Levies should be slapped on agri-food exports to fund biodiversity measures and any existing “environmentally harmful” farming subsidies “phased out”, the Citizens Assembly on biodiversity has advised Government.

Strong calls were made for stricter enforcement of existing EU and national environmental rules, with higher penalties proposed for those found to pollute or damage natural environments.

The assembly was almost unanimous in voting for a relook of all State policy around how nature is managed on farmland, as it said that the current protections in place are “not sufficient”.

Another recommendation that passed calls on Government to support a consumer shift towards a “more plant-based diet”.

Little detail or figures supported the recommendations, such as the levy rate that should be sought on agricultural shipments to overseas markets, and the report will be considered by an Oireachtas committee

The assembly comprised of 99 citizens from across Ireland and was set up to shape Government policy on nature and biodiversity, hearing from 16 farmer representatives on agricultural topics over its deliberations in 2022.

Farm policies

When assembly chair Dr Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin was pushed by the Irish Farmers Journal on which sectors or practices were considered environmentally harmful and should have their funding ceased, she stated that “the Government can really work out the details on that”.

Dr Ní Shúilleabháin stated that the farming-specific policy advice had largely arisen from the assembly's interaction with farming representative bodies last year.

“What’s relevant to the recommendations specific to agriculture is that many of them actually came from the farmers themselves that we heard from,” the group chair said.

Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) president Tim Cullinan lambasted the proposal to tax agri-food exports, saying that the idea would place the burden of biodiversity challenges “squarely on the shoulders of farmers”.

Any levy on food exports would be passed along the supply chain to farmers, he claimed.

“The idea of placing a levy or charge on agricultural exports from our largest indigenous industry is outlandish in my view,” Cullinan stated.

Farmers must be seen as “part of the solution” to biodiversity loss and are already working for nature, Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) president Pat McCormack said at the assembly report’s launch.

They have been steered by the policies of “two or three decades of CAP that were hugely destructive to biodiversity”, he added, commenting that these policies have been changed in the new CAP with looser land eligibility rules.

Agri-environmental schemes

It was recommended that farm environmental schemes get a funding boost to ensure all farmers interested can participate and that CAP environmental schemes are switched entirely to a “results-based” payment model.

Soil testing grants should be introduced and soil health measures included in farm schemes, while further funds were advised by the assembly for allocation to organic farming.

The majority of our agricultural soils are in suboptimal state

Most soils across the country have been contaminated with nutrients, Dr Ní Shúilleabháin claimed when launching the group’s final report.

“The majority of our agricultural soils are in suboptimal state, contaminated by nitrates and phosphates, which is particularly challenging because it goes into the ground water in free-draining land and then into estuaries,” she stated.

Calls were made for Bord Bia to “significantly increase” its promotion of the organic farming sector in Ireland and actions supporting the Farm to Fork strategy.

The assembly called for more laws to be introduced around food labelling and menu information to allow consumers to know the “impact of their choices on biodiversity/environment”.

“Agriculture accounts for 70% of our land area and farmers are at the heart of the solution to this,” the chair commented.

“Farmers can be mobilised at scale because they see themselves as custodians of the land.”

Forestry

Standing or felled forestry on peat soils is highlighted by the group as a “significant and historic problem” which the State should remedy “promptly and on a significant scale”.

This recommendation did not say what should be done with these lands and trees growing on them.

More resources should also be allocated to encourage livestock farmers to plant native broadleaves trees in grasslands, the assembly said.