Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Paul Kelly and his team for their submission and presentation. There are targets outlined in Food Harvest 2020 along with reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Will Mr. Kelly explain how we can strike a balance between increased production in the agrifood industry and reduced environmental impact? For example, agricultural machinery is powered by fossil fuels and increased production will mean tractors and so on will be used more. With the rapidly growing global population and the subsequent demand for food, how would the agrifood industry produce it in a sustainable way?

Some see the sectoral roadmaps as being aspirational. Some corporate leaders argue that there must be a collective responsibility to agree these targets. This may mean more concessions for agriculture as cattle emissions cannot be engineered out. This would involve trade-offs with other sectors such as transport. It can be argued that specific national targets would give more certainty to the agrifood industry. What is Mr. Kelly’s view on this?