EU Emissions Targets An Attack On Small Farmers

The revised targets on greenhouse gas emissions from Irish Agriculture which came from the EU this week are very unfair and is another attack on small farmers in the West of Ireland in particular. In recent years we were told that dairy farming would be the saviour of the industry but as we now know milk prices have collapsed and dairy farmers are struggling. It is well known that 80% of the suckler herd is based in the West of Ireland and that the small family farms are mostly dependent on the grass based rearing of cattle. Setting unreachable and unrealistic targets with regard to carbon emissions and greenhouse gasses is an attack on small farmers especially in the west. This was also a feature of what happened under the last Government as their policies were totally skewed in favour of the big farmer. There is also a big problem now with land being bought up for forestry in the west, and it all adds up to the small farmers being left out in the cold again. If we continue on the road that we are on at the moment then the West of Ireland will become a theme park with no agriculture being carried out at all. People are very soon going to get sick and tired of EU regulations and red tape and if the situation does not change there might be more than one country leaving the European project.