Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses to the committee. I start with the food waste issue. According to what Mr. Cullinan has said today and based on evidence from other witnesses, food waste account for between 6% to 8% of greenhouse gas emissions. We all know that meeting our climate change targets it is probably the biggest issue in the area of agriculture. Does this represent low-hanging fruit in allowing us to reach our targets?

Regarding the 8% to 10% of greenhouse gas emissions, the breakdown is quite stark. Some 29% of it is generated at household level. That involves how we manage the contents of our fridge and daily shopping. Some 28% happens in the manufacturing process, which is something I might ask Mr. Cullinan to clarify. The food and restaurant sector accounts for 25%. Some 7% is down to the producers on the ground. Obviously, 7% is the lowest of those, but what can we do about that 7%? I think the processing element is probably higher than 7%, but we are still looking at 7% of labour, 7% of land, 7% of the pesticides and 7% of the fertiliser going into a product itself.

Mr. Cullinan mentioned the term wonky fruit. I asked him to elaborate how wonky fruit comes into the equation. Regarding that 7% as a figure that we might look at, how might we reduce it? The overall figure of food waste and how we can reduce it on an emissions level is probably the most significant. Mr. Cullinan might give us an indication of how this could be the low-hanging fruit when we consider the emissions issue the agriculture needs to deal with.

As Mr. Cullinan is very much aware, I am a big supporter of the agriculture industry. However, I am looking for solutions to make sure we can reach our targets. I ask him to elaborate on how this could be part of the solution to make sure we can reach our targets.