Ireland to fail in meeting rivers and lakes status restoration goal, EPA warns

from the Irish Times.

Ireland will fail to meet the EU and national goal of restoring all waters including rivers and lakes to good or better status by 2027, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has warned, saying agriculture was having a “disproportionate” impact on declining standards.

While improvements are being made in some areas, its latest assessment finds these are being offset by declines in water quality elsewhere with areas in the south and southeast of most concern. This is due to their proximity to intensive agriculture, notably dairy farms, which is causing “run-off”.

The EPA’s Water Quality in Ireland Report (2016-2021), which assesses Ireland’s rivers, lakes, estuaries, coastal and groundwaters, said “urgent and targeted action is required to reduce nitrogen emissions from agriculture” in these areas.

Speaking ahead of the publication of the report on Thursday night, EPA director general Laura Burke said Ireland had long “traded on the image of a clean, green island” to promote tourism and its agriculture sector. However, “we are trending in the wrong direction” in environmental standards.

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A revised nitrates action programme (NAP) is coming into operation in Ireland with tighter regulations on slurry spreading and on applying chemical fertilisers on land.

Dr Eimear Cotter, director of the EPA’s office of evidence and assessment, said: “The scale of the declines in our estuaries and coastal waters is alarming. In recent years the EPA highlighted that nutrient levels in our rivers and groundwaters are too high and that trends were going in the wrong direction.

“We are now seeing the impact of these emissions on our estuaries and coastal waters. Areas such as Cork Harbour, Wexford Harbour and the Slaney, Suir and Nore estuaries have lost their good water quality status. This directly impacts the marine biodiversity and ecological value in these areas,” she said.

The main pressures on Irish water quality are agriculture; physical changes such as land drainage and dredging; forestry activities; and discharges from urban wastewater. These activities can lead to run-off of nutrients, sediment and pesticides, thereby damaging habitats.

fertiliser costs double - the impact of the war in Ukraine

 from the Irish Times

Shoppers face further food price hikes as farm fertiliser costs have more than doubled this year, forcing producers to pass on the extra expense.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and soaring natural gas charges have combined to drive up fertiliser prices at a time when farmers’ demand for it is highest.

One supplier reported this week that the price of some products has risen to more than €700 a tonne from about €340 at the end of last year, while the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) says costs have trebled in some cases.

An IFA spokesman warned that farmers would have to pass on the extra cost, meaning that consumers could pay higher prices for food in the Republic’s supermarkets.

The news comes just weeks after official figures confirmed that families are paying 6.5 per cent more for food than a year ago, while dairy products cost them a third more.

Fertiliser and fuel are among farmers’ biggest costs and prices for both have risen sharply since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Irish farmers import 600,000 tonnes of fertiliser a year, mainly nitrogen, potash and compound, which is a mix of products. Russia exports significant quantities of all three and is a large producer of compound.

Last year’s rise in natural gas prices forced up fertiliser prices. According to recent Central Statistics Office (CSO) estimates, the higher cost and increased demand boosted the Republic’s fertiliser bill by €58 million or 11 per cent to €591 million in 2021.

Farmers across Europe face the same problem. A report in Britain’s Guardian newspaper on Tuesday stated that fertiliser prices there were heading for £1,000 sterling per tonne (€1,200) from £650 a week ago.

The UK’s National Farmers’ Union said prices for nitrogen fertiliser were already up 200 per cent.

British cereal growers said they could ease price rises by buying less fertiliser, likely to lead to lower production at a time when supplies from Ukraine, responsible for 12 per cent of the world’s wheat, are under threat.

Irish farmers use fertiliser on grassland, used to feed beef and dairy cattle, as well as for growing crops.