Irish farmers protest totalitarian climate proposals
Thousands of Irish farmers last week took to the streets in protest against government proposals that would damage their livelihoods to “fight climate change”.
A recent report by Ireland’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) presented to the European Commission claims that Ireland’s nitrogen emissions are too high, due in part to the flatulence and excretions of livestock. To remedy this, the report suggests lowering the cap on nitrogen emissions by livestock — referred to as the organic nitrogen stocking rate — from 250 kg (551 lbs) to 220 kg (485 lbs) in 2024. Farmers say this would significantly impact their operations, even forcing them to cull their herds.
Over two thousand farmers gathered Thursday in Bandon to protest the proposal, with more protests planned for this coming weekend in Kilkenny, reports the Irish Examiner.
The report comes as the country’s Agriculture Ministry considers a €600 million ($641.4 million) initiative to remove 65,000 cows per year from the national herd to meet its “climate goals”.
The funds would be used to pay farmers €3,000 ($3,217) for each cow that they cut from the breeding herd.
“Approximately 60,000–65,000 dairy cows per annum would need to be displaced in 2023, 2024 and 2025. This would allow for some modest growth for new entrants and young farmers (10,000 per year),” said the proposal, obtained via a Freedom of Information request.
In addition to displacing individual cows, the paper also proposed a retirement or exit scheme for farmers, based on bids:
It is recommended that it could operate on a bidding system, whereby farmers would accept a financial payment to exit the sector. The farmer would propose the level of payment per cow, paid over 7-10 years, that he/she would need to exit.
This scheme would be particularly attractive for dairy farmers who were approaching retirement age with no obvious successor.
A minimum number of cows would need to be set to avoid unnecessary administration. The design of such a scheme would need to ensure that the benefit was not eroded through expansion elsewhere…
Irish farmers are not alone in their cause. Farmers in other European countries have been protesting similar government efforts to appease the climate at the expense of agriculture.
Last month, several Dutch farmers were arrested amid renewed protests over a government initiative to close down 3,000 farms for “climate change”.
Caps were placed last year on how much nitrogen farms are allowed to emit, which is expected to harm 30% of farms.
The Dutch government, which aims to halve its nitrogen-based emissions by 2030, received approval from the EU Commission in May to buy out 3,000 farms. Expected to cost €1.47 billion ($1.62 billion), the project will pay certain breeding farmers 100%–120% of their losses if they voluntarily close their farms. The farmer must also agree to never breed animals in the Netherlands or the EU again.
Breeding sites being targeted for closure are all small- or medium-sized farms, according to a statement from the EU Commission.
Dutch Nature Minister Christianne van der Wal warned last month that the government will force closures if farmers do not opt in to the buyout program.
“The government is fully committed to this voluntary approach and hopes that many of the businesses that qualify will participate. . . . [T]he government wants to prevent mandatory measures,” said van der Wal.
