The Irish Creamery and Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) has urged the Government to ensure the nutrient use surplus proposal is not a “box-ticking” exercise.

The Department of Agriculture put forward a proposal to implement the concept for farmers under the nitrates regulations at a meeting of the agriculture water quality group.

The ICMSA has asked the Department to explain hoe this system will work, how complex it will be for farmers and who will pay the cost of it.

ICMSA deputy president Eamon Carroll said that those questions will have to be answered in the context where any proposals to deliver water quality improvements must allow farmers to farm at an economically sustainable level.

“We can be very frank here - [the] ICMSA will not support such a system if the Department cannot bring forward evidence of its effectiveness.”

Box ticking

Carroll expressed deep concern that the proposal will merely function as another “box-ticking” exercise that will place more requirements on farmers and cost them money to implement.

He said that the situation is too important for any more exercises that may or may not work and the Department owes farmers an explanation and justification for these kind of proposals.

“It’s unacceptable that the Department are holding up other measures that have already been agreed and would assist farmers by insisting now, at this late stage, that this measure is introduced or, failing that, that farmers would have to take another 5% reduction in chemical nitrogen.”

Carroll added that there must be better utilisation of nutrient management plans.

“We desperately we need to get to a stage where the right measures are used in the right place at the right time,” he said.

“We keep going for this blanket approach based on restrictions and costs and so far from helping, it’s actually doing nothing for water quality but penalising farmers.”