Low prices for milk and other commodities are causing major income problems for farmers in Ireland and across the EU.

The implications of Brexit for future prices, trading arrangements and EU agricultural policy are causing further uncertainties. In these unpromising circumstances, are politicians and policy-makers ready to focus on such longer-term issues as creating more sustainable food systems, global food security and climate change?

We may be about to find the answer to this question. On Thursday 14 July, Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed will launch the independent Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA)/RDS report on “A Climate-Smart Pathway for Irish Agricultural Development”.

The report is the outcome of the IIEA/RDS Leadership Forum on Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) which, over the past 18 months, has brought together key stakeholders from government departments and state agencies, farm organisations and the private sector, environmental and development NGOs, to answer the question of what role should CSA play in the future of Irish agriculture. The Forum also considered Ireland’s possible role in addressing one of the great questions of the 21st century – how to achieve global food and nutrition security while tackling climate change.

Climate-smart agriculture is an idea which has gained importance internationally in recent years. It seeks to deliver a triple win of increasing agricultural productivity and incomes, building resilience to climate impacts such as flooding, and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The report arrives at a clear conclusion: Ireland should seek to position itself within the EU and internationally as a leader in CSA.

But the report is clear that if Ireland is to strive for international leadership in CSA, it will need to take the progress already made to another level.

A large part of the Forum’s work focused on proposed additional changes within the farm gate and the wider rural community. There are many climate-smart technologies and farming practices already available. There are economic opportunities for farmers and rural communities from investing in renewable energy and the report recommends the introduction of financial incentives to support such investment opportunities.

The report raises many important issues which need further debate. After the ending of milk quotas, how can dairying expansion occur in the most climate-smart and carbon-efficient way? The acreage of forestry will need to expand to serve as a carbon sink and a contributor to meeting the challenging national emissions targets, as well as building resilience against flooding in vulnerable areas. How can such forestry expansion occur while respecting the concerns of local communities about preserving population and social infrastructure?

The report may be timely in that it raises issues which will become more important in the context of the next reorientation of the EU’s CAP, to be discussed from 2018 onwards. Part of this debate will inevitably focus on a further greening of the CAP. It will be in Ireland’s interests to present itself as a leader in CSA, as part of a discussion aiming to change the narrative from seeing the CAP as a large provider of subsidies to European farmers to a vision of the CAP which is making investments in environmental benefits European society wants and is prepared to pay for.

In establishing the leadership forum on CSA, the IIEA and RDS sought to improve the quality of dialogue among stakeholders with a range of divergent views on agriculture and the environment – our working method was based on the principle of “good science and good manners” – and we believe we have achieved some success in that regard. But our wider purpose was to enhance the quality of the debate, at Irish, European and international level, on the critically important issues of food and nutrition security and climate change.

Tom Arnold is director general of the IIEA. Tom Kirley is chairman of the RDS Committee on Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

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