Agriculture’s central role is rooted in the EU Green Deal and the EU fit for 55, reducing the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030.
These are extremely ambitious sectoral targets, specifically in Ireland’s case, with agriculture representing 38.5% of national GHG emissions.
Therefore, Irish agriculture must undergo fundamental and structural changes to meet the reduced industry specific targets of 25% or 5.75 Mt Co2 eq.
However, the Irish State is looking towards agriculture - or more accurately land involved in agriculture - to source 3.2 Mt Co2 Eq of renewable energy to also meet legally binding targets.
The much-discussed National Biomethane Strategy (NBS) coupled with national energy security plans are looking for solar, onshore wind and biomethane to mobilise agricultural land to reach renewable energy reduction targets.
However, these targets will be used to reduce the carbon footprint of our energy sector and not the agricultural sector.
Proposed energy generation targets constitute only 3.02% of agricultural land generating 3.4% of the country’s energy requirement. That 3.02% of land use change seems extremely modest. But the proposed renewable sources seem to currently be competing with land uses that are already in decline.
Solar farms are also often located on very high-quality land in Ireland. A Teagasc study in 2024 showed the most expensive land in Ireland tended to be in the southeast of the country.
The solar atlas of the SEAI shows the southeast receives the highest average levels of solar radiation.
Consequently, there is a higher rate of solar farms in the Southeast compared with other parts of the country.
Furthermore, solar farms, along with the proposed biomethane industry, will be located in highly productive areas such as the southeast, inserting another competitor for land and resources with tillage farmers who represent a carbon-neutral sector providing unique habitats for farmland birds and raw materials for the dynamic Irish food and beverage industry.
In addition, another land use change that is struggling is our binding targets to reach 18% forestry cover. Afforestation of 18,000 hectares of land each year would provide the agricultural sector with carbon sequestration and subsequent carbon credits, while providing society with enhanced biodiversity, ecosystem services, clean air and the enhancement of our countryside.
The rapid expansion of our solar panel farms versus the staggeringly low afforestation rates is cause for consternation when comparing the sustainability of one versus the other, considering sustainability in the wider sense.
The perceived mobilisation of ‘land that is doing nothing’ for energy produce doesn’t give due consideration for the other potential land use changes or enhanced farming practises that may prove more sustainable. Existing extensive grassland or carbon-neutral tillage have the capacity to produce ‘low-carbon footprint’ food for global consumers.
Recent EIPs for our native curlew, Farming for Water and the national pollinator plan show when due consideration is given, Irish agriculture will enhance biodiversity and water quality services. These are aspects of sustainability that seem to be largely ignored by our renewable energy sector strategic outlook.
It must be recognised that renewable energy generation using land can be achieved in harmony with agricultural activities. Future land requirements to meet overall national targets should decrease as renewable wind and solar technologies improves. Sheep can graze the land between solar panel arrays and cattle and pigs can also graze this land should the right adjustments be made during the construction phase, such as raising the panels 1.5 to 2 metres off the ground.
Therefore, land used for wind turbines and solar panels can be multi-purpose. Strategies to retain the positive land activities in conjunction renewable energy generation should be central to land mobilisation.
However, the one-dimensional approach to our land use strategy for energy generation seems to ignore built-in sustainability opportunities in our unique primarily pastoral landscape.
Swapping herbivores, crops and trees for concrete anaerobic digestors and glass and aluminium solar panel farms seem like a dystopian strategy in making Ireland a more sustainable country.
As the often described ‘custodians of the countryside’, farmers are a critical actor in making Ireland more sustainable. But farmers and agriculture must firstly ensure due allocation of sustainability gains are given to agriculture when land use change is employed for decarbonisation and reducing national emissions.
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