Mr. Trevor Donnellan:

The key issue we identified is one of communication and making farmers aware of the actions that they could pursue to address the emissions on their farms. We need to address the level of understanding of what farmers need to do to mitigate emissions. There is some understanding of this but it can always be improved. Teagasc is active in that area. We have an aid called a carbon navigator which is designed to assist farmers in identifying ways in which they could address their emissions. Communications would certainly be one of the issues we have identified. Without farmers understanding what they need to do, it will be difficult for some mitigation actions to take hold.

Some of the mitigation actions are much easier to explain and implement than others. Some are more complex and require farmers to develop skills that they may not yet have. Some of them, as I also identified, are probably more significant in terms of the emission reductions that they produce. It may be relevant to focus in the short term on some of the bigger emission reduction actions we have identified.

On policy, the upcoming reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, creates an opportunity in the sense that there is some national level scope now to design aspects of the CAP, with the agreement of Brussels, that can address specific concerns that member states have. Some of the environmental concerns would be to the fore for Ireland.