ICSA: Trust in govt at breaking point over GAEC 2
The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association (ICSA) has called for the Minister for Agriculture, Food, and the Marine, Martin Heydon to reconsider the inclusion of mineral soils under Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions (GAEC) 2, as its original intent was to apply specifically to peatlands and wetlands.
ICSA president, Sean McNamara said that the minister's attempts to "downplay" the significance of a recent department meeting on rewetting and "reduced management intensity" of 80,000ha under Ireland’s Climate Action Plan has done little to reassure farmers.
"Trust in the government is at breaking point after farming organisations were excluded from this meeting, and anger and frustration is now mounting among farmers who fear they will be hit with yet more restrictions on how they farm peaty soils," McNamara said.
"Farmers can see the overreach on this issue happening before their eyes, and trust has been broken.
"This process of reaching our climate goals must be built on a foundation of fairness. If trust is to be restored, meaningful farmer engagement must be at the core of decision-making.”
The ICSA said that the prospect of more restrictions, on top of the GAEC 2 amendments and everything the Nature Restoration Law could bring, is leaving farmers increasingly fearful that they will be driven out of business altogether.
According to McNamara margins in farming are already tight, and that if restrictions continue, "the chances of anyone making a viable living from farming will dwindle to nothing”.
According to the ICSA president, land devaluation and the need for proper compensation must be central to the discussion.
“Land affected by these restrictions will see its value plummet and it won’t be only this generation that is impacted. Who is going to compensate farmers for that?" he said.
According to the ICSA, under the current GAEC 2 approach, entire land-parcel identification systems (LPIS) are being designated as peatland even when only a small fraction actually consist of peat soils.
This means mineral soils are being unfairly caught up in GAEC 2 restrictions, all of which will limit agricultural activities, reduce productivity, and devalue land, according to the farm organisation.
“The concern is that in a few years’ time, farmers working peatlands and surrounding mineral soils may find themselves unable to farm at all," McNamara continued.
"We’ve already seen with the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) that once land is forested, it can never return to agricultural use. The danger is that we are heading in exactly the same direction with these new designations.
“Farmers cannot be sidelined from decisions that directly impact them. Furthermore, there must be full transparency and proper scrutiny of the rationale behind these policies.
"On one hand, we hear about the importance of food security and generational renewal, and on the other, we face this relentless push to restrict, reduce, and essentially remove farmers from the land," he concluded.
