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The IFA will work with a 22% carbon emissions reduction target, according to its president Tim Cullinan.
Cullinan said he received no reassurances from the Minister for Agriculture on whether Government supports would mitigate the multibillion-euro impact of the emissions reduction targets on farm incomes.
“We were saying we committed, and I committed, that we would work with a 22% reduction and we want to hold it at that.
“Where I would be more at is that this is a range, to ensure that he stays at 22%.
“That’s why we’re making the clear point that we are not going to support any reduction [in production] anywhere.”
Science
The Tipperary farmer described how science and technology is “evolving”.
“There’s an awful lot of work being done with Teagasc on measuring the methane from bovines. ICBF is doing a lot of work as well.”
“We’re going to need time around all of that,” he said, adding that the minister didn’t commit to allowing for that time.
However, Cullinan said that Minister McConalogue did commit to “bringing the stakeholders together”.
“He’s going to reconvene the members of the Food Vision 2030 as well. What they did commit to today is working and engaging with us going forward and that was something we have been looking for for a long time.”
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