Food Vision Dairy Group recommends voluntary retirement scheme

The Food Vision Dairy Group has published its draft interim report containing a list of 17 recommendations, including a voluntary retirement scheme.

The group, chaired by former director of Teagasc, Prof. Gerry Boyle, is tasked with examining ways for the dairy sector to help achieve targets for agriculture and land use in the Climate Action Plan 2021.

It was established by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue in January.

Members of the group include farming organisation, dairy processors, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), state agencies, and University College Dublin (UCD).

Food Vision Dairy Group report

In the draft report, it is noted that the Irish dairy industry accepts it must transform its way of doing business if it is to achieve the demanding emissions reductions set out in the Climate Action Act 2021.

The document outlines 17 recommendations to help the sector in this regard. These are set out in the short, medium and long term, and correspond with the three proposed carbon budget periods.

Among the proposals are reducing chemical nitrogen (N) usage by 35% and ensuring all dairy farmers adopt low-emission slurry spreading (LESS) by the end of 2025.

The group states that a voluntary retirement or “exit scheme” should be considered for the dairy sector in the medium term.

The report also highlights the need to explore carbon production at farm level and the possibility of an emissions trading scheme.

The full list of recommendations are as follows:

Consider voluntary retirement/exit scheme;
Explore the potential of a cap and trade methane-focused emissions model;
Explore the possibility of monitoring carbon production at individual farm level with a view to future carbon farming options;
Reduce chemical N use in the dairy sector by 35% in the short term;
Achieve an 80% replacement rate of CAN with protected urea by the end of 2025 for grass based dairy production systems;
Slurry amendments (acidification) – ensure 100% adoption of slurry additives by the end of 2025;
Develop methane mitigating feed technologies;
Development of breeding strategies;
Common policy on milk intake from new entrants;
Increase investment in climate change research and in knowledge transfer (KT) and establish a Climate Change Research Liaison Group (CCRLG ) with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA);
Develop a climate action communications strategy;
Increased adoption of low-emissions slurry spreading;
Nitrogen use efficiency – liming and soil pH – ensure 100% of dairy farms are soil testing for pH;
Clover adoption and Multi-Species (MSS) – ensure 100% adoption by the end of 2025;
Milk recording – ensure 100% adoption rate by end of 2025;
Develop energy diversification opportunities;
Co-op sustainability programmes.