‘Enough is enough’: Why are farmers protesting in Ireland and across Europe?

Demonstrations organised by the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) have been taking place in Ireland to show solidarity with EU farmers as they have been voicing their anger.

After hundreds of tractors took to the streets of Brussels on Thursday and farmers egged the European Parliament, Irish farmers took their tractors to the roads from one county to the next.

The protests started in Germany after the German Government proposed to remove a rebate which allowed farmers to avail of cheaper diesel as well as other tax reliefs for farm vehicles. The IFA noted that this was a similar situation to Ireland, where green diesel comes at a lower price than white diesel.

What are farmers protesting about?

From a requirement in the Netherlands to reduce nitrogen emissions to farmers facing rising costs and heavy regulation, they have a lot of concerns.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine last February, farmers’ costs have notably increased while regulations relating to agriculture have also increased.

What are some of the key issues?

First off, the transformation of the common agricultural policy (CAP, meant to ensure a stable supply of food and safeguard farmers’ income) has moved away from supporting food production to curbing farm output. The EU has been implementing new measures to meet environmental regulations and have been redirecting funding instead of allocating more funds.

The IFA pointed out that the EU failed to properly compensate farmers under CAP. “In 2014, Ireland received €1.16bn in Pillar one funding from EU – that figure is effectively the same today, 10 years on, despite huge inflation in farmers’ cost of production in the interim. Farmers are being asked to do much more to receive a lot less funds in real terms,” they explained.

The Mercusor trade deal which has been proposed and is being pushed by the European Commission has the potential to devastate the Irish beef sector.

“Europe is placing a massive amount of additional regulations on European farmers but, at the same time, is seeking to hugely increase food imports from South America produced to much lower environmental standards at a higher carbon footprint,” explained the IFA.

According to the IFA, “overly complicated” schemes have been “poorly implemented” by the Irish Department of Agriculture. This led to delayed payments and failure to deliver any investment grant aids (TAMS) in 2023.

They stated: “The EU and Ireland are limiting funding to these schemes, thereby locking out farmers from environmental schemes such as ACRES. Farm schemes are now so complicated that agri consultants are threatening strike action as the feel they can no longer administrate these schemes designed by the Department of Agriculture effectively.”

Strict regulations?

Many farmers across Europe have been complaining that some of the EU’s rules when it comes to agriculture are too strict. Regulations such as animal welfare and irrigation are according to some farmers “unrealistic” as the EU’s green policies are said to be economically unviable for the farmers.