Farmers seek time for regs to work before nitrates review

Irish farmers who visited Holland were left shocked when they witnessed the extent of nutrient enrichment in rivers adjacent to farmland in that country.

The rivers affected had a thick layer of green growth on the surface due to contamination of the waterways.

“We discovered that there the contamination amounted to 50 parts per million, while in this country, the readings are only two or three parts per million,” Westmeath IFA’s dairy chair, Enda Bourke of Coralstown recalled, during a special on-farm meeting on his land between local Oireachtas members and the IFA and Teagasc on Monday of last week.

In attendance at the presentation were Deputy Sorca Clarke (Sinn Féin); Deputy Robert Troy and Senators Paul Daly and Aidan Davitt (Fianna Fáil) and Senator Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael). Minister Peter Burke was unable to attend due to ministerial commitments.

The Dutch story was one of a number of the points raised by the farmers and the advisors as they argued that there are good grounds for treating Irish agriculture differently to the farm sector in other countries when it comes to regulation of nitrates. The message to the Oireachtas members was that farmers understand the need for environmental protection measures, and that the number of farmers unwilling to stick to the rules is minuscule – although all agreed with a retort from Senator Paul Daly, FF spokesperson on agriculture, who stated that even if it is just one farmer who breaks the rules, that farmer’s actions will affect public perceptions of all.

The Oireachtas members heard also why farmers say the review of the nitrates derogation – instigated by the European Commission and expected to take place in late autumn – is happening too soon.

“We need the time for the regulations to work: we need time for the trends to emerge,” Stephen Arthur, the Wicklow IFA dairy chair stated, pointing out that the newest regulations had kicked in just last year.

“We are doing all the things we are being told to do,” he added, before going on to state that effecting a change so soon after the current regulations came in would be akin to trying to do a handbrake turn with the Titanic.

The IFA’s position is that Ireland’s grass-based dairy system is different to most other indoor production systems across Europe and that represents a strong justification for Ireland having a Nitrates Derogation.

In 2022 the Commission granted Ireland a derogation until the end of 2025 exempting the country from the anti-nitrates rules that applies in other countries in Europe. The only other country with a derogation is Denmark.

As part of the Irish derogation, the commission attached a condition that the maximum stocking rate would be reduced to 220kg N/ha in areas where water quality has not shown improvement.

However, the water quality data that is to be compared is from 2022 and 2021 – which farmers are arguing is a flawed metric since it won’t factor in the effect on water quality of the measures that came into place in 2022 and 2023.

The farmers’ viewpoint is that the prospect of reducing the maximum stocking rate to 220kgN/ha is already having knock-on and could potentially remove €236 million from the rural economy.

If the stocking rate reduces, it will certainly affect food supplies and food prices, Enda warns, adding that even at this stage the cost of renting land has sky-rocketed as farmers hunt to increase the size of their holdings in order not to have to cut stock numbers.

Senator Daly strongly assured the farmers that the government’s views are completely aligned with theirs. He also explained how difficult it is to have 26 other countries continue to support the derogation for Ireland, which they see as giving Irish agriculture an unfair advantage.

“We’re all on the one side, but if we don’t compromise and be seen to be doing something, then it’s hard to keep 26 countries on side. So we had to commit to the midterm review, and if we didn’t make that commitment, we were in trouble getting the derogation,” he said, before adding that the minister for agriculture is attempting to get the review date pushed out.