It’s time to face up to a few fundamental facts where climate change is concerned, and forestry must be part of the debate.
Given the current state of scientific research, Irish tillage farmers might just be able to come up with a plan to make their businesses carbon neutral over the next decade or so.
But for everyone else, carbon neutrality is just a pipe dream. And this is especially so on intensive pig, poultry, dairy and beef farms.
So what to do, given the tremendous focus that continues to be put on farming’s response to climate change?
Production agriculture and forestry credits
At a very fundamental level, I disagree with the intense (and totally unfair) public scrutiny that has been put on production agriculture from a carbon footprint perspective.
Surely the challenge to respond to climate change is one that should be spread across society as a whole in equal measure.
But let’s just say that the state-of-play remains as is, and intensive livestock farmers start really looking at how they can maintain current animal numbers while securing some form of carbon compliancy, what can they actually do?
One option might be to go off site and invest in forestry. By taking this approach farmers would, in effect, be creating their own carbon credits.
What we do know already is that growing trees will sequester large tonnages of carbon each year. So there is no reason why this sequestration activity cannot be factored back into farming business, thereby reducing its overall carbon footprint.
Let’s be honest, I can think of at least five airlines and a similar number of insurance businesses that are taking this very approach right now.
Planting trees in Ireland
The other reality, of course, is that the island of Ireland has the perfect climate in which to grow trees.
And, of course there are literally hundreds of thousands of acres of land around the country which would be more than suitable, from a woodland creation point of view.
For the record, this is not me saying – let’s plant out the rest of Co. Leitrim. Absolutely not.
There are large numbers of sites around the country that could be used to create more than viable woodlands.
Nor am I saying that we need to push with an absolute commitment to conifer planting. It strikes me that new forests and woodlands, planted to mitigate the impact of climate, would have to have an extremely long shelf life.
And in this context, surely the rationale to establish native broadleaf woodlands becomes obvious.
But the reality is that the creation of new forestry and woodland sites should be able to help production agriculture throughout Ireland reduce its carbon footprint.
And, as a starting point in this debate, I think it would be more than useful to hear what the likes of Collite and the Irish government have to say on the matter.