Call it serendipity, but it seems curiously apt that it fell to the Irish presidency of the EU Council to broker agreement on the new Common Agricultural Policy, almost two years after negotiations began. Ireland may have successfully re-defined itself as a modern, innovative economy built on a strong flow of foreign inward investment, but agriculture still matters passionately to Ireland and its economy. This week, the sprawling Cap reform package finally emerged from the laborious EU system and received the sign-off from all three EU institutions. The new Cap proposal represents the biggest change to EU agriculture policy in a decade. A revision to the way the single farm payment is...
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