A new biodiversity law proposed by the European Commission would have “dire consequences” for farm families and the rural communities they support, the Irish Natura & Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) has said.

This week’s Irish Farmers Journal reveals the targets included in the draft nature regulation, which has set a minimum of 105,000ha of farmed drained peats to be rewet in Ireland by 2050.

These rewetting measures will have a disproportionate on farming in western regions and areas where suckler farming is the dominant enterprise-type, INHFA president Vincent Roddy said.

“While all counties could be impacted by these proposals, the greatest impact will be felt in western seaboard counties and into the midlands where suckler farming is often the main enterprise,” Roddy stated.

Impact assessment

The INHFA head went on to call for a detailed impact assessment to be conducted on the proposals.

He said that it is “vital that we fully assess the overall impact of what is being proposed and how this will impact the farmers and their wider communities".

"In doing this, we must recognise how these proposals will jeopardise the social and economic fabric of our rural communities.”

The impact assessment seen by the Irish Farmers Journal points towards the benefits of rewetting measures of peatlands outweighing the cost by a factor as high as eight, although little indication was suggested on the source of these monetary benefits for farmers.

Biodiversity strategy

The nature regulation is the Commission’s action on the commitments it gave to establishing legally-binding restoration targets in its biodiversity strategy for 2030.

According to the INHFA, this was “outlined in various forums and despite the slow reaction by others, we are still hopeful that all those interested in protecting our farmers and rural communities will now act and work with us in challenging these proposals”.