The need for collaboration between the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was highlighted at a conference today (Wednesday, November 15).
Brendan Gleeson, secretary general at DAFM, said the department needs “to work very closely with the with EPA” and that “it’s really important that we that we respect the function of the EPA as a regulator”.
“There can’t be any denial of the science here, that’s very important,” he added.
He made the comments during a panel discussion at the Agriculture and Climate Change: Science in Action conference taking place at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
The event was hosted by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, Minister of State with responsibility for research, Martin Heydon and Minister of State for land use, Pippa Hackett.
Over 500 delegates from across the agri-food sector attended the event to hear the latest science and policy developments relating to agriculture and climate change.
Gleeson said it was important that farmers know that “many of the things” the department is asking farmers to do is “perfectly compatible with the livestock enterprises they’re running”.
“We need to get better at communicating that reality.
“What we’re trying to do is persuade ordinary citizens to change their behaviour and people running our businesses to do difficult things and that’s not easy,” Gleeson said.
Collaboration highlighted at conference
Laura Burke, director general of the EPA said during her time with the agency, she has “never had more engagement with the agricultural community”, despite the EPA being seen as “very adversarial” when it began.
She referred to the “really good things happening” in farming, referring to the reduced use of chemical fertiliser.
“It’s great to see see those reductions and in many ways we don’t mind what the reason is behind it, as long as we get the result, so if it’s an economic reason or or whatever it might be.
“I’d like to see a few more years of reduced emissions before we could say really we’re on the path.”
Burke added that the narrative of Irish agriculture needs to change, as it has always tended to be about “production and income” but it must move to what the “new opportunities are”.
Pat Dillon, director of research at Teagasc, also told delgates at the conference that “there’s really positive things happening” and referred to the collaborative research Ireland is involved in with countries from across the world.
He said this collaboration allows the research authority to ask if progress in Ireland is “up there” with the other countries, or “should we be trying harder with the research programmes we were putting in and and looking for those changes on the farm quite quickly”.