Last week, at the annual Fertilizer Association meeting, Thomas Ryan, formerly of the IFA and now head of sustainability with Tirlán, detailed the water improvement efforts in the Slaney catchment area. Water and more specifically nitrates levels, are emerging as the key determinants of possible future progress in Irish farming.

It is becoming clear that greenhouse gas emissions of both methane and nitrous oxide are capable of being controlled, even if at a cost, by a variety of additives and husbandry practices.

The path forward in the case of water is not nearly so clear, but as we laid out last week, the output consequences for the sector of not achieving a workable solution are profound.

We may be dancing on the head of a pin in Ireland in comparison with the rest of the world.

I have been on feedlots in the United States of America where literally tens of thousands of cattle are fattened in pens covering well over a hundred acres on an earthen base, with all the urine flowing unimpeded into the ground water. But from an individual Irish farmer’s point of view, we have no option but to operate within the regulations as we find them, or suffer the consequences. At the Fertilizer Association’s meeting, the EPA estimates for the reduction needed in various rivers was given.

It is clear from this list that large swathes of the most productive agricultural areas of the country are at risk of being forced to reduce output significantly, unless a sensible way forward is charted.

What isn’t clear is how much of the improvement is meant to come from agriculture and how much from improvements in other areas, such as local authority discharges. It is also worth noting that the Lee catchment is already at a fully satisfactory status.