Can Irish dairy survive the Irish Government?
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Someone joked with me at the Ploughing that the theme for this year’s supplement was “Can the Irish dairy sector survive the Irish Government?”
I might have laughed at the time, but like many words said in jest, it’s not all that far from the current sentiment among Irish dairy farmers.
Work has been going on feverishly behind the scenes at Teagasc Moorepark to research ways to improve farm-level emissions and nutrient management, yet farmers here might find themselves asking why they bother, when before they’ve barely had the chance to act, production is already being curtailed.
The big talking point at the moment is, of course, the 3,000-odd Irish farmers directly affected by Europe’s decision to chop Ireland’s nitrates derogation from 250kg N/Ha to 220kg N/Ha.
However, that figure could soon pale in comparison to the number affected should Ireland fail to maintain the 220kg/ha at the next review in 2024.
This is a threat every dairy farmer must take extremely seriously. Two years is a very short time for an entire industry to act and for the results to trickle through into improved water quality statistics, and even then, there is a fair chance that the results will not be good.
Yet, I was at a talk last week where one speaker excitedly told the crowd that Starbucks (who she was representing) was aiming to eliminate all disposable cups by 2030 — yes, a rather underwhelming seven years away.
It seems almost mocking when you consider the amount asked of farmers in Ireland within the next few months and years.
You have to wonder at times if we are all on the same playing field – especially when you consider the necessity for one of the cheapest sources of nutrition with the frivolousness of a venti frappuccino or a pumpkin spice latte.
Much of the technology and science needed to get the solutions for the 25% reduction in agricultural emissions targeted by 2030 and net-zero by 2050, is still under development, while a change as trivial as switching out disposable cups seems like something that could be implemented by the end of the week, or as soon as current stocks run out, if the company is serious about change.
Yet, while we can grumble about the fairness of the timeframe all we like, it’s a challenge every single farmer in Ireland must take seriously, as now the warning shot has been fired.
The European Agriculture Commissioner has made plain that he is not messing around when he says that further cuts to Ireland’s derogation will be made should improvements in water quality fail to materialise.
At the time of print, just two months remain until the January 1 deadline to reduce stocking rates to 220kg/Ha, and there is still no sign of government support for those affected nor government leadership to avoid an exodus of cull cows from having a knock-on effect on markets for beef producers.
Meanwhile, farmers not currently directly affected have no guarantee that, through no fault of their own, for example, the loss of long-established conacre, they too could be in the firing line.
It’s an unfair position for farmers to find themselves in, with just two months to go — and many of the cows which will need to be destocked from farms will not only already be in-calf, but also already heavily on in their pregnancies. Yet it seems that no effort has been made to delay to implementation to account for this.
Instead, the most helpful leadership appears to have come from within the industry and its own advisory body — suggestions to gradually replace the animals in your bottom 25% with those that are closer aligned to your top 25% could mean herds won’t need the same number of animals to maintain production, but it will be a gradual process and won't help those with banks breathing down their necks this spring.
But it’s no surprise that, as I write this from the back row at the World Dairy Summit in Chicago, as we are about to begin scaling back production, other countries, where agricultural emissions are much higher, are already raring to ramp up cow numbers.
It is reassuring to hear several within the International Dairy Federation make the point that production must be maintained in the areas that can do it most sustainably, but it’s concerning that this fairly commonsense argument doesn’t seem to have made it past the politics and debate surrounding what should be a science-based discussion.
So, in Ireland, is it any wonder that farmers are half joking as to whether they can survive the Irish government?
