The updated 2025 Climate Action Plan puts emissions reduction progress for the agricultural sector at just 2.9% from the 2018 baseline, making the 2030 reduction target of 25% a “significant challenge”.

The plan states that emissions were cut 4.6% or 1.0 MtCO2eq between 2022 and 2023.

An action plan drawn up in collaboration with State agencies and industry on reducing the age of cattle at slaughter is to be released before the second half of this year as part of the bid to improve progress on cutting emissions.

The Climate Action Plan targets an average slaughter age of 24 to 25 months for prime cattle by 2025.

Age at slaughter has increased marginally every year since 2018, up to 26.5 months last year.

On fertiliser, the climate plan commits to exploring “industry measures” to boost the use of protected urea in favour of CAN.

It states that work must be undertaken with all stakeholders to achieve “behavioural change in terms of fertiliser choice”.

Quarterly fertiliser sales data is to be published to help monitor progress on protected urea’s share of the fertiliser market.

Organics

An additional 30,000ha must also be found over the coming months to expand organic farming if the 250,000ha target laid out in the plan for this year is to be met.

The reopening of the Organic Farming Scheme is stated to be among the measures with significant potential to create opportunities for Irish farmers to diversify their farming enterprises.

The plan lists taking action on the “challenge of securing access to and cost of feed in the organic livestock sector, particularly in relation to organic milling” as a measure to be undertaken this year.

Establishing current organic feed costs and identifying “price pinch points” is to be completed to feed into a framework aimed at reducing cost, with a target publication deadline set for the end of 2025.

Organic farming actions appear in the plan under the heading of diversification, which is the same area that targets the construction of “up to 20 anaerobic digestion plants of scale”.