The Climate Action Plan confirmed for agriculture earlier this week represents a good news story for an industry that has been living in fear of the very word ‘carbon’ for the past 12 months and more.
I have always held strongly to the view that agriculture must be seen as part of the solution to climate change, and not just the villain of the piece.
And, in my opinion, the implementation of the Climate Action Plan should make this a reality.
But let’s get one thing straight from the off. Within a fast-evolving scenario, which could see the world run out of food within the next decade, an Irish government was never going to agree a plan that would reduce the food production capacity of the country on a mandatory basis.
And, if this was ever going to look like a possibility, all the farming organisations had to do was dust down the previously agreed Food Harvest 2020 strategy and pull out the production targets set down within that document.
The clarion call at that stage would have quickly become – why should Irish farmers be victimised for meeting the terms of an edict implemented by their own government?
But, thankfully, it never came to that.
Climate Action Plan
The details of the climate action plan make for very interesting reading.
The commitment to expand the footprint of the tillage sector must be welcomed. It’s a proposal that ticks every box.
Moreover, the big ticket items within the plan seem pretty achievable to me. Chief among these is the commitment to bring the average slaughter age of cattle down to 22 months over the coming years.
At a very practical level, this should not be a problem. All we need is an actual date from the meat plants in terms of making this happen.
Once all of this is put into the public domain, farmers will have no option but to respond.
The scope to improve grassland management and animal husbandry standards within the beef industry is immense. So it’s not as if farmers will be asked to achieve something that is beyond their abilities.
And let’s not forget, the beef industry in the UK and Ireland survived the shock of bringing the slaughter age of prime cattle down to 30 months, almost overnight, in the wake of BSE (mad cow disease).
So getting the age down to 22 months by 2030 should be more than achievable.
Meanwhile, I sense that the European Commission will ‘green light’ Ireland’s grass-fed PGI application in the very near future. So, livestock farmers here have plenty to look forward to as 2023 beckons.