Farmers north and south of the border are anxious in regards to the impression of “environmental laws” on the viability of their farms.

That’s in keeping with the Irish Farmers’ Affiliation (IFA) and the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) whose respective dairy committees have held a cross-border assembly to debate key points on the island.

In line with Kenny Hawkes, UFU dairy chair, farmers north and south are going through the identical key challenges.

“One of many gadgets that was excessive on the agenda and dominated a number of the dialog was local weather change targets,” he stated.

“The UFU heard first hand from the IFA about current stories that dairy cows might have to be culled to fulfill local weather change targets.

“Adjustments to the Nitrates Motion Plan within the Republic of Eire and different environmental challenges that the farming trade is going through, have been additionally mentioned intimately.

“There isn’t any doubt that massive considerations are mounting concerning the potential path of journey in an try to realize local weather change targets within the Republic of Eire. In similarity to the IFA, we’re extraordinarily anxious about this and are monitoring the state of affairs intently.”

Challenges north and south

In line with Hawkes, the UFU additionally highlighted the precise challenges that farmers within the north are going through in relation to environmental necessities.

Stephen Arthur, chair of the IFA dairy committee, stated there’s a number of widespread floor in relation to the short-term future outlook for farming communities on the island.

“It’s evident that farmers each north and south of the border are involved in regards to the impression environmental laws could have on the viability of their farms,” he stated.

“No matter the place we’re, we’re persistently being requested to ship extra for the atmosphere with no further return from {the marketplace},” Arthur added.

The difficulty of milk costs and present market circumstances was additionally examined through the IFA/UFU assembly with a concentrate on how the worth paid to farmers within the south has declined because the starting of the yr.