The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has said that the agricultural emissions ceiling, which emerged this weekend, would be “extremely challenging”.
While the government has not formally announced the sectoral targets yet, it’s understood that emissions from agriculture in Ireland will have to be reduced by between 21% and 30% by 2030.
Under the national Climate Action Plan, the country will have to cut its overall emissions by 51% by the end of this decade, across all sectors of the national economy.
“We will need to see the full details before we can properly assess the potential impact on the sector, but there is no doubt but that it will pose huge challenges,” president of the IFA, Tim Cullinan has said.
Impact of farming livelihoods
Cullinan continued: “For most people, climate action will impact on their lifestyle. For farmers, it will impact on our livelihoods.
“We need to sit down with the government to make a plan for the sector that can contribute to emissions reduction, but that does not impact on farmer’s livelihoods.
“Proper funding must be in place to help farmers implement climate action measures,” he added.
Agricultural emissions in other countries
The IFA has said that there is frustration among farmers as they believe that if less food is produced in Ireland, it will be produced elsewhere, with a higher carbon footprint.
“The world’s population is growing and is likely to increase from 7.5 billion today to 10 billion by 2050. More food will be needed, not less,” Cullinan said.
The IFA said that from 1999 to 2019, vehicle numbers in Ireland have increased by 75%, passengers to Dublin Airport have increased by 155%, while cattle numbers have remained the same.
“There is a huge amount of misinformation out there. Ireland’s grass-based system is extremely efficient. The government must support farmers, not regulate them out of business,” Cullinan concluded.
Other farmer responses
The IFA response to the agricultural emissions targets echoes a call made by the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA), calling for more funding in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to help the agri sector meets its climate targets.
President of that association, Dermot Kelleher said: “While we all need to meet the climate change challenge, we need to move in step with other EU states.
“There is no point in doing more than other member states, if the price is the destruction of every rural community in the country,” he added.