The complex series of regulations taking shape to protect wildlife habitats and ecologically sensitive areas is frequently a source of irritation to farmers attempting to maximise their agricultural production. But dialogue and detailed assessment can sometimes produce a plan which satisfies both environmentalist and landowner, as has been demonstrated recently in Kilmore Quay, Co Wexford.
The ICMSA has hailed a decision by the National Parks and Wildlife Service to redesignate as Special Protection Areas 39 of 44 holdings which were previously designated as Special Areas of Conservation.
The adjustment is more than a nominal one. Mr Maurice Harvey, chairman of the ICMSA Farm Services Committee, says: "The redesignation of these lands as Special Protection Areas means that the landowners will be less restricted in their farming practices, particularly in relation to fertiliser application."
The original designation had applied to an extensive stretch of sand dunes near Kilmore Quay and also included some 1,500 acres of adjoining land which was mainly under tillage crops.
The priority classification of the sand dunes was not disputed by the farmers, but the Special Area of Conservation designation, which comes under the EU Habitats Directive, would have unduly limited their application of nitrogen to the tillage land, as they saw it.
The ICMSA took up the case and, after a series of meetings and a visit by a multi-disciplinary team from the Wildlife Service to re-evaluate the area, an acceptable compromise was reached.
The redesignation of most of the acreage as Special Protection Areas acknowledges its importance as a conservation area for bird species. The SPA designation comes under the EU Directive on Conservation of Wild Birds.
However, it lifts the tight re strictions on nitrogen use required by the SAC designation. The negotiation and re-evaluation process took several months, but is regarded as having been worthwhile. "It looks like a good compromise," said Mr Harvey. "It gives farmers confidence that where they have a genuine case the OPW is prepared to listen to reason."
He believes that in general, it is better for the farm organisations to campaign and argue on behalf of the farmers within the complex regulatory system rather than maintaining blanket opposition to protection measures.
Dairying and cereal enterprises are the main farming enterprises in the Kilmore Quay area, he says. The ICMSA had made a strong case because it believed it was vital that local farmers should be able to continue to earn their living from these methods of farming without the undue restrictions posed by the designation of the lands as SACs.
The Kilmore Quay issue is believed to be the largest single case to be decided on to date by the special committee which was established to hear appeals by farmers in relation to designations of lands as environmentally sensitive.