The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue has said that any measure or policy introduced by the government will not be forced upon farmers.
Speaking at the opening of the Tullamore Show today (August 14), the minister said that a key priority of his in agreeing the agriculture sectoral budget was ensuring that all measures for farmers would be voluntary.
“Some sort of draconian forced-reduction of livestock numbers never entered the equation for me,” he said.
“But I think it’s fair to say that there will be changes to the methods of farming over the next decade especially in the area of increased use of energy generation which I mentioned earlier.
“Where that leads to changes, where that leads to farmers taking more a leadership role in energy generation with livestock, that would obviously mean fewer cattle or sheep or livestock in general on an individual’s farm.
“I am very proud that the agriculture sector is the first sector in Ireland to produce a credible roadmap transitioning the sector towards our long-term ambition of climate neutrality by 2050.
“The AgClimatise roadmap will continue to play a pivotal role as we move forward on this journey.”
‘Balance is key’ – McConalogue
Speaking about the 25% reductions in emissions for the agricultural sector, Minister McConalogue said that “balance is key” between meeting the targets and keeping farmers farming “now and into the future”.
“This will be a decade of change for the sector but the bedrock will continue to be high-quality dairy, beef and sheep proteins as well as our tillage crops for the next 10, 20 and even 30 years,” the minister added.
“We have set ourselves an ambitious target for the next decade but it is achievable.
“The setting of the cross sectoral targets by the government is not the end of the journey, it is not even the beginning of one.
“Farmers and this sector have been on a pathway to reduce emissions for many years, but we are now stepping up those ambitions.
“I will back farm families and this government will too over the course of the next decade to reach our ambitious targets.”