FRANCIS FANNING.
Sir, - I refer to your Editorial of January 7th entitled, "Nitrate Pollution", in which you portray the attitude of farmers to environmental protection as cavalier, and our Government as reluctant to take action. Your Editorial is founded on an inaccurate and misleading assessment of the issues.
Our high-quality rural landscape and environment is largely a result of farming activities over the decades and centuries. Our river, lake and ground water quality compares very favourably with that of our European neighbours, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Farmers spend enormous sums of money on livestock housing and manure storage facilities. Various independent estimates have put the total expenditure on farmyard facilities at over €1.25 billion in the decade up to 1996.
Over 45,000 Irish farmers have entered contracts with the Government and the EU to protect the environment and rural heritage under the Rural Environment Protection Scheme. Although not solely focused on water quality, REPS has also been reported in the Lough Derg/Lough Ree Catchment Study to have had a notable positive effect on water quality in catchments with high farmer participation in REPS.
Far from a lack of environmental regulation, Irish farmers are subject a stringent regulatory regime. Local authority by-laws affecting farming activities, arising from the Phosphorus Regulations (1998), have been introduced in a growing number of counties. Pig and poultry production are subject to EPA licensing control since the mid-1990s. Eco-conditionality in the most recent reform of the CAP has introduced compliance with a code of Good Farming Practice as a condition for receiving premia payments.
Phosphorus is an essential element for plant growth and for economically viable crop production. Irish farmers responded to the research advice they receive in producing the highest quality farm produce, which in turn underpins our €6 billion food industry.
You accuse farmers of wasting £600 million in chemical phosphorus fertiliser in the 10 years up to 1998. However, you failed to point out that farmers have followed scientifically researched advice from Teagasc designed to increase soil phosphorus to a level necessary for optimal grass production. This advice applied up until 1998, at which point it was re-evaluated by Teagasc. Since the new phosphorus recommendations have been issued, farmers have responded with a marked reduction in chemical phosphorus usage, as shown by reduced chemical P sales.
The IFA has sought consultation with Government on any designations under the Nitrates Directive. Undermining farming and the rural economy through a whole-country approach to nitrates regulation, which disregards vast differences in soil types, length of growing season and farm enterprises across the country, will not deliver the environmental benefits sought by the Nitrates Directive. - Yours, etc.,
FRANCIS FANNING
Chairman,
IFA National
Environmental Committee,
Dublin 12.