Teagasc director, Prof. Frank O’Mara has said he expects to see carbon farming “in some shape or form” introduced in the next few years.
Speaking at the Cavan Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) annual general meeting which took place at the Lavey Inn, Co. Cavan, last night (Monday, January 15), Teagasc director said: “I think we all know carbon is going to be important in the future.
“We can expect to see carbon farming in some shape or form introduced in the next few years.”
He indicated that is it not yet clear what carbon farming will look like: “There’s a lot of work to be done to know what that [carbon farming] will mean,” he added.
The Teagasc director was invited to speak at the Cavan IFA AGM and gave an informative overview on a range of topics relevant to farming in Cavan. The meeting was chaired by Cavan IFA chair, Maurice Brady.
The Teagasc boss had come on to the subject of carbon farming when he was explaining why carbon was included as a weighting in the updated Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) Euro Star beef breeding index.
The new evaluations for the indexes have caused a significant level of frustration amongst many members of beef breed societies.
He explained that many farmers were wondering why carbon was included in the index and noted that farmers are not currently paid for carbon.
On this matter, he said: “The indices and breeding is a long-term game. You’re not selecting bulls or replacement stock for next year’s crop, you’re selecting for long-term change in your herd.”
He explained that this is why “carbon was introduced into the index”.
He added that its weighting on the overall index is “starting at a small level, I think it’s 6 or 8% of the index is related to carbon”. It’s also in the Economic Breeding Index (EBI) and the Dairy Beef Index (DBI).
The Teagasc director also touched on issues relating to water quality and the Nitrates Derogation as well as other issues relating to all sectors of agriculture in Cavan and allowed for time at the end to answer questions from farmers.