Mr. Joseph Curtin:

I will make a brief comment in reply to Deputy Smith. The Institute of International and European Affairs published a report on climate smart agriculture recently. Some of the points Deputy Smith has made are interesting. We probably need to look more at land use rather than doing everything as efficiently as we can. We need to do everything as efficiently as we can, but we also need to look at our land use choices.

In 1984 when the milk quota was introduced we had limited beef production and far more milk production. Now, milk quotas have been abolished. We need to decide in a big picture sense where this will bring us in the coming ten years. Are we going to try to focus on the things that I would describe as climate-smart? Such approaches are economically good for farming and rural communities as well as being emissions-efficient. We need a bigger debate on this question. I welcome the comments of Deputy Smith. She has touched on some interesting issues. I urge committee members to read the IIEA report on climate smart agriculture.