My focus for Offaly farming is results, not rhetoric in Brussels
by Barry Cowen
Every year, the Tullamore Show reminds me of something important. Irish farming isn't simply an industry. It's the backbone of communities right across counties like Offaly. It supports families, businesses and rural towns. Now more than ever, this vital industry deserves politics that delivers.
I have to admit that I increasingly find myself frustrated that, often today, politics rewards the loudest voice rather than the best outcome. The truth is, it’s easy to stand outside the negotiating room and denounce every proposal that comes along. It's much harder to sit at the table, negotiate improvements and secure meaningful change. But, in my view, that's precisely what farmers rightly expect us to do.
Over the past year, we've seen that repeatedly.
When concerns were raised about the Mercosur trade agreement, some chose simply to declare the deal rotten or untouchable. I took a different approach. I opposed the agreement, but I also worked to secure stronger safeguards, tighter monitoring, lower intervention thresholds and faster emergency measures to better protect Irish beef producers if the agreement proceeds.
The same approach guided my work as Renew Europe's lead negotiator on reforms to what is known as the ‘Common Market Organisation’ file. Ireland's successful co-operative dairy model was under threat from one-size-fits-all proposals that simply didn't reflect how our sector operates. Through negotiation, I secured important flexibility and protected our co-operative system.
Without doubt, the biggest challenge now is the next Common Agricultural Policy, where I again have the responsibility of serving as one of Parliament's lead negotiators.
The Commission has proposed reducing the CAP budget by approximately 20%. That's simply not sustainable if Europe is serious about food security, innovation and vibrant rural communities.
My focus has therefore been straightforward: identify practical ways to bridge that funding gap, strengthen support for younger farmers, ensure smaller family farms are recognised and properly funded, and secure additional opportunities through innovation and voluntary environmental schemes.
Politics shouldn’t be and can’t be about opposing everything. Nor is it about accepting everything. I genuinely believe that our farming community understands that good politics is about knowing when to challenge, when to compromise and when to deliver.
That's the approach I'll continue taking on behalf of Offaly farmers, rural communities and all of those who give me the privilege to represent the Midlands North-West in the European Parliament.
Because at the end of the day, farming families don't measure success by press releases or political slogans. They measure it by results. And so do I.
Barry Cowen is a Midlands North-West MEP