‘Green’ advice from OECD
It’s worrying for farmers that fertilisers are included, on several counts.
Do Bord Bia’s claims that our dairy industry shares the lowest carbon footprint in the EU with Austria, and that our beef industry is also among the lowest for carbon footprint, stand up?
Surely, if these Bord Bia claims are true, the very knowledgeable Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) would not hint that our farmers need to pay more to use fertilisers?
Farmers can only hope that the troika officials who have huge influence over national budgeting in Ireland won’t pay attention to their colleagues in the OECD.
They move in the same exalted circles as the troika representatives from the ECB, European Commission and IMF, who will oversee Ireland’s budgetary decisions until we have repaid three-quarters of our EU bailout loans, which is due to happen in about 2032.
A word in the ear from the OECD to the IMF would very likely result in Finance Minister Michael Noonan quickly introducing fertiliser tax to help him balance his budget sums.
Already, the IMF says there is no evidence that austerity policies are doing Ireland any harm. So why not take advice from their colleagues in the OECD, and add on the extra burden of requiring that our recovery be of the very greenest variety?
Instead of having the lowest or near lowest carbon footprint in the EU, perhaps our dairy and beef industries should go 100% organic (probably preferable for farmers, rather than pay the suggested fertiliser taxes and user fees to help Ireland transition to a greener model of economic growth).
Our signs of recovery are encouraging, but more must be done to reinvigorate growth and create jobs, the OECD says.
Ireland should seek to build on past success in attracting innovative high-tech multinational companies.
Improvements to the business environment would help spread innovation and dynamism to the domestic small to medium enterprise sector, says the OECD.
Not much mention there of traditional Irish businesses like food and farming — which would probably go backwards if there are extra taxes on fertilisers.
Even without these taxes, Irish farmers have slashed their use of fertilisers to their lowest level in decades.
High fertiliser prices is probably the main reason for that trend, along with getting more from slurry and farmyard manure, decreasing livestock numbers, and the nitrates directive.
But cutting fertiliser inputs further will compromise our already low soil fertility, and restrict crop and animal performance.
Farmers can only hope that OECD officials will be persuaded to take a different tack, the next time they meet colleagues from the ECB, EC and IMF.
The latter three may be more aware of the latest news that the value of production on farms has shot up in recent years, playing a major role in food and drink exports surpassing €9bn per year.
