The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has said that it would oppose any proposal to introduce an environmental licence requirement for dairy farms.
IFA Dairy Committee chairperson Tom Phelan said that the Department of Agriculture did not make any proposal to the IFA regarding an EPA licence.
He said that such a move would be over the top and disproportionate. “It would be tantamount to using a sledge hammer to break a nut,” Phelan said.
“Dairy farmers are already heavily regulated with cross compliance and the nitrates derogation.
“Farmers are also participating in voluntary programmes such as ASSAP [Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advice Programme] and the Agricultural Catchments Programme to improve water quality in selected catchments,” he added.
Irish dairy farmers have invested over €79.6 million on Low Emission Slurry Spreading [LESS] equipment which will yield positive results for water quality.
“Similarly, sales of protected urea have increased significantly this year. From January to June, just under 40,000t were sold, compared to 21,000 in 2019.”
The dairy chairperson further said that derogation farmers also abide by strict requirements to protect water, which have been enhanced in the past year following a voluntary mid-term review.
Phelan added: “The inevitable lag time between implementation of improved management practices and water quality response mean that water quality improvements may not show definitive results within the monitoring programme period; particularly as lag times are highly site and pollutant specific and can range from months to years to decades.
The changes in agricultural practices and the new measures to be introduced as of the January 1 next must be given the time to work.
“It is the responsibility of the EPA to adjust expectations due to these lag times and recognise the time it will take for these improvements to be shown in water quality.
“Dairy farmers were constrained by quotas for over 30 years. It’s only natural that there would be a period of expansion following their removal in 2015. Farmers must be given the chance to adapt their practices,” Phelan concluded.