Almost 2,000 farmers packed into Corrin Mart to pile pressure on Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon to secure Ireland’s nitrates derogation.

There was standing room only at the Cork Marts venue, with farmers thronging the sales ring, entrance hall, corridors and overflow conference room.

IFA president Francie Gorman described the mid-term review of Ireland’s nitrates derogation in 2022 as a “trap door”, which had led to the current situation for Ireland.

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Gorman said the EU’s decision on Ireland’s derogation, expected in late December or early 2026, would be the “biggest decision since abolition of milk quotas” in terms of its impact on the agriculture industry.

He warned that the impact on agriculture would not be restricted to dairy but would extend to all livestock farmers, including pigs and poultry, and tillage farmers.

IFA chief economist Tadhg Buckley said that the land required by derogation farmers to meet stocking rate requirements if Ireland lost the derogation would equate to the size of Co Kildare.

Its importance “cannot be overstated”, Gorman told Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon.

He called on the minister, European Commissioners Christophe Hansen and Jessika Roswall and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to “step up to the plate” to support Ireland’s derogation.

“They’ve said they will have our back – now we want to see them step up,” Gorman urged.

The Cork meeting, where there was standing room only in the sales ring, corridors and ante rooms, was farmers’ chance to “look the minster square in the face and tell him how important the derogation is for your, your farm…and how devastating losing the derogation would be at farm level and processor level”, Gorman said.

Derogation loss 'changes futures'

Macra president Josephine O’Neill said young farmers were at the front line of the derogation threat.

“The potential loss of the derogation doesn't just change stopping rates, it changes futures,” she told the minister.

“Young farmers have built business models on current stocking rates. They've taken out loans, they've expanded their herds, they've invested in machinery and infrastructure to make their businesses more sustainable, more economically viable,” she said.

Now, she said, they faced being told that these business models no longer work without the derogation.

“In too many cases, those young farmers will question whether farming can even sustain them as new entrants,” she said.

The challenge could be even greater for young farmers, with already limited land availability being exacerbated by the potential loss of the derogation, and land rental prices increasing as a result.

'Endgame' approaching

Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon said Ireland was approaching the “endgame” of a very long series of negotiations as European Commissioner Jessica Roswall visits Ireland.

He said he would be impressing on her the need for continuance of the derogation because of Ireland’s grass-based system and the efforts underway by Irish farmers.

“However, I do expect that commitment on improved water quality and delivery of the habitat [directive] assessment will also be part [of the commissioner’s demands],” he said. He described the long negotiations as “not an easy process” but said his aim was to get the “best possible outcome for Ireland”.

This article was updated on 4 November to reflect the total attendance at the venue on the night.

More to follow in the next print edition of the Irish Farmers Journal