By Jonathan Magee
Donegal farmers facing a dramatic spike in fertiliser costs have been dealt a further blow after the European Commission unveiled an action plan that farm leaders say will do little to ease the crisis.
Nitrogen fertiliser prices across the EU rose by more than 70% above their 2024 average in April, with the surge driven by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz following the US-Israeli war on Iran. Around 20% of global supplies of ammonia and urea, the key ingredients in artificial fertiliser, normally pass through the strait.
The Commission’s Fertiliser Action Plan includes more flexible advance payments under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), allowing farmers to repay bank loans and meet obligations to fertiliser suppliers. Longer-term measures aim to shift the sector toward greater reliance on home-grown and organic fertiliser.
But the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) said the package falls far short of what is needed. President Francie Gorman, who joined a pan-European farming protest at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, said the plan fails to address the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) – the EU’s tax on carbon-heavy imported goods – which he estimates will cost EU farmers close to €900 million this year alone.
“To consider publishing a Fertiliser Action Plan and not address CBAM is quite incredible,” Mr Gorman said. “One would have to question if the Commission has any interest at all in addressing the price or availability of fertiliser across the EU.”
The Irish Government had lobbied Brussels to exempt fertiliser from CBAM entirely, but the Commission refused – a decision that will be keenly felt across Donegal’s farming community as the growing season intensifies.