The proposed EU Nature Restoration Law is “not fit for purpose” in its current format, according to the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA).
The controversial proposal caused major division during a meeting of the environment committee of the European Parliament on Thursday (June 15).
Voting on amendments to the bill was postponed until June 27, after MEPs overran the allotted time for their committee session.
Nature Restoration Law
“The impasse we are now at is a direct consequence of top down dictat and a complete lack of engagement with the very people who are expected to implement this law,” ICSA president Dermot Kelleher, said.
“Moreover, instead of an honest engagement with the concerns of farmers who see their livelihoods under threat from the constant attack by the extreme ends of the environmental lobby, there was a dismissive, arrogant and contemptuous attitude.
“This must be seen against the backdrop of what farmers have had to endure over the past few years,” he said.
The ICSA president said the climate narrative in Ireland “spends the vast majority of the time” suggesting that agriculture is the main cause of global warming which is “not even remotely accurate”.
“46,000 have already entered the agri-environment scheme [ACRES] in the new CAP. But environmental campaigners are reluctant to accept this.”
Kelleher also pointed to farmers in the Netherlands who he said are “being forced out of farming”.
“Farmers want to do the right thing for their families, for food security, for the environment and for the rural communities they live in. But this constant hectoring is not the way forward,” he said.
“Farmers have been particularly concerned about the potential consequences of re-wetting proposals for productive reclaimed land.
“Their concerns are valid and all the more worthy of debate when the emissions from re-claimed peatland are international metrics which may be very inaccurate in the Irish context.
“Current research in Ireland by Teagasc indicates that this contention is likely to be vindicated,” Kelleher added.
“We cannot move forward with threats to close down farms, to make farms unviable or to replace farmers with corporations producing insect protein or lab-grown meat.
In recent days, the recruitment of large corporations like Nestle, Unilever and Coca Cola to speak out in favour of the flawed Nature Restoration Law has further alienated farmers from the EU Commission and the environmental lobby.
“It is time for a re-think so we can move forward with a set of pro-biodiversity policies that farmers can enthusiastically embrace.
“Unfortunately, the EU Commission and the green lobby has pushed too far and the Nature Restoration Law in its current format is not fit for purpose,” the ICSA president said.