Co-ops outline consequences of derogation cut

FURTHER reductions to the stocking rate on farms could compromise Ireland’s grass-based dairy system, cooperative representatives have warned.

Icos is the umbrella organisation for the co-operative movement in Ireland and members told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine that significant Government intervention is needed to ensure the future viability and environmental sustainability of the Irish dairy sector.

An Icos delegation led by president Edward Carr, dairy committee chair Niall Matthews, and agri-food policy executive Eamonn Farrell appeared before the joint committee at Leinster House.

The delegation addressed a range of questions from the committee including the economic and social implications of a further reduction of the nitrates derogation.

Edward Carr said co-ops and farmers are deeply invested in ‘advancing farm sustainability, with water quality as their foremost concern’.

They have called for the Government to form an inter-departmental taskforce to evaluate the economic and social implications of any further reduction to the nitrates derogation.

Analysis prepared by UCD Professor Michael Wallace indicated that dairy farms in derogation Band 3 could face a net margin reduction of -56% or €983/ha due to further derogation limits, thereby challenging their economic viability.

Edward Carr also warned further reduction in the maximum stocking rate would compromise the competitive edge of Ireland’s grass-based dairy system and could  drive farmers to a ‘more global, indoor type of dairy production, with unfavourable economic, social and environmental consequences’.

Icos called on the Join Committee to endorse the Ag Water Quality Working Group’s proposals on slurry storage, including 70% grant aid for farmers, and urged the Government to leverage the Climate and Nature Fund, announced in Budget 2024, to provide funding for a national slurry storage project, in the context of climate adaptation.

Carr highlighted the need to prioritise resources for advisory services, including the Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme (Assap), the European Innovation Partnership, and the Signpost Farm Programme.

‘Sustainability is our watchword and this must apply in equal measure to environmental priorities as well as the long-term sustainability of livelihoods in rural Ireland and the future sustainable progress of the dairy industry as a key pillar of the Irish economy,’