Dairy Industry Ireland (DII) has called for a clear and concrete nitrates action plan from the European Commission for the Irish dairy sector.
In the absence of such a plan, DII director Conor Mulvihill told Agriland that the industry is being “set up for failure” when it comes to maintaining the nitrates derogation.
He said that this plan would need to be agreed shortly by the EU, the State, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), industry and farm organisations.
European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevicius confirmed last week has that Ireland’s derogation reduction will go ahead as planned.
The derogation allows farmers to farm at organic nitrogen (N) stocking rates up to 250kgN/ha.
Due to water quality concerns, the EU Commission has said that the derogation will be reduced to 220kgN/ha in most of the country from January.
The organic N stocking rate limit without a derogation is 170kgN/ha.
Nitrates
The DII director said that a roadmap is needed from the commission on what the dairy sector must achieve between now and 2025.
If these targets are met by farmers, Mulvihill said that Ireland should be guaranteed to maintain the 220kgN/ha derogation.
He said that the derogation is “fundamental” to Irish dairy, he fears that a drop to 170kgN/ha “would destroy Ireland’s grass-based model”.
Mulvihill said that losing the derogation could drive Irish farmers to adopt “enclosed systems”, as seen in other countries, or use their “economic firepower” to buy more land.
The DII director said that the dairy sector recognises that it has “work to do on water quality”.
However, he stressed that efforts are already underway through several initiatives, including the Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme (ASSAP).
He said that “everything is blamed on dairy”, despite other pressures on water quality from sewage treatment plants, septic tanks and other farm sectors.
Mulvihill added that a national water plan needs to be agreed for the Irish dairy sector.
DII
DII represents primary and secondary dairy manufacturers, including the specialised nutrition sector in Ireland.
The group is now planning to commission EY to carry out an economic impact assessment of how the lower nitrates derogation rates will impact the Irish dairy sector.
Conor Mulvihill said it is “disappointing” that such a study has not been undertaken by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
He noted that there are three aspects to sustainability: environmental, economic and social.
The dairy sector is one of the largest indigenous contributors to the Irish economy delivered €17.6 billion in 2022.
It is anticipated that DII could sign off on the feasibility study at its next board meeting in December.
A previous report carried out by EY on behalf of DII earlier this year noted that “the era of rapid dairy growth is at an end” with a +0.6% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) to 2030.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue told the National Dairy Conference yesterday (Wednesday, November 29) that the government is “committed” to maintaining the nitrates derogation past 2025,.
He also highlighted that in order to secure a nitrates derogation, the Irish dairy sector needs stable water quality, and that this must be a major focus for the sector in the future.
The minister said that many new measures to improve water quality have already been adopted by farmers and work is continuing in this area.