The Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS) has called for increased funding for farmer advisory services targeted at addressing climate change and other sustainability challenges.

The umbrella body for Irish co-ops launched a 40-page report, Positive steps towards a low carbon future for the Irish dairy sector on Wednesday, in which it rowed in behind the growing dairy sector.

ICOS called for anaerobic digestion, solar technology, imaging to measure carbon sequestration and new technologies such as seaweed inclusion in ruminant diets, to be strongly funded by the Minister for Agriculture.

“While the report recognises that there is no magic bullet solution, we emphasise that widespread adoption of mitigation measures requires funding and our recommendations will require the full backing and support from the Irish Government to ensure their implementation,” ICOS policy officer Eamon Farrell told the Irish Farmers Journal.

The organisation suggests that farmers must drive the sustainability and climate message with knowledge-sharing groups, also suggesting that there may be a need to go back to one-to-one advisory programmes alongside groups.

When questioned as to why the onus for change and investment was on dairy farmers rather than dairy processors to meet new targets and new energy-based technologies, Farrell said: “The objective of this report was to look at actions and recommendations for dairy farmers and the wider industry supporting farmers.

“Just last week, we have seen the Dutch government put aside €200m for solar roof panels on Dutch farms and over €130m for anaerobic digestion technologies. We need similar initiatives.”