Irish farmers plan to slaughter up to 41,000 cows within the next ten weeks to meet Ireland’s new regulations on nitrates limits to reduce pollution and fight “climate change.”
The Daily Fetched first reported on the new restrictions earlier this year, but now they will become more restrictive in 2024 due to water quality concerns.
Farmers are faced with three options to comply with the restrictions:
1: Increase the amount of land they own
2: Find an expensive animal waste removal service
3: Or cull their herds
Cork South West Senator Tim Lombard, who is also a farmer, said an “animal welfare catastrophe” will occur if Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue does not intervene.
Lombard added that to comply with the agreement to tackle pollution , Irish farmers will need to slaughter a total of 41,000 cows, many of which are just under a year old.
The Irish Examiner reported that the minister published the final implementation map, which showed most of the country remains included in the zoned area, which will come into effect in the new year.
Ireland’s derogation agreement with the European Commission allowed a minority of more intensively stocked farmers to produce 250kg per hectare.
However, because of the water quality issues, the limit for Irish derogation farmers will now fall to 220kg per hectare from the first of January.
Farmers affected will have three ways to meet the reduced limits on nitrates. These include reducing animal numbers, increasing the amount of land they have, or finding someone to take slurry from their holdings.
Lombard added:
“Both the farming sector and the department estimate that of the 7,000 derogation farmers in the country, 3,000 farm between 220kg and 250kg and will be impacted.
“Based on an average number of 162 cows on derogation farms and assuming that there are 1000 farmers in each of the three categories (220-230kg, 230-240kg and 240-250kg),.
“This will mean that the potential loss to each individual farmers at 220-230kg is 7 cows, 14 cows at 230-240kg and 20 cows at 240-250kg.
“This is a loss of 41,000 cows in just over 10 weeks,” he said.
A spokesperson for Minister McConalogue said the farmer’s option to avail of 70% grant aid for slurry storage facilities would be the preferred option rather than culling cattle.
“Exporting slurry is expected to be the preferred option where they can for many farmers affected by the nitrates derogation cut in areas where a farmer willing to import slurry can be found. The budget announcement has been welcomed by the sector,” they said.
As The Daily Fetched reported last year, the Irish government is also targeting cars, with the draft proposal demanding the number of automobiles on the road cut by one-fifth by 2030.
However, the war on farming isn’t just in Ireland; it is happening all over Europe and the world.
We also reported in 2022, the U.N’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are sown inside policies currently waging war on farmers and food supplies worldwide.
As The Epoch Times noted, the global plan is being helped by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members within the U.N. system, who also assisted in creating the SDG.
According to experts, the U.N.-backed sustainability policies on agriculture and food production will inevitably lead to global famine, loss of freedom, and economic devastation.
The U.N. documents revealed that private land ownership is also at risk as global food production is transformed to meet global sustainability goals.
According to the U.N. on its SDG website, the goals adopted in 2015 “build on decades of work by countries and the U.N.”
One of the meetings defining the “sustainability” agenda was the U.N. Conference on Human Settlements, known as Habitat I, which adopted the Vancouver Declaration.
The agreement stated:
“Land cannot be treated as an ordinary asset controlled by individuals,” and that private land ownership is “a principal instrument of accumulation and concentration of wealth, therefore contributing to social injustice.”
“Public control of land use is therefore indispensable,” the U.N. declaration said, a prelude to the World Economic Forum’s now infamous “prediction” that by 2030, “you’ll own nothing.”
READ: Government to Shoot Cows from Helicopters to ‘Protect the Environment’
