Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue has said that family farms should not be regulated like industrial installations under the EU’s Industrial Emissions Directive (IED).
Planned revisions to the IED came up for discussion today (Monday, January 30) at an agriculture ministers meeting of the Council of the EU.
These revisions, if implemented, would potentially see environmental permits put in place for farms above a 150 livestock units (LU) threshold.
A livestock unit it based on a coefficient and does not necessarily refer to one animal. For example, 1LU would equate to one dairy cow or one male bovine over two years, while 0.8LU would refer to a heifer or non-dairy cow over two years.
Speaking at today’s meeting, Minister McConalogue said: “The setting of thresholds is a critically important point. In my view we should not be regulating family farms, which are typically of modest scale and pasture-based, in the same manner as we do industrial scale enterprises.
“All other considerations should flow from this principal,” he added.
The minister called for a balance to be struck between delivery of environmental and health improvements by reducing ammonia and methane emissions, and the imposition of administrative and cost burdens on farms.
“We must also take account of the specificities of pasture-based systems, with animals outdoors for much of the year, which have lower emissions and also provide important biodiversity benefits, when finalising our revision of the directive.
The minister called for further clarity on a number of issues, including the approach that will be taken in finalising the LU thresholds.
Also speaking at the meeting, European Commissioner for the Environment Virginijus Sinkevicius moved to reassure ministers the proposed revisions to the IED are balanced, and aim to cover “only the largest livestock rearing farms responsible for 43% of methane and for 60% of ammonia emitted by the EU livestock sector”.
“Those represent less than one-fifth of EU livestock farms. The proposal therefore already concentrates efforts on the largest farms, which are those that can achieve most at lowest cost,” the commissioner said.
He also noted that the proposed threshold of 150LU is expected to mainly cover intensive farms.
Commissioner Sinkevicius told the meeting that the revisions allow for a registration system for enforcing the IED as opposed to a permitting system, and that the reporting regulation would simplify reporting on emissions.
According to the commissioner, the impact of the assessment of the revisions concluded that the average cost of a new IED regime per impacted farm would be €2,400, which he described as “very moderate”.
He also said the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) could be used to direct these largest farms towards implementing emissions reduction measures in advance of them being stipulated by the IED.
“So it is hoped that the future CAP will retain or extend such funding provisions and farmers will also have a long time to adapt, as requirements will only become applicable in the course of 2029,” Commissioner Sinkevicius added.