Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue has said that livestock numbers are “stabilising”, with figures from the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) showing a decrease in the number of cows by 27,000 in 2023.
In response to a parliamentary question, the minister said that he “made it clear” that there will not be any compulsory reduction in the numbers of cows, and that emissions from agriculture are already reducing.
Provisional data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows that greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture in Ireland decreased by 1.2% following a decrease in nitrogen fertiliser use by 14%.
Figures for 2023 have not been finalised, but a further decrease is expected and total emissions from agriculture are projected to decrease by 4% over the period 2021-2030.
The minister said he will offer diversification options to farmers, including organic farming, forestry and tillage.
Minister McConalogue is also working on publishing a biomethane strategy that will provide an alternative use for grass forage and slurry, while contributing to reductions in emissions from agriculture and to the delivery of Ireland’s renewable energy targets.
He said that existing climate change mitigation measures and if the development of methane reducing feed additives is commercialised should “have the potential to significantly reduce emissions from agriculture without a corresponding reduction in livestock numbers”.
He added that the Climate Action Plan includes a range of measures to reduce emissions from agriculture, such as reductions in the use of chemical nitrogen (N), the substitution of inhibited urea for other forms of fertiliser, and reductions in the protein content of animal feed.
“Furthermore, the implementation of a low methane emitting breeding programme has significant potential to harness the genetic variation for methane emissions that exists within the national herd.
“In turn, this will bring about permanent and cumulative reductions in the methane output of future generations of livestock,” Minister McConalogue said.