The Irish government’s struggle to comply with climate targets is increasingly affecting dairy farmers in the EU country. The fact that the Ministry of Agriculture has not ruled out having almost 200,000 cows killed in the next three years has been causing a stir for some time. The aim is to drastically reduce CO₂ emissions.
Now department head Charlie McConalogue was unable to reach an agreement with the EU about extending the exemption for the use of nitrates. In the future, only 220 kilograms of nitrogen per hectare may be used for fertilization in large parts of the country instead of the current 250 kilograms. This is intended to reduce the pollution of Irish waters with nutrients such as nitrate and phosphorus.
Of Ireland’s 17,500 farmers, the change is estimated to affect around 3,000. But that is likely to change. From 2026 onwards, the limit for Ireland will only be 170 kilograms, which is already the rule in most EU countries. In order to prevent this from happening, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar invited the responsible EU Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius to a visit Irish Times reported.
The farmers on the Emerald Isle point out that the water conservation requirements also influence the maximum number of cows they are allowed to keep. In the future, they would either have to acquire more land or significantly reduce the number of cows they own – in any case, the farms would become less profitable. The young farmers’ association Macra na Feirme warned: “Already scarce areas will disappear even further from the reach of new farmers due to the continued increase in demand.”
The president of the Irish Milk Suppliers Association, Pat McCormack, spoke of a sell-off and called for help. “The illusion that farmers have to bear the environmental costs of producing food on top of the economic costs they have borne for 35 years must simply be dismissed,” he said.
What also contributed to the anger of influential farmers was that the Environmental Protection Agency called for meat consumption to be significantly reduced. After demonstrations, the Ministry of Agriculture announced “intensive exchanges with interest groups” in the coming months. “The top priority is to find a way to achieve the legally binding target of a 25 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture by 2030, equivalent to a reduction of 5.75 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent,” it said. A “voluntary reduction program for dairy cattle” should be examined.