DEAR EDITOR,

I refer to the recent letter from Dr Murphy-Bokern (Irish Farmers Journal, 8 February).

Teagasc does not seek to cause confusion and has clearly stated that methane is a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) and needs to be reduced.

Further, Teagasc scientists understand the complexity, implications and limitations of different metrics used and debated by the climate science community to account for the warming effect of the different GHGs carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.

Strong research

Teagasc has a very strong research and knowledge transfer programme around reducing agricultural GHG emissions. Many farmers will be familiar with the Teagasc-led Signpost Programme, and the Teagasc Marginal Abatement Cost Curve (MACC) published in 2023 has outlined a pathway to achieve the sectoral 2030 targets.

This has underpinned Government policy on climate change in relation to reducing emissions from the agriculture and land-use sector.

Teagasc completely rejects the assertion that it is a climate denying organisation.