The new president of the Irish Farmers' Association, Mr John Dillon, claimed yesterday that farming was dying because farmers could no longer earn a decent wage.
In a wide-ranging inaugural address in Dublin, Mr Dillon claimed there was not enough scientific information to accuse farmers of being the major pollutors of rural water supplies.
He also declared war on red tape and bureaucracy and said he would be seeking a pre-checking clearance system for applications to the Department of Agriculture.
Identifying the new environmental controls imposed on farmers as one of the main issues, Mr Dillon said as far as he was concerned farmers were the custodians of the countryside.
"We are well used to handling environmental controls and we recognise their importance, but they must be based on right information and support from the Department of the Enviroment," he said.
The IFA, he said, had to assemble a strong team of experts to analyse the relevant information and bring forward the best professional advice on soil science and nutrient management.
"We must quantify agriculture's true position compared with other sources of water pollution. I am calling on the Minister, Mr Dempsey, to postpone any decision until we have all the information required," he said.
"When we have the scientific results, I then want to enter negotiations with Government, aimed at a balanced solution. We must protect the environment, but we must do it without undermining commercial farming."
Mr Dillon said he had already asked Teagasc for an unambiguous statement of the optimum fertiliser rates for commercial dairy, beef and tillage farming.
Farmers needed to know these levels.
Farming was dying out, Mr Dillon said, because of lack of income and he had sought to become president of IFA to address this situation, especially on livestock farms.
This could best be done by removing 200,000 Holstein/Friesian calves from the beef chain, which would mean that farmers could concentrate on rearing beef breeds for export to prime markets.
He warned the co-operative creameries not to talk down the price of milk and said that cost-savings and discount to their customers could not continue to be made at the expense of farmer-producers.
Declaring war on red tape and bureaucracy, he said farmers were faced with grossly unreasonable amounts of paperwork, which was choking them out of existence.
He was seeking a pre-checking clearance system for applications which would eliminate the majority of genuine errors and take the fear out of the job of applying for schemes, he said.
In his outgoing address, the former president, Mr Tom Parlon, acknowledged the support and help given to him as president not only by IFA supporters but also by the general public and the Government.
The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, said he would be recomending to the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, at a Cabinet meeting later today that the entire State be designated a nitrate vulnerable zone.
The designation of these zones to protect the water quality has become a major political issue as farmers say the controls will be a death knell for commercial farming.