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The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association (ICSA) has warned policymakers that it is outside of the national interest to push farming’s emission reduction target beyond the lower-limit of 22%.
Speaking as the sectoral emissions reduction target has yet to be agreed by Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan and Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue, the farm group’s president Dermot Kelleher stated that “common sense” must prevail.
“A target of 22% is the absolute maximum the agriculture sector can bear - anything higher would be akin to pressing the self-destruct button on the sector,” Kelleher said.
“We cannot emphasise strongly enough the need for balance in decision making. Ireland’s vital national interests are dependent on getting the right balance between food security, energy security and climate change targets.
“It is not in our vital national interest to cast this to one side in the pursuit of unachievable targets. A 22% target is already overly fraught with difficulties; there is no point in completely crushing the viability of the sector with anything more than that and common sense must prevail,” he commented.
Dutch protest ‘wake up call’
Kelleher stated that the economic sustainability of farming areas must be considered as target negotiations take place.
Should such farmer concerns be overlooked, those within the sector could take to the streets, as is currently happening in the Netherlands.
“Equally, rural communities are totally dependent on a vibrant agriculture sector in both social and economic terms,” he went on.
“This cannot be sacrificed for the sake of kudos from the EU Commission at a time when large EU member states such as Germany are ramping up coal production in light of the war in Ukraine.
“The farmer protests in the Netherlands are a wake-up call for all EU governments that people will not accept an unfair burden being imposed on a narrow sector of society.
“It is not acceptable to destroy entire communities, nor is it acceptable to use draconian measures that, in the end, will simply outsource production to countries outside the EU,” said Kelleher.
Attainable targets and pragmatism
He finished his remarks by calling for pragmatism during the ministers’ talks. The alienation of farmers is a possibility if the targets set cannot be realistically reached, he argued.
“We must get this right; It makes no sense to set targets that are unattainable, and it makes no sense to alienate tens of thousands of farmers in the process.
“All of us are in this climate emergency together and that should mean everybody making pragmatic decisions together.
“This is not what is happening however, and farmers are increasingly frustrated by attempts to force an unworkable green agenda on them that fails to consider the real economic and social impacts,” the ICSA head concluded.
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