A TD has said that she has been approached by several farmers who are looking for support to install anaerobic digestors on their farms but who have found supports from government “deeply lacking”.
Independent Laois-Offaly TD Carol Nolan was commenting after receiving a response to a parliamentary question she put to Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue.
The minister told Nolan that his department is engaging with the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications on the formation of a National Biomethane Strategy, which will include “careful and extensive research on scaling up the anaerobic digestion (AD) industry”.
According to Minister McConalogue, the strategy will assist in meeting the targets set out in the Programme for Government on sectoral emissions ceilings, and the target of delivering up to 5.7TWh of indigenously produced biomethane by 2030.
However, according to Nolan, demand among farmers for purchasing and installing anaerobic digesters already exists, though adequate supports do not.
She said: “[I have] been approached by a number of local farmers who are seeking assistance in transitioning to AD as a way to manage farm waste more effectively and economically but who have found the process to date deeply lacking in terms of being able to access aid to enable that transition.
“There is no doubt in my mind that AD is something that farmers are going to give a lot more consideration to in light of the recent and disastrous decision on nitrates,” she added.
“The minister himself accepts in his reply to me that the AD industry in Ireland has significant potential for development to benefit both the agriculture and energy sectors and I would certainty support and welcome that development if it brings benefits to the faming community as a whole.”
However, Nolan said that a strategy to support farmers to take up AD on their farms “must not develop into an either/or type of scenario” where farmers must choose between their regular farming activity or AD.
“We need both a reinstatement of the nitrates derogation and a more effective roll-out of support to those farmers who want to make use of AD on their own farms,” the TD added.