“If reductions are not made on big meat and dairy producers, and agri-food corporations, then harsh measures will be forced on vulnerable small farmers and working families,” said leader of the Rural Ireland Organisation (RIO), Gerry Loftus.
As coalition negotiations continue today (July 26) to reach agreement on the emissions ceiling for the agriculture sector, he said: “It is vital that small farmers realise if any one sector does not do its part, then some other sector will be forced to pay the price and shoulder extra burden.”
But, he said, agriculture as a whole is not the problem.
“The agricultural sector has got the lowest target, by far, in proportion to its level of emissions, but agriculture, as a whole, is not the problem. A dairy herd of 1.65 million cows is the main culprit,” he said.
“The obvious solution, one would think, would be to reduce the dairy herd to 2011 levels as we were meeting our targets then. But this doesn’t suit the big dairy farmers with up to and over 1,000 cows,” he said.
The RIO leader maintains that the message from farming organisations and many politicians that a 30% emissions reduction in agriculture would decimate rural Ireland is totally false.
Suckler farmers will, instead, be forced out of business because of rising costs and little or no support, he said.
“A new scorecard system first introduced in the Wild Atlantic Nature Project will form part of ACRES and will bring a new lower stocking rate as part of the Peatlands Strategy,” he explained.
“This will be introduced after the land is scored in 2023 and will see huge reductions in sheep numbers in some hills,” he added.
Small-to-medium-sized dairy farmers will also face reductions too, he said.
“Instead of cutting large herds, farming organisations will prove once again who they represent by demanding that reductions take place on a percentage basis across the board.
“The truth is 90,000 small-to-medium-sized farmers haven’t got one party politician from the three main political parties nor one Independent TD to come out and state that we cannot sacrifice the vast majority of the farming community for the greed of a minority of highly profitable big producers and corporations.”