Only option will be to rent land 'to the big fellas' as smaller farmers fear they'll 'lose out' under new proposals

A West Cork farmer said he is terrified that proposals to reduce nitrates derogation stocking levels will cost him his livelihood and spell the end for rural Ireland.

Patrick O’Sullivan, who has been running the family farm in Drimoleague for 30 years, explained that he will make plans to wind down operations if forced to cut his herd. His concerns relate to a proposed decrease from a maximum stocking rate of 250kg of nitrogen per hectare on dairy farms to 220kg. The measures would see a dramatic cut to the current herd sizes of small farmers.

The beef and dairy farmer said he will be forced to lose between 12 and 15 cows out of his 75-strong herd of cows if the measures come into effect. This, he explained, would be unviable and may lead to him being wiped out by larger farming businesses.

“It isn’t just me who is going to lose out,” he told The Echo. “It’s all my neighbours and farmers across the country too. If we are going to be offered 400 and 500 an acre for our land we’ll be gone. Our only option is to rent out the land to the big fellas. That’s what’s going to happen. It’s going to happen all over the country. I’d love to keep doing what I’m doing but it seems like that might not be possible anymore”.

Mr O’Sullivan said he feels that farmers are being unfairly scapegoated.

“It’s devastating to see what has been happening with the last year and a half. It’s like we (farmers) have caused all the pollution to the lakes and rivers in Ireland. If they follow through with the proposals, it will break my heart as I’m a third generation farmer”.

The West Cork man said he has been doing everything in his power to mitigate environmental impact.

He listed some of measures he has been taking to promote sustainability on his farm.

“I’ve enough slurry storage from the middle of October to April 1 and all my drains are fenced off. I have done everything right down through the years. Soil sampling is also something I’ve been very conscientious about. I have been soil sampling the land every three years for the last 30 years. I think soil sampling is the key to getting the water quality right, yet there is no department official even mentioning it”.

Mr O’Sullivan’s concerns follow a report courtesy of the Environmental Protection Agency highlighting the high levels of nitrates in groundwater and estuaries and rivers located in the south-east, midland, as well as eastern and south-west regions. This means that many farmers would have to reduce their organic nitrogen stocking rate to 220kg in 2024 under the derogation.

“The land gets poorer the further down West Cork you are. It seems okay in theory to have 15 cows and grow our grain and have our own feed but we can’t do that because the land just isn’t good enough”.

Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil TD Christopher O’Sullivan spoke of the anxiety among farmers.

“I really feel for farmers like Patrick because they are so afraid of what the future holds”, he said. “We have to be conscious of the unintended consequences of reducing the stocking rate from 250 to 220. It’s really going to be that farmer that is milking 60 or 70 cows who is going to be most impacted. In this instance, because many farmers don’t have the option to buy up extra land to get within the stocking rate, their only option is to reduce cattle numbers, therefore potentially making the farm unviable.

“All this will result in is bigger neighbouring farmers buying up the same land so we’ll achieve very little from an improvement of the water quality point of view and even less from the point of view of trying to sustain small family farms. Obviously, we need to do everything we can do improve our rivers and water quality but this is nothing more than a blunt instrument that will have unfortunate and unintended consequences”.