The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) has said that the reduction in agricultural emissions, reported by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today (Tuesday, July 9) is “in spite of rather that because of” any government support.
The report showed that agriculture emissions decreased by 4.6% to 20.8 Mt carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) due to an 18% reduction in fertiliser nitrogen use, reduced lime application and overall reduction in numbers of livestock.
Speaking in response to the report on ‘Ireland’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions’, president of ICMSA, Denis Drennan, said that the reduction in overall emissions was welcome.
However, he added that the drop in agri-emissions was certainly not as a result of any “meaningful” government support.
Drennan said that state policy on helping farmers reduce agricultural emissions was “all stick and no carrot” and had contributed notably to the collapse in farm incomes – particularly in the dairy sector.
Reduction in agri-emissions
The ICMSA described as “depressingly predictable” that more focus and attention would be devoted to the reduction in farm emissions than had been given to the “shocking wipeout” of farm incomes.
The farm organisation has suggested that one meaningful way the government could recognise the reductions in farm emissions, while providing some support to farm families, would be the introduction of the Climate & Volatility Mitigation Measure.
The proposal is set out in ICMSA’s pre-Budget submission.
“We desperately need some way of helping farmers to set aside any funds in ‘good’ years that they can access in ‘bad’ years of exactly the type we’re experiencing now,” Drennan said.
“Those funds can be under the regulation of the Central Bank in approved deposits and any tax due can be paid when they’re withdrawn and brought back into the farm accounts.
“The details are there and open to negotiation, but no-one seriously doubts that we need some way of allowing farmers to ‘park’ money in good years that they can use in the bad years. Because the volatility is so much more extreme and the ‘bad’ years are occurring so much more frequently,” he concluded.