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

There was standing room only at the IFA event in Fermoy, with farmers thronging the sales ring, entrance hall, corridors and overflow conference room.

IFA president Francie Gorman described the EU’s decision on Ireland’s derogation as 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.

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Its importance “cannot be overstated”, Gorman told Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon, who was greeted at the mart entrance by a display of tractors, milk lorries and feed trucks to emphasise the economic importance of the derogation.

Gorman 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.

IFA chief economist Tadhg Buckley told the gathered crowd that without their derogation, farmers would require additional land equivalent to the size of Co Kildare to meet lower stocking rate rules.

Farmer after farmer pushed Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon to secure Ireland’s derogation and avoid the devastating economic impact of losing it. Minister Heydon said Ireland was approaching the “endgame” of negotiations as European Commissioner Jessica Roswall visits Ireland on Friday, when he will emphasise Ireland’s unique grass-based system and Irish farmers’ efforts on water quality.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Minister Heydon said the huge attendance and level of concern among farmers at Corrin would strengthen his hand when negotiating with the European Commission.

He said he would make sure commission officials understood how onerous incorporating the Habitats Directive into the derogation would be, and that they would understand “the economic and environmental value of this derogation to our farming system here in Ireland, and why we should continue to have one into next year”.