The president of Macra, Josephine O'Neill has said that any "dilution" of a stand-alone dedicated Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) fund is not in farming's strategic interest.

According to Macra, the EU Commission has promised to "make agriculture a strategic sector" of the European Union.

Macra claims that the commission has "talked the talk" when it comes to the Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF) and CAP proposals.

However, Macra has questioned whether or not the EU Commission has "walked the walk" on those proposals.

Macra believes that serious questions remain for young farmers, and the future of farming and rural areas, ahead of the commission's announcement of the budget.

Macra president, Josephine O'Neill said: "As Ireland and Europe battle with a generational renewal crisis in farming, the EU Commission's proposals on the MFF and CAP need the budgetary ambition to allow agriculture to achieve its potential and be that strategic sector as outlined in the EU Commission's vision.

"While the commission appear to have included generational renewal as a key objective of the CAP proposals, for it to be meaningful, the ringfencing of funding to young farmers is critical and anything less would be a serious omission from commission proposals,” she added.

The Macra president believes that "through greater ambition", the MFF and the CAP provide an opportunity to address generational renewal.

"The EU Commission now needs to walk the walk, as the future of young farmers is in the hands of the EU Commission and its proposals," O'Neill said.

Separately today, Renew Europe, a grouping of political parties from across Europe, which includes Fianna Fáil and Independent Ireland, has described a proposal to streamline funding for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) as a “dangerous step”.

President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, whose CDU party is part of the European People’s Party (EPP) grouping in the EU, will today reveal the MFF for the bloc.