THE Ulster Farmers' Union says the decision by EU Environment Ministers not to extend the scope of the IPPC (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control) Directive is a victory for small farms in Northern Ireland.
The EU Commission had proposed extending the scope of costly IPPC (Integrated Prevention Pollution and Control) regulations to smaller scale pigs and poultry farms across Europe, but following intense lobbying, spearheaded by the National Farmers' Un
ions in the UK, Europe's Environment Ministers have now agreed that the controls will not be imposed on smaller farms.
UFU President Graham Furey said that this is a victory for small farmers who would have faced a huge burden of cost and bureaucracy if the controls had been imposed on them.
"We have always argued that the IPPC Directive was designed for the industrial sector and does not fit with family farming in Northern Ireland. To impose this level of regulation on small pig and poultry farms would have been senseless. It would have driven producers out of the industry and would have created no discernible benefit for the environment."
Graham Furey added that the decision by Agriculture Ministers had demonstrated farmers' ability to influence the decision making process.
"Farmers have worked in a very effective way through the UK NFU network to put forward their views on this issue. Family farming has been represented very effectively and common sense has prevailed. IPPC was originally intended for large power stations and the industrial sector and would have been totally inappropriate for small family run businesses in Northern Ireland," he further explained.
Leading pig producer and Ulster Pork and Bacon Forum Chairman Robert Overend agreed.
"This has been a hard earned victory for the intensive livestock sector in Northern Ireland," he told Farming Life.
"I am delighted that the European Commission has arrived at a decision based on common sense. It is one which every pig farmer in Northern Ireland will benefit from."
Conservative and Unionist MEP Jim Nicholson has also welcomed the decision taken by Europe's Environment Ministers not to extend the scope of the IPPC Directive after a Council of Ministers meeting last week in Luxembourg.
"I am relieved that Europe's Environment Ministers have at last seen common sense on this issue and voted against extending the scope of the controls," he explained.
"Many of Northern Ireland's pig and poultry producers would be severely affected by these costly and unnecessary regulations. Indeed it would be the small family farm that stands to be most affected if the scope of the IPPC regulations were extended. The fight is not over, however, as the proposals go back to the Parliament with a final decision expected next year.
"Of course, we should never have been in this position in the first place and I have opposed the imposition of these rules on our pig and poultry farmers from the outset."
The current IPPC Directive covers pig and poultry processors who have over 750 sows, 2,000 finishing pigs over 30kg, or 40,000 birds. The reformed IPPC proposals, put forward by the European Commission, could have seen any birth-to-bacon pig farms with more than 118 sows, turkey farms with more than 11,500 birds and poultry laying flocks of greater than 30,000 birds, coming under the new rulings. IPPC regulations are designed to prevent and control emissions to soil, air and water and to limit smell and noise concerns from installations.
