsidies now contribute more than 50 per cent of current farm income," he said.
Mr Yates said that while reductions might not take place while he was still Minister and the Government was fully committed to maintaining the current level of European support for Irish agriculture, he would be remiss if he did not point out the difficulties ahead.
The downward pressures would come, he said, through EU budgetary problems, GATT restrictions and EU enlargement. He advised farmers to concentrate their efforts at home rather than look to Brussels.
They should look to Teagasc which, he said, has the information and research available to increase farm incomes by at least £200 million through improved productivity on dairy, beef and sheep farms.
Dr Liam Downey, director of Teagasc, the agriculture and food development board, said that central to this year's programme would be better to use of grass. This could boost a farmer's income by £2,000 per annum.
Mr John Donnelly, president of the Irish Farmers Association, reacted angrily to Mr Yates' statement.
EU payments would remain vital in the future to underpin rural communities, he said. "It is not the job of the Irish Minister for Agriculture to be apologetic to our European partners for that."