A group of Irish farmers have met with MEPs and European Commission officials to call for a 'land observatory' in Ireland to combat corporate purchases of land.

The issue of corporate land acquisition was discussed at a meeting in Brussels in late March, which was organised by MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú.

The meeting also featured MEPs Ciaran Mullooly and Michael McNamara, as well as representatives of the Directorate-General for Agriculture (DG AGRI), one of the departments that make up the European Commission.

Daniel and Tom Long attended the meeting as representatives of the Irish Land Observatory Stakeholders Group, which Daniel co-founded.

The topics discussed at the meeting included generational renewal, access to land, and the buying up of farms by investment companies and wealthy individuals.

The meeting came about on foot of "increasing concern" in the EU at the trend of investment banks, financial institutions and wealthy buyers buying up land, often as a means of offsetting carbon emissions.

Those concerned claim that this is leading to the commodification of carbon, biodiversity, and water rights, as well as the displacement of local landowners and farm families.

At the Brussels meeting, Daniel and Tom Long raised examples of this happening with the DG AGRI representatives.

The Irish Land Observatory Stakeholders Group lobbies for the development of a mechanism to monitor and limit this trend in Ireland.

The group is aiming to be successful in a bid to host a pilot land observatory in Ireland, in collaboration with Access to Land Europe, a pan-Europe network of stakeholders that seeks to preserve land for smaller farms rather than large-scale intensive farms.

Representatives from Access to Land Europe also attended the meeting.

The Irish Land Observatory Stakeholders Group says that the concept of a land observatory is not new, and that a system in France called SAFER (Société d’aménagement foncier et d’établissement rural - Land Management and Rural Development Society) has existed since the 1960s.

Speaking after the meeting in Brussels, Daniel Long said: "DG AGRI was very interested in our local experience and there is a real prospect of an Irish land observatory pilot getting off the ground with the help of pressure from our MEPs and the identifying of an academic institution to oversee the venture."

The meeting was also attended by Dr. Andrew Madigan, from the South East Technological University (SETU).