Slaney Catchment project is an expensive endeavour

With the funding being invested by the co-op, results will have to be significant to justify the expenditure, especially as there are already considerable human and financial resources being invested in water quality projects in the region. That said, unless improvements in water quality are achieved within the next two years at most, the death knell of our Nitrates Derogation is almost certain. Danish farmers can no longer avail of the derogation and Irish farms are now the lone beneficiaries of the stocking-rate exemption. Speaking at the launch of the Slaney project last month, Jim Bergin, the soon-to-be-retired CEO of Tirlán didn’t leave a tooth in it in terms of his description of the impact of losing the derogation. He likened it to the loss of the sugar-beet industry to the region, with commercial milk production destined for obsolescence, driven into a sub-economic status by low stocking rates and reduced productivity. Half of Tirlán’s dairy herds comprise an average of 60 cows. A reduction, as calculated by Jim, to 49 cows would wipe out their viability. The retention of the Nitrates Derogation is now seen as a make-or-break necessity for the Irish milk production and processing sector.