The European Parliament’s agriculture committee pushed back against proposed changes to EU industrial emissions rules which would see some cattle farms needing a licence to operate.

The controversial changes were put forward by the European Commission last year when it proposed taking cattle farms over 150 livestock units (LU) into the fold of the industrial emissions directive.

EU farm ministers agreed in March that the licensing limit for cattle farms should be pushed higher to 350 (LU) and that any farms stocked under 2LU/ha be exempt from the rules.

Agriculture MEPs voted on Tuesday to push for all beef and dairy farmers to be excluded and that the current 750-sow and 40,000 broiler limits remain in place as the only farms needing environmental licences.

Fine Gael’s Colm Markey MEP backed the opinion while Sinn Féin’s Chris MacManus abstained from the vote.

The vote’s significance will remain unknown until the proposals are put to all MEPs later this year.

The Parliament’s environment committee is expected to seek tighter rules, rather than keeping the licensing limits in place presently.

EU farmer group Copa Cogeca stated that “agriculture MEPs showed their support to EU farmers by rejecting the denomination of ‘industrial installations’ for family farming”.

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The vote’s significance will remain unknown until the environmntal proposals are voted on by all MEPs later this year.