Mr. Con Traas:

My statement will be more specific than some of the general ones that are there so far. I was thinking about addressing reductions in emissions that might be realisable for orchard plantations and general horticultural considerations. I thank members of the committee for extending me the privilege of addressing them in the context of the potential contribution of the apple-growing sector and the contribution orchards can make to biodiversity.

I have been concerned about a changing climate for many years. I gave my first talk on it in 1990, while still a student in UCD, to a class of agricultural science students who were in the same class as I was. It did not feature in the course in those days, and I thought that needed addressing. Thirty years or more have passed since then and rather than words, actions are needed. Unfortunately, some of those might not be so easy to do as they would have been if we had started back then, and maybe not so popular.

I have a number of occupations and positions, which include being an apple grower, owner of a small company which manufactures beverages, chair of the Irish Apple Growers Association, lecturer in biology, horticulture, and plant physiology at the University of Limerick, and chair of the Tipperary Food Producers Network. My position in the University of Limerick allows me to spend time on research, which generally revolves around apple and fruit production and how to do that more sustainably.

I have come here to answer any questions members might have on the ability of apple orchards to sequester carbon and their potential contribution from a biodiversity aspect. I might also have knowledge in respect of the broader challenges facing the State, particularly the agriculture sector, in achieving targets, and the role that the horticulture sector can play in that. The horticulture sector has an annual output of about €500 million, making it the fourth largest sector after beef, dairy and pigs. While there are significant exports of mushrooms, imports of fresh produce exceed domestic production by a factor of three. There are about 6,000 people employed directly in horticulture and another 10,000 in downstream activities. From an environmental and social sustainability perspective, as well as food security, we ought to be doing better.

The apple-growing sector in the Republic of Ireland is very small, with only about 5% of apples consumed being grown here, and extends to a little more than 500 ha in total. At the moment, there is an apple redevelopment group at work under the stewardship of Dermot Callaghan, head of horticulture at Teagasc, along with Bord Bia, the Department of agriculture, and the Irish Apple Growers Association. Our hope is that this group can set out a roadmap for the expansion of the apple-growing sector over the next decade, and that an outcome of this will be increased apple production, with the benefit of increased carbon sequestration due to the orchard plantations.

Figures calculated by Dr. Ken Byrne, a colleague of mine at the University of Limerick, show that apple orchards in Ireland sequester carbon at a rate of approximately 11 tonnes of CO2 per hectare per year, which is broadly in line with figures reported in the literature for orchards in other countries and compares reasonably with the gold-standard carbon sequestering land use, which is forestry. The latter sector sequesters at a rate about 50% higher on good quality lands such as would typically be used for orchard production.

One of the attractive elements of apple production from a carbon sequestration perspective is that it requires good land, so where a new orchard is planted, it is probably on land that would otherwise be used for dairy or tillage. As well as the carbon sequestration achieved by orchards, there is a benefit in that land will probably be taken from a net emission sector, such as bovines or tillages. The latter sector is carbon-emitting, at least in the way it is conventionally practised. Therefore, a land-use change from dairy to orchards has a double benefit in reducing emissions and increasing sequestration.

Unfortunately, the potential for land-use change to apples in Ireland is limited. Apple orchards are highly productive. the addition of 1,000 ha would represent a significant change to the existing industry and is as much as could be expected in a free-market scenario, given that some people would always want apples that cannot be grown in Ireland and so on. Such a programme of 1,000 ha would lead to sequestration of 11,000 tonnes of CO2 per annum. If this represented plantings that would otherwise support dairy, it would provide the double benefit I mentioned but it would still be small in the context of total agricultural emissions, which are about 1,000 times that figure.

Even though our contribution may be small, the apple-growing sector is eager to make that contribution. Growers feel fortunate to be producing the only food crop in Ireland that is simultaneously carbon-sequestering. Any policies implemented that support the sector to increase in size will result in less imports, rural job creation, improved biodiversity, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

Some things that will hopefully come up in conversation will be: a ban on below-cost selling; adequate resourcing of Teagasc for horticulture; and succession and encouraging young people into horticulture.