Any attempts to cull the “environmentally sustainable traditional suckler herd” will not be tolerated, Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) president Colm O’Donnell has said.
In a letter to the leader of the Green Party Eamon Ryan, O’Donnell said that before making a judgement call to target sucklers because of their perceived lack of profitability, due diligence needed to take place as to the role extensive sustainable suckler cow farming systems play in enhancing biodiversity and grazing for carbon.
Reflect
O’Donnell instructed the Green Party to reflect and have regard for the polluter pays principal (PPP) of the Treaty for the Functioning of the European Union.
“This is a precautionary principle to deal with the source of pollutants before recklessly targeting a sector already playing an irreplaceable role assisting carbon sequestration on extensively grazed permanent grassland pastures,” the INHFA said.
The letter concluded by reminding Ryan that 'it’s not the cow, it’s the how”.
‘Not a policy of ours’
Last month, Green Party agriculture spokesperson Pippa Hackett told the Irish Farmers Journal that a reduction in the national cattle herd “is not a policy of ours”.
“There’s no point in seeing a reduction if farmers aren’t paid – farmers have to be paid for it. [If there was a reduction], it would need to be a just transition, like the peat workers.
“Yes we could cut the herd, but we don’t think we need to do that. We need to add value to what we produce,” she said.
Read more
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Any attempts to cull the “environmentally sustainable traditional suckler herd” will not be tolerated, Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) president Colm O’Donnell has said.
In a letter to the leader of the Green Party Eamon Ryan, O’Donnell said that before making a judgement call to target sucklers because of their perceived lack of profitability, due diligence needed to take place as to the role extensive sustainable suckler cow farming systems play in enhancing biodiversity and grazing for carbon.
Reflect
O’Donnell instructed the Green Party to reflect and have regard for the polluter pays principal (PPP) of the Treaty for the Functioning of the European Union.
“This is a precautionary principle to deal with the source of pollutants before recklessly targeting a sector already playing an irreplaceable role assisting carbon sequestration on extensively grazed permanent grassland pastures,” the INHFA said.
The letter concluded by reminding Ryan that 'it’s not the cow, it’s the how”.
‘Not a policy of ours’
Last month, Green Party agriculture spokesperson Pippa Hackett told the Irish Farmers Journal that a reduction in the national cattle herd “is not a policy of ours”.
“There’s no point in seeing a reduction if farmers aren’t paid – farmers have to be paid for it. [If there was a reduction], it would need to be a just transition, like the peat workers.
“Yes we could cut the herd, but we don’t think we need to do that. We need to add value to what we produce,” she said.
Read more
Calls for Minister Creed to remove 5% stock reduction in BEAM
€130m owed to designated farmers needs to be paid – INHFA
Long read: Pippa Hackett on farming and why ‘€3.50/kg is no good’ to farmers
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