Expect fireworks as Cowen and Hackett get ready to battle for the future of farming

For anyone counting, it only took 138 days for our new Minister and ‘superjunior’ at the Department of Agriculture to be appointed.

Both are from Offaly, but represent what could be considered the established and new politics wings of the Government.

How the marriage of the Fianna Fáil minister and Green junior minister works out will be interesting and significant.

Pippa Hackett told this newspaper in January that Ireland should undertake no further lobbying to attain “any manner of exemptions” for agriculture on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Hackett, herself a farmer, said the sector needed to diversify away from its focus on beef and dairy. She said farmers should embrace nature, and focus on quality rather than quantity.

In contrast, new Minister Barry Cowen has described the setting of binding targets on methane and ammonia emissions as “self-defeating”.

This position is very much at odds with what the Green Party is seeking

and what the three-party coalition has committed to in its Programme for Government so watch out for some difficult conversations between the two in the months ahead.

Sceptics will characterise Hackett’s appointment as a ‘super-junior’ minister, with the added privilege of attending cabinet, as just a nod to the Green agenda.

However, Green activists maintain that it confirms their determination to push for change in agriculture, which along with transport is the sector responsible for the vast majority of Irish GHG emissions.

Hackett’s responsibilities for land use and biodiversity mean that she will have a central role to play in framing Ireland’s policies post the next CAP negotiations.

Given the shift from action-based to resultsbased agri-environment schemes, Hackett’s input in the proposed new REPS package will be telling.

Protecting the Nitrates Derogation will be a key consideration for the IFA and ICMSA in their interactions with the new Government.

Submissions on the derogation were sought by the Department this week, with the application for its rollover for 2022 to be lodged with Brussels by the autumn.

The content of that application will illustrate to a large degree whether the farm sector or the environmental lobby has this Government’s ear.