The EU has been called on to rethink its approach to carbon taxes on fertiliser in light of a recent economic assessment which forecast that the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and other policy measures would result in a doubling in nitrogen prices by 2030.
Irish farm organisations have warned that the report by the Thuenen Institute in Germany confirmed that the application of CBAM seriously threatened the competitiveness of European agriculture, undermined farmer incomes and will hit EU food security.
ICSA’s Edmond Phelan said no one was advocating “unlimited use of nitrogen” but he maintained that the EU needed to “urgently rethink its approach to CBAM”.
“The prospect of major increases in nitrogen prices should concern everyone because the impact will not stop at the farm gate,” Phelan said.
This view was shared by ICMSA deputy president Eamonn Carroll.
“The EU has never been able to square the circle that non-stop EU environmental measures lower EU food production, which results in consumer inflation and the importation of lower standard foods from non-EU exporters with lower environmental standards,” Carroll said.
IFA farm business chair Bill O’Keeffe said CBAM will significantly increase the cost of fertiliser in Ireland – at a time when farm incomes are already squeezed – and “will seriously erode the competitiveness of our grass-based system for beef and dairy”.
“Farmers will have to take this additional cost on the chin as it will be impossible to pass it on to consumers when our competitors don’t apply a similar environmental tax,” O’Keeffe said.
SHARING OPTIONS