Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) president, Pat McCormack believes that the uptake for the proposed Food Dairy Vision Group (FDVG) retirement scheme will be quite low, irrespective of the money that government makes available for it.

Pat McCormack told Agriland: “Pension schemes only work if they encourage generational change. And this is not within the remit of FDVG.

“The proposed pension scheme now on the table will only be of interest to those intensive milk producers who want to throttle back the scale of their businesses.”

McCormack went on to say that government must target new, independent money to the finalise selection of proposals emanating from the FDVG.

“We don’t want to see a redirecting of CAP [Common Agricultural Policy] or other funds, that have already been earmarked for farm-related support measures,” he said.

Nitrogen fertiliser and retirement scheme

Significantly, the ICMSA president is not supporting the 35% reduction in nitrogen (N) fertiliser application rates also under discussion by FDVG members.

The group’s chair, Prof. Gerry Boyle, believes that the implementation of such a measure could make a major contribution to the attainment of climate change targets across agriculture as a whole.

“ICMSA is not up for the dairy sector doing a solo run on behalf of the entire farming industry,” McCormack further explained.

“First off, this is a very complex issue, requiring a buy-in from all the other farming sectors.

“FDVG members have been told that the other agricultural sectors will be meeting soon to agree their own climate change priorities. The sooner this happens, the better.

“The use of protected urea must be brought into this debate. As far as ICMSA is concerned, it should become the industry norm, where the application of nitrogen on grassland is concerned.

“There is also strong evidence to show that the greater use of clovers and multi-species swards can deliver a strong environmental payback for the dairy sector.”

McCormack is adamant that dairy farmers will not agree to a direct 35% reduction in the use of nitrogen fertilisers.

“Yes, nitrogen fertiliser is part of the climate change narrative. But we must walk before we run, where this matter is concerned,” he said.

“To date, the ideas put before FDVG have been very hypothetical in nature. These need to be fleshed out over the coming weeks.

“Dairy farming is up for a sensible deal on climate change. But government has a key responsibility to make significant funding available, in order to fully support the measures that are needed.”