Mr. Brian Rushe:

I thank the committee for the invitation to this meeting. This is an important debate. I echo the comments made by the other contributors concerning the diversity of views and opinions, which is very important.

As many are aware, farming and the wider agrifood sector are the backbone of economic activity in rural Ireland. In 2019, Ireland's agrifood sector was valued at €14.5 billion. It is Ireland’s largest indigenous sector, providing employment to over 300,000 people, directly and indirectly. Climate change is arguably the greatest challenge facing the world today, with farmers very much on the front line. Irish farmers understand they have a unique role to play in meeting the climate change challenge. They are committed to playing their part in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, this must be done in a fair and balanced way.

Irish farming is a world leader in grass-based food production and is a highly emissions efficient, sustainable food production model. In dealing with the climate change challenge, it is imperative that Irish farmers’ current sustainability credentials are fully acknowledged at the outset. These include the following aspects. Irish dairy and beef output is extremely efficient from a carbon footprint perspective. Irish milk production has the lowest carbon footprint in the EU, while Irish beef production has the fifth lowest. Despite what many would lead us to believe, the carbon-efficient expansion of milk production in Ireland has helped displace 4 million tonnes of carbon which would have been emitted had the equivalent dairy product been produced outside of Ireland. The majority of Irish farms are not intensively stocked. More than 60% of livestock farms are stocked at less than the equivalent of 0.33 cows per acre. Ireland is not an intensive agriculture country.

Ireland’s overall livestock numbers have remained relatively static over the last 30 years. The number of cattle in Ireland remained the same from 1999 to 2019. During the same period, Irish vehicle numbers rose by 75% and the number of passengers going through Dublin Airport increased by 155%.

Irish farming is predominantly a grass-based system. As a result, the use of direct energy, such as electricity, on Irish farms, at 56% of the EU average, is very low by European and international standards.

Irish farmers have a strong track record in participating in agri-environment schemes. Today, 33% of Ireland's land is farmed under agri-environment measures, compared with an EU average of only 13%. More than 50,000 farmers participated in the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS, the most recent agri-environment programme. It is also worth stating that the appetite among farmers to participate in schemes like that is strong and continues to grow.

While Ireland has a relatively low level of forest cover, at approximately 11%, it has the third largest total hedgerow area in the EU, with an estimated 450,000 ha. Since 1994, some 6,605 km of new hedgerows and more than 3.7 million trees have been established on non-forest land. These hedgerows, which farmers continually upkeep, help to maintain biodiversity and sequester carbon.

In 2020, agricultural emissions accounted for 37% of total Irish emissions. This reflects the relative importance of agriculture to Ireland’s economy, and the lack of heavy industry in comparison with other member states. Agricultural greenhouse gas emissions are predominantly methane and nitrous oxide. Current scientific understanding indicates that reducing Irish agricultural greenhouse gas emissions through technical means is extremely challenging, particularly for biogenic methane produced by pasture-based ruminants. However, it is important to recognise that agricultural emissions as a percentage of total emissions have remained relatively static since 1990. In the same period, transport emissions have more than doubled, from 9% to 19%.

Since 1990, Irish farms, collectively, have increased their output by approximately 40%. Despite the increase in production, total agricultural emissions by the sector have remained static, with 19.5 Mt CO2 eq being emitted from the sector in 1990 and 21.4 Mt CO2 eq in 2020. This increased production was achieved by improving efficiency and reducing the emission intensity of Ireland’s food production model. The emissions footprint per kg of Irish milk and meat produced are low by international standards, with one EU study showing Irish milk to have the joint lowest carbon footprint in the EU and the fifth lowest footprint for beef.

Due to Ireland’s existing emissions efficiencies in food production, the scale of the proposed reduction target of between 22% and 30% by 2030 for the sector poses a significant challenge. The proposed reduction target for agriculture is to reduce emissions by between 22% and 30% by 2030, from the 2018 baseline of 23 Mt CO2 eq to between 16 Mt CO2 eq and 18 Mt CO2 eq. This is an extremely challenging target for the sector. According to Teagasc, there is no prospect in the current decade of scientific solutions alone being capable of delivering agricultural greenhouse gas emissions reductions of the magnitude required to meet the higher target. The climate action plan has identified potential measures to deliver emission reductions, including actions primarily based on the Teagasc GHG marginal abatement cost curve, MACC-----