It's time to stop scapegoating farmers

Recent EPA analysis points to the largest proportion of climate emissions coming from agriculture.

However, it is important to view this analysis in the right context.

Unlike other European countries, Ireland does not have large scale industrial or manufacturing sectors.

Since 1990, agricultural output has grown by over 40%, while our emissions have marginally increased by 1%. There is a need to continue to develop technologies which reduce emissions per unit of output.

The science in this area is developing all the time. This is where we should focus our energies, rather than on stock numbers, which are still lower than what we had in the mid-nineties.

Government must continue to work with the agri-food sector and lead the co-ordinated delivery of Teagasc’s Climate Roadmap, which sets out an emissions reduction plan for the next decade, without impacting on the national herd.

The implementation of this plan requires the approach of the whole Government and must be led by the Department of An Taoiseach.

Carbon credit

Additionally, farmers are not getting sufficient credit for the carbon they sequestered through hedgerows and grasslands. This is a point of real frustration for farmers.

We should be able to calculate the net emissions from farming, giving credit for the carbon farmers are taking out of the atmosphere.

Farming is the back-bone of balanced sustainable development in Ireland. It’s our largest indigenous sector, employing over 300,000 people in almost every parish in the country.

Growth in output from the sector continues to outpace stock numbers, ensuring our climate-efficient model of food production continues.

The European Union’s Joint Research Centre has confirmed that our dairy farmers are the most carbon efficient food producers and our beef farmers are in the top five.

The reality is, if we don’t produce food here in Ireland, it will be produced elsewhere with a much higher carbon footprint, contributing to increased global emissions.