FARMING organisations have expressed growing concerns about the lack of real supports for farming and rural communities in their efforts to meet emission reduction targets.

The IFA, ICMSA and the ICSA said that while farmers were very willing to ‘come on board’ as regards emissions reduction measures, this couldn’t be achieved at the expense of the future of food production in Ireland.

IFA President, Francie Gorman, told the Agriculture and Climate Change Science into Action conference in Dublin Castle, that Government need to do far more to ‘support farmers on their climate journey’.

“There are lots of targets, reports, projections, documents, conferences etc but no properly-funded plan to support farmers to reduce emissions or even to reduce the regulatory roadblocks hindering farmers trying to make environmental improvements on their farms,” he said.

Examples of this, he added, included a biomethane strategy which was not fit for purpose; delays in implementing planning exemptions for nutrient storage; hold-ups in ACRES payments; failure to properly support the tillage sector; a totally failed forestry programme, and an absence of initiatives to support the adoption of feed or slurry additives.

ICSA Rural Development Chair, Edmond Phelan, has also warned that Ireland is at risk of meeting its emissions targets – but at the expense of rural communities, food security, and the future of farming.

“It is all very well defining success by hitting targets, but what happens when we look around and realise there are no farmers left on the land?

“We cannot afford to lose the people, the communities, and the generations of farming knowledge that make food production possible in this country,” said Edmond Phelan.

He said that farmers were being squeezed from all sides in terms of being expected to cut outputs and to compete for land with energy production, solar farms, biomass and rewetting.

“At the same time, sectors like aviation face little scrutiny. The Dublin Airport Authority wants to increase passenger numbers by 25%, but where is the climate accountability there?

“It all adds up to farmers becoming increasingly frustrated by a system that demands more and more from them, with little in return,” said Mr. Phelan.

ICMSA President Denis Drennan said that despite massive challenges, Irish farmers were completely engaged in the effort to address climate change and the results/data were now showing the fruits of those efforts.

“It is quite clear that farmers are committed and on board with the plans to mitigate climate change but farmers need reassurance that those plans still rest on the three pillars of sustainability – economic, environmental and social,” said Denis Drennan.

Pictured: IFA President, Francie Gorman