ICMSA welcome EU exclusion of farming from ‘Industrial Installations’ for emissions purposes

Commenting on the decision of the European Parliament and Council to exclude cattle farms from new EU rules governing emissions from industrial installations, ICMSA President, Pat McCormack, welcomed the measure and said that the original suggested equivalence between family farms and industrial plant had always been more about anti-farming ideology than any kind of logical comparison.

Mr. McCormack noted that the real decision had merely been postponed to 31 December 2026 and it was vital that what he described as ‘the tide’ of anti-farmer and extreme environmentalism was challenged before that final decision was taken.

“On one level it’s nearly reassuring to see the kind of anti-farmer sentiment that we are so used to in Ireland replicated all over the EU. We have the same expression of anti-farmer sentiment from groups and individuals who know next-to-nothing about farming and often seem to struggle to make the connection between farming and food. It should be obvious how dangerous it is to lose sight of that connection, but we still have these very loud voices demanding that a family farm with 150 cows in Cork should be classified as industrial and therefore governed under the same emissions category as a steel furnace or chemical plant. ICMSA has been highlighting for years the growing and distressing disconnect so evident in radicalised people between food and farming. It’s as if these people imagine that food is manufactured and ‘made’ industrially and that is why they want to bracket a medium-sized livestock farm as an industrial installation. The EU must make and maintain the real connection between real farming and real food – for all our sakes”, said Mr. McCormack.

Ends      1 December 2023

Pat McCormack, 087-7608958

President, ICMSA

Or

Cathal MacCarthy, 087-6168758

ICMSA Press Office