A reduction in the current nitrates derogation is not just a problem for dairy farmers because it will “fundamentally affect everybody”, the Kilkenny chair of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has warned.
Speaking to Agriland today (Saturday, July 22) Jim Mulhall said that if farms have to drop the application rate of organic manure nitrogen (N) from 250kg N/ha to 220kg N/ha from 2024 it will have a widespread impact on rural communities.
The Kilkenny IFA chair also voiced these concerns at the organisation’s ‘Farmers’ Futures Matter’ rally at Kilkenny Mart yesterday evening which was supported by an estimated 1,000 strong crowd and also featured more than 100 tractors and 20 trucks.
The rally brought together not just farmers but also many people whose livelihoods depend on the agriculture sector in Co. Kilkenny to highlight what Mulhall described as the “threat” posed by a reduction in the current nitrates derogation.
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue has said that he will seek “flexibility” from the European Commission on the nitrates derogation.
But the Kilkenny IFA chair believes that there is “no time to waste on sorting out this issue”.
“Charlie McConalogue is ultimately the person who is responsible for sorting this and he needs to stop telling us how lucky we are to have what we have.
“He needs to get back out find out how we can maintain the 250kg N/ha but I also think the Taoiseach needs to intervene at this stage and they both need to go out to Brussels and get this sorted now, the Taoiseach needs to put his weight behind his minister and get this sorted for Irish farmers,” Mulhall said.
He told Agriland that there are roughly 27,000 people directly employed in agriculture in Co. Kilkenny and all of these jobs are interdependent.
“We can’t and shouldn’t think of this as just a dairy farmer’s problem. Agriculture is hugely important to the local economy in the south east of Ireland and if this sector contracts because of changes due to nitrates regulations then this will fundamentally affect everybody.
“Because it will mean that dairy farmers will keep less stock and it will mean that tillage farmers will be challenged for land and they will also be forced to reduce. I have tillage farmers ringing me who are already getting bid out of land and beef farmers who have always rented land and they’re getting pushed out of their land because they are also outbid and now they have no where to graze their cattle.
“The economic impact if there is a drop from 250kg N/ha to 220kg N/ha to the rural economy – by virtue of the fact that there will be a scramble for land that would cause some sectors to reduce – will be hugely significant and that can’t be good for the whole structure of rural society,” Mulhall said.
He is a dairy farmer who milks a herd of 180 cows with his father and he knows dairy farmers who are in the market currently trying to rent land “just to stabilise, just to stand still”.
According to Mulhall a key issue for many farmers is the fall out from the latest Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) following a review of water quality required under the Nitrates Directive.
The Kilkenny IFA chair said farmers believe the EPA report does not take account of the timeframe needed for the mitigation measures that farmers have taken – such as reducing runoff to watercourses, fencing off watercourses, preventing livestock access to watercourses and streams and the adhering to riparian buffer zones on farms – to take effect.
“The way the nitrates midterm review was structured does not take account of this. I accept our responsibility for water quality. I don’t deny for one minute that we have to make sure water quality improves, we have to have pristine water quality, we can’t leave a blot on the landscape.
“But what farmers are doing needs to be given a chance to work – they are moving the goalposts constantly. Farmers are facing extreme uncertainty.
“I used this case at the rally because there is a misconception that derogation is a big dairy farmer’s problem – but take this case of a family in south Kilkenny who were milking 72 cows in 2022, then because of banding this fell back to 66 milk cows in 2023 and if the 250kg N/ha falls to 220kg N/ha next year than that will bring back to 55 cows next year. That family will be out of business.
“That is the stark reality of it and that family is replicated around the country – 85% of milk produced in this country is produced by herds of less than 100 cows,” Mulhall said.