IFA president Tim Cullinan said that the Department of Agriculture had failed to prepare the sector for changes in agricultural practices and new measures due to be introduced on 1 January.

He said that the Department must commit to giving farmers more time to allow them to adapt to these changes, many of which are challenging.

“Farmers are willing to play their part but producing a Statutory Instrument in November and expecting people to be compliant by January is not realistic, and it’s unfair,” he said.

The IFA president was speaking following a recent IFA online meeting attended by 150 farmers.

Guest speakers were Jenny Deakin, manager of the Catchment Science and Management Unit, EPA; Eddie Burgess, programme manager of the Agricultural Catchments Programme, and Bernard Harris, nitrates division, at the Department of Agriculture.

IFA environment chair Paul O’Brien said that farmers at the meeting had highlighted the confusion around the exact specifications of the new measures.

Dairy farmers are contributing hugely to the rural economy

He said: “Farmers must have sufficient time to plan and to try and understand these measures. At the meeting, farmers were reporting getting updates advising them they needed to examine ordinance survey maps to determine what actions they need to take. These are hard to access, and the exact marked up maps should be provided to farmers,” he said.

IFA national dairy chair Tom Phelan said: “Dairy farmers are contributing hugely to the rural economy. However, instead of celebrating that, a small cohort is trying to demonise the very people who are delivering it. This farmer bashing has to stop,” he said.

“Irish dairy farmers have invested over €79m in Low Emission Slurry Spreading equipment which will yield positive results for water quality.

Similarly, sales of protected urea have increased significantly this year. The inevitable lag time between the implementation of improved management practices and water quality response means that water quality improvements may not show definitive results quickly,” he said.

Dairy farmers have invested hugely, and they cannot have the carpet pulled from under them

“The EPA needs to adjust expectations and recognise the time it will take for these improvements to be shown in water quality. I expect them to take this message very seriously, following the feedback they received at this morning’s meeting,” he said.

Concluding the meeting, IFA president Tim Cullinan said that maintaining the current nitrates derogation was critical.

“Farmers expect our Government to make this happen. Dairy farmers have invested hugely, and they cannot have the carpet pulled from under them.

“We received the derogation because of our grass-based system, which the best and most environmentally friendly system in the world for producing milk,” he said.

Farmers welcome full payment of BEEP-S

IFA livestock chair Brendan Golden has welcomed the issuing of full payment to farmers for the measures they have implemented in the scheme. He said farmers with 530,000 cow and calf pairs, in over 24,000 herds, have carried out measures in the scheme and have drawn down the full €40m allocation.

“It’s important that farmers have received their full payment for the measures they implemented,” he said.

The IFA livestock chair said the viability of suckler farms is heavily dependent on meaningful support payments and he said the Minister for Agriculture must ensure there is a seamless transition into the 2021 scheme.

The level of participation shows the success of the scheme and underlines the importance of rolling the scheme into 2021.