A BIT like the old cliché about waiting for a bus … then three come along together, West Cork was a-wash with senior politicians recently it seems.
No sooner had Simon Harris arrived in Bandon for the annual Fine Gael dinner, than Tánaiste and former Taoiseach Micheál Martin popped up, just a few miles away, in Timoleague, with none other than Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue. The Donegal man had travelled to the furthest point of the country from his native Inishowen, to meet farmers in West Cork.
The Agriculture Minister has been beset by controversy since he took over his role, with one crisis after another plaguing the Department.
Fisheries has taken up a lot of his negotiating time, but so, too, has agriculture itself.
Many observers wryly comment that farmers are never happy and are always looking for better prices, bigger grants, more schemes. But the recent moves regarding the nitrates derogation have really startled the industry at a time when farmers are feeling increasingly under siege from every angle.
It is hard to know how, or why, the farming community seems to have become the bete noir of the environmental lobbyists or, as they say themselves, the ‘whipping boys’ for climate change.
While transport and technology should be carrying a massive burden when it comes to emissions and energy usage, somehow farming has been pushed to the forefront when an easy scapegoat is being sought. Some would say the only reason for the seemingly skewed emphasis on farming is that the industry, while well represented, does not have the strong financial or marketing clout of other sectors and, as such, is seen as an easy target for blame.
That is not to say that agriculture doesn’t have a major role to play in climate change. Even Irish advisory body Teagasc admits that agricultural emissions contribute significantly to man-made global warming.
But farmers, feeling like they have nobody in their ‘corner’ to defend them, despite years of engaging in sustainable methods, are understandably angry right now.
The latest row over water quality throughout Europe, which has led to the reduced nitrates limits, means some farmers are facing just a few months to adjust stocking rates to meet the new nitrates targets. And yet the research undertaken by Teagasc in the Timoleague catchment area, flies in the face of other claims that stocking rates impact poorly on water quality.
As a result, Minister McConalogue was brought down to the south west so the farmers could make the point about Timoleague water quality, in person.
As we reported on last week's page 1, the farmers were making a final effort to get an extension to the January 1st derogation changes.
Eddie Burgess, catchment specialist with Teagasc, outlined the results from the water study which has been underway there since 2010. One of its main findings is that stocking levels (numbers of cattle) do not impact water quality.
Yet farmers in Rossmore, Ballinascarthy, Ballinacarriga, Dunmanway and Ballineen, among other areas, are being asked to reduce their stocks in order to protect future water resources.
There was a mixed reaction to the Minister’s visit. Some believed it was an essential meeting, to drive home the point that maybe the blame has long been mis-directed. Others felt the horse had already bolted.
But when so much is at stake, then it’s hard not to agree that no stone should be left unturned. It’s horrific to think of the alternative – in-calf cows needing to be slaughtered, with the price of cattle already dropping, as our report notes.
On the one side we have our frazzled farmers, worried for their stock, and the industry. And on the other, the increasingly frightening prospect of what damage we could be doing to the environment – and the future of our planet.
Let’s hope the right balance can be struck.
