It has urged Euro-MPs to think carefully when they vote on new IPPC proposals at the end of the month.

“We were concerned that agricultural and horticultural businesses were included in the first place in the scope of the European Union legislation," said secretary-general Pekka Pesonen.

"The legislation was originally intended to control emissions from large power stations and industrial plants.

"Farming poses a very small risk to the environment compared to these sectors. And now European Union ministers have proposed including a clause to review the scope of the directive to include many more pig and poultry farms, cattle farms and horticulture businesses. This would raise costs for farmers even more, threatening their viability.

“Copa-Cogeca broadly welcomes the revised text by the lead rapporteur in Parliament Holger Krahmer, but we are worried about plans to introduce minimum limit values for IPPC installations and burdensome requirements to expand best practices manure spreading outside of Nitrate Vulnerable Zones.

"It is not practical or feasible to set minimum emission limit values for agriculture. Not only would this draft legislation raise costs substantially for farmers, it would also increase administrative costs for the national authorities.

"The costs of these proposals far outweigh the benefits. I consequently call on MEPs to take our demands into account when voting on the revised text at the end of the month“.

The move comes ahead of a vote by European Parliaments’ environment committee on the revised text by Holger Krahmer later this month. A common position has been reached on this by the European Union council and it’s at second reading stage.