The Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS) has met with Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue to urge him to renegotiate Ireland’s nitrates derogation with the European Commission.

Last year, the commission agreed to extend Ireland’s nitrates derogation under a new, albeit far more strict, Nitrates Action Programme (NAP).

Under this new NAP, the derogation continues to allow farmers to produce 250kg of organic nitrogen (N) per hectare (above the standard limit of 170kgN/ha), but with the possibility that this could be reduced to 220kgN/ha from next year.

Whether or not a farmer will see a reduction in their derogation will depend on the water quality of the area of the country they are in.

Regions that do not see improvements on water pollution (based on a currently ongoing review of water quality) will have the reduction in derogation applied.

However, there are concerns that the reduction could apply to the country as a whole, based on national water quality trends.

This, according to ICOS, is causing “considerable strain, worry and anxiety at dairy farm level”.

This was expressed to Minister McConalogue at a recent meeting involving ICOS Dairy Committee chairperson Niall Matthews, ICOS vice-president Edward Carr, and outgoing ICOS president James O’Donnell.

ICOS said that its delegation told that minister that the derogation is important to the future of the dairy sector here, which contributed to annual exports worth, in value terms, in excess of €6.8 billion in 2022.

The co-op representative body said it “conveyed strongly to the minister the damaging uncertainty created by the review clause which includes the possible reduction in the maximum stocking rate, depending on trends in water quality”.

“This is causing considerable strain, worry and anxiety at dairy farm level”.

O’Donnell called on the minister to “directly intervene and step-up engagement with the European Commission with the clear objective of maintaining the maximum stocking rate of 250kgN/ha”.

“In doing so, the government must communicate clearly to the commission the serious socio-economic implications of the review decision to reduce the stocking rate and the strong commitment and actions the dairy sector is taking to improve water quality,” the ICOS president added.

The ICOS vice-president, Carr commented: “The pace of change is significant in relation to sustainability, and co-ops, along with our farmer members, are travelling on a journey together and making real progress.

“As a dairy industry collectively, we are heavily resourcing farm sustainability.”

According to Carr, the number of co-op advisors under the Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme (ASSAP) has more than doubled recently, from 10 to 23.

ICOS Dairy Committee chairperson Niall Matthews said: “It’s vital that the range of new measures recently introduced on derogation farms are given the time and opportunity to be implemented and their impact on water quality assessed. This is only fair and reasonable.

Matthews also drew attention to nitrates banding, a new feature of the NAP.

This, he said, “has increased pressure on the land market to unsustainable levels, with consequences not only for the dairy sector, but also for other livestock and tillage farmers”.

“Any new proposals that are brought forward must avoid overheating the land market any further,” Matthews added.