Macra na Feirme has called on the government to “come clean on the plans to cut the national herd”.
The young farmer association’s president John Keane said: “[Recent] comments made by [environment] Minister Eamon Ryan suggest that farmers would be expected to reduce cow numbers to grow grass and other crops to supply anaerobic digestion plants.”
The minister was speaking in the context of reducing emissions from the agriculture sector and how agriculture can play its part.
“Macra na Feirme [has] consistently outlined measures that can be taken at farm level to reduce emissions from Irish farms,” Keane continued.
“Macra na Feirme [has] also questioned the accuracy of the science supporting emission factors contained in the inventory used to calculate Ireland’s agricultural emissions.”
Minister Eamon Ryan spoke about the role forestry can play at reducing emissions from agriculture and also the role that anaerobic digestion can play.
Macra na Feirme has said that its understanding is that under the current carbon accounting, model forestry is accounted for under the LULUCF (land use, land-use change, and forestry) sector, while anaerobic digestion is accounted for under the energy sector – neither of which will be reflected in the agricultural sector’s budget.
“This can only mean one thing: That the grand plan within the government is to reduce emissions from the agricultural sector by switching agricultural land to produce crops for anaerobic digestion or forestry and thus reducing available land for livestock production,” Keane continued.
The young farmers’ association said that no full-scale economic assessment has been conducted to ascertain the economic return for farmers from anaerobic digestion or long-term forestry.
“Young people are looking for certainty and this latest development casts doubt for the future; Macra na Feirme needs to see real strategies to develop a sustainable future for young people in farming,” Keane concluded.