Next week’s vote by European member states on whether Ireland should retain its nitrates derogation is a pivotal one for the 7,000 dairy and beef farmers who farm under derogation.

It’s also crucial for other farmers who could be affected by the demand for land if the derogation was lost, and the wider dairy industry and economy.

On Wednesday, fresh conditions attaching to the 9 December vote were revealed, see page 6. Farmers in the Nore, Barrow, Slaney and Blackwater catchments must reduce their chemical fertiliser application and increase their buffer zones from 2028.

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Ireland resisted the European Commission’s request to include lower stocking rate limits and prevent derogation access for new entrant farmers.

Each of the new conditions will require close scrutiny, and the Habitats Directive assessment would still appear to be the most onerous of these.

It’s difficult to see how buffer zones, which are predominantly a phosphorus measure, will do much to reduce nitrates levels in the four named catchments. And, based on current information, it doesn’t appear there would be any reprieve from those terms even if nitrates levels improved between now and 2028.

That said, the very fact a derogation is proposed is very welcome, and suggests the European Commission has been convinced that Ireland’s farmers are committed and making strides in addressing water quality.

It’s crucial now that the member states vote to grant the new derogation.