The delayed EU deforestation measure needs to be revisited to allow the use of existing data sources to meet its requirements, the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) has said.

ICMSA’s livestock chair Michael O’Connell said that while the regulation made practical sense against the threat of South American beef imports, Area Aid maps could be put to use.

“Across the EU, the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) - which effectively specifies the use of land - has been in place for many years and farmers have been actually submitting Area Aid maps on their land usage since 1994.

“Instead of implementing a new system at EU level based on GPS, we should simply utilise the system that is already in place whereby farmers submit their land usage on an annual basis and that usage is monitored by satellite.

Layer of bureaucracy

“Why would we even contemplate yet another new system – with all the GPS and due diligence palaver – when the existing Area Aid maps already provide the exact same information?

“It’s just ridiculous and adds yet another layer of useless and expensive bureaucracy to what is already a system that is groaning under the weight of superfluous regulation and processing,” he said.

This week the European Commission said it would propose delaying the law coming into force by 12 months. It was originally scheduled for the end of this year.

The new regulation could require beef finishers to provide geotagged photos of cattle to prove they do not originate from deforested land.

The livestock chair added that the regulation which was straightforward sensible idea now moved towards what he termed “mindless regulatory repetition”.

“A directive that should ensure food products from deforested areas would not reach the EU consumer has been turned on its head and is now being repurposed into yet another administrative burden for Irish farmers - who already farm to one of the highest standards globally.

Expensive system

“The reality is that Irish food is being produced on land that is demonstrably not under the Deforestation requirements and we should not be required to implement a new expensive and burdensome system to verify this.

“The regulation should allow for our current LPIS system to verify compliance with no burden on the farmer or the meat processor. There is a simple and practical solution to this issue and - for once - the regulators should take it,” he said.

It is essential, O’Connell added, that the EU specifies how third country imports will have to meet these requirements and how - on a practical level – the EU will ensure beef does not come from deforested areas of South America, undermining sustainably produced EU beef.

“This is where the focus of the directive should be rather than imposing rules and regulations on people to whom the directive has no relevance and for whom it was never intended,” he said.