Over the weekend, I noted how, undaunted by the uproar in the Netherlands over the impact on farmers of rules limiting nitrogen emissions, Canada’s government was now looking to go down a similar route.
Well, I should have mentioned Ireland, too.
The Financial Times (July 28):
Ireland’s coalition government has reached a bitterly contested deal to slash climate emissions from the country’s key agriculture sector by 25 per cent by 2030.
That level is significantly higher than the 22 per cent farmers had hoped for but below an initial target sought by Dublin of up to 30 per cent.
Eamon Ryan, environment minister and Green party leader, called it “a significant step in the right direction” while agriculture minister Charlie McConalogue said the cuts were “challenging” but achievable.
Tim Cullinan, president of the Irish Farmers’ Association, called the 25 per cent cut a “massive, massive ask” that could cost farmers €2bn a year and said the government had outlined no budget to help them achieve it. . . .
Pat McCormack, president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association, said the agreement made “whole classes of farms unviable” and would push up prices.
He added: “Our livestock industry — both dairy and beef — is the lifeblood of rural Ireland and Minister McConalogue and the three party leaders of the coalition have struck it at its very heart today.”
Cullinan said: “This deal between Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green party is all about the survival of the government rather than survival of rural Ireland.”
“It’s really impossible to see how we can achieve targets beyond 22 [per cent] without reducing herds — and that’s an income issue for us,” said Brian Rushe, a dairy farmer.
A reduction in the size of herds is very likely to mean higher prices. Add that to the greenflation pile.
One argument that some environmentalists like to use is that a number of their ideas are inherently conservative. When they make that case, they stress the word conservation. I understand that argument, although it’s not one that I am convinced by. But conservatives attracted to that line of thinking might like to note one sentence included in the extract above:
“Our livestock industry — both dairy and beef — is the lifeblood of rural Ireland and Minister McConalogue and the three party leaders of the coalition have struck it at its very heart today.”
Inflicting severe damage upon that way of life does not strike me as particularly conservative.
Meanwhile, the idea that the proposed changes in Ireland will make any difference to the global climate is laughable. It is made even more absurd by the insistence that it must be achieved by 2030, giving little time to make changes that might head off the cull.
In unrelated news (via CNBC):
China and Russia are in the final stages of building the first pipeline that can send gas from Siberia to Shanghai.
“Power of Siberia” — as the portion located in Russia is called — began delivering natural gas to northern China in December 2019, according to Chinese state media.
In China, the pipeline runs down the eastern side of the country, past the capital city of Beijing and down to Shanghai. The middle phase started operations in December 2020, and the final southern section is set to begin gas deliveries in 2025, state media said.