Local beats national every time and empowering farmers and local organisations to take ownership and control of their own local environment is the only way to go to make progress.

This was the key message from Flemming Gertz, lead scientific adviser on water from Denmark at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) water conference last week in Galway.

No more rules sent from Dublin or Brussels to a parish in south Kerry or elsewhere.

Gertz described the situation in Denmark that for years has seen a ‘top-down’ approach to regulation, which effectively ended in a stand off between stakeholders and further a stalling any positive environmental progress.

That confrontational and regulatory approach has been turned completely around, with sports halls in villages all around Denmark now full with farmers and regulators discussing what to do best for their local area.

Power to decide and implement change has effectively been devolved to local catchment areas all around Denmark.

Remember that Denmark, like Ireland, is a powerhouse for food and agriculture.

These local groups have been tasked with creating a local plan to solve local issues, and they are given the financial resources to achieve that plan. That might mean some farmers with peat soils paying a tax if they continue to farm. Alternatively, if some of those on peat soils decide to rewet land and take livestock away, then they are given compensation.

The key point is that it’s not a one size fits all decision. It makes so much sense when you stand back from the detail. It also brings longevity because there is only so long top-down regulation can last.

For over 30 years now, strict regulation and rules in Denmark have forced a destocking and lower nutrient use on Danish farms. It has worked, and nitrate levels in coastal water have reduced by over 50%.

However, according to Gertz, the movement essentially ran out of road 15 years ago and improvement stopped. Farmers had been told for years by authorities what crops to grow and how much nutrient to use depending on crop requirements.

So when the improvement stopped, confusion reigned and the catchment and marine science clashed.

Eventually government tasked each local authority to come up with a three year action plan that would be funded centrally. The local groups have a budget to spend. Crucially they must draw up and implement the three year plan.

This new ‘local’ governance structure was ratified by the Danish parliament last November. So effectively the Danes have built a local governance structure to solve local issues because for years, they have been stuck in national problems that were too complicated to solve.

Taking this into account, stand back and think about the top-down regulation at play on the island of Ireland. Northern Ireland’s farmers have just recently been hit with a wall of regulations and rules akin to climbing Mount Everest.

For many food producers if implemented, it simply puts them out of business – that’s the Everest. And no matter what training, upgrading, or technology they buy to climb the mountain, it’s just simply not possible.

The industry is reeling, and confrontation is happening with legal action threatened on the minister by those dependent on the land, air and water for a living.

In the Republic of Ireland, farmers are fearful of the uncertainty that the next wave of derogation rules will bring. This uncertainty is now spilling into local milk and meat factories in the form of reduced supplies.

Also at the EPA conference, this stereotypical categorisation that farmers with derogation are the “baddies” cropped up. The top table was asked, given recent water quality results, why should we (Ireland) even ask Brussels for a nitrates derogation?

The answer is because these farmers are often our best nutrient goalkeepers, and all farmers and businesses contribute to water quality in a catchment. Teagasc’s Pat Dillon highlighted the recently published Northern Ireland action plan in that respect showing results that derogated farmers actually perform better than non-derogated farmers.

The action plan shows that over the period 2019-2023, non-compliance rates and phosphorus losses from derogated farms are lower than non-derogated, with an average of 6.6% of derogated farm businesses being breached, compared to an average of 22% for non-derogated farms.

The minister and our Department badly need to hatch an Irish version of the Danish sports hall plan or, as we have so often warned, they risk losing the goodwill of farmers and without farmers, no progress is possible.