DEAR SIR: Farm emissions reduction versus food production must be resolved.

In Ireland, we consistently take food supply for granted. This is largely due to the fact that we continuously produce more food than our population of five million people consumes.

However, this wasn’t always the case, especially during the Great Famine in the 1840s and 100 years later in the 1940s when World War II was raging.

While it is unlikely that Ireland will experience this level of food shortage again, it is still foolish and imprudent to take food security for granted.

Due to the war in Ukraine, there is now a serious wheat supply problem emerging, which could escalate to a scarcity of wheat-related consumables including bread.

It is therefore vital that the current divisions between climate change activists and the Green Party and farmers as food producers be resolved.

Of course, farming emissions will have to be reduced, which has been acknowledged by most farming organisations.

Clearly the effects of climate change are now evident and will require maximum efforts from governments and administrations around the world to achieve global emissions reduction.

As a retired farmer, I think Minister Ryan is being unrealistic in seeking a 30% emissions reduction given the importance of food production.

It is therefore vital that the Government fully values food security and allows the farming sector a lower and more achievable emissions threshold.