A stable national herd, not a cut in cow numbers, is what carbon reduction from farming requires, according to Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue.“My objective is that we meet our targets without cutting the national herd. It is achievable but challenging,” he said on Wednesday, adding that the herd has been stabilising over the last two years following rapid post-quota dairy expansion “in the middle of the decade”.
A stable national herd, not a cut in cow numbers, is what carbon reduction from farming requires, according to Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue.
“My objective is that we meet our targets without cutting the national herd. It is achievable but challenging,” he said on Wednesday, adding that the herd has been stabilising over the last two years following rapid post-quota dairy expansion “in the middle of the decade”.
We need to reduce emissions, but in order to start reducing, you have to plateau and stabilise
Green Party TD and Minister of State Pippa Hackett agreed.
“Currently, we haven’t been able as a sector to stabilise emissions.
“We need to reduce emissions, but in order to start reducing, you have to plateau and stabilise,” she said.
“There are plenty of mechanisms there, in terms of encouraging and supporting farmers to reduce fertiliser use, grasses (multispecies swards) we can grow.”
This appears to contradict John Fitzgerald, a member of the Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC) and its recent chair. Last weekend, he repeated his opinion that the national herd needs to be cut by half a million cows.
While there has been much discussion of the recent comments of EPA director Laura Burke, her statement that continued future expansion of the dairy herd is unsustainable actually fits the same “stable herd” narrative as that expressed by the Government.
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