Agricultural Pollution and Waterways on the Island of Ireland: Towards Effective Policy Solutions

Abstract

In the UK, Ireland and Europe generally, much attention has been devoted to understanding how the agri-food sector has leveraged disproportionate focus and support through its influence in the policymaking area. What has received less focus is how power is distributed within the agriculture sector, i.e., why/how some agricultural industries are more ‘successful’ or receive more focus than others, and what this means for policy. Researchers typically treat ‘farmers’ as a monolith, for example, focusing on the power of the ‘farming lobby’ versus that of other interest groups such as environmentalists. This tells us only part of the picture; power distributions within the agriculture industry itself also have implications for policy. Using empirical qualitative research (interviews, focus groups) conducted on the island of Ireland, this paper shows how some agri-food sectors (e.g., dairy) hold more power than others meaning they can resist important regulation such as water pollution initiatives. This renders such regulation ineffective. Meanwhile, other sectors (e.g., beef and sheep) are left out of the conversation, which compromises potential policy solutions. It argues that for future policies to adequately address the challenge of agriculture-related environmental degradation and support the resilience of the ecosystems upon which food production depends, agri-food system governance must become more equitable and nuanced, allowing for tangible consideration of the challenges that different agriculture sectors face.