Kate O'Connell (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In the conversation about the 30% reduction in emissions from agriculture, and in light of the climate emergency, it often seems to be forgotten that we need to eat high-quality food. It seems to be left out of the conversation that the end product of the agricultural sector is the food on supermarket shelves. There is an argument that the only way to reduce emissions is to cull the herd but there are tiny farmers with five or six head of cattle - usually bad, old cows that nobody else wants - as a hobby, although I mean them no disrespect. The issue is that many small farmers have inefficient animals, which might be infertile or might not produce good milk, and they contribute to the overall negative picture. As Mr. Gleeson noted, however, we must breed and feed correctly, and get as many calves as possible from each cow before returning them to production and sending the calves and milk to wherever. The key is making the herd more efficient rather than indiscriminately culling animals for the sake of the bottom-line figure. How does that assessment sit with Mr. Gleeson?