Mr. James Healy:

I thank the Chair and wish Deputies and Senators a good evening. Macra na Feirme welcomes the opportunity to present the views of young trained farmers on this complex issue of climate change and to provide our perspective on the recommendations made by the Citizens' Assembly to the Joint Committee on Climate Action. I am the national president of Macra na Feirme. I am joined here today by Mr. Derrie Dillon, Macra na Feirme's agricultural affairs manager. This year Macra na Feirme celebrates 75 years of representing, supporting and developing young farmers to help them overcome the challenges they and their communities face. Environment and climate change are a challenge but are also an opportunity, and young farmers are willing to play their part by embracing new science, technologies and management practices that will help make us climate leaders.

Today young farmers are establishing their businesses in the context of Ireland being a world leader in the area of sustainable auditing and carbon footprinting under the Origin Green programme. The targets set out in both Food Harvest 2020 and Food Wise 2025 shape the future of agriculture in respect of production levels and the environment. The multifunctional role and multiplier effect of farming means that along with the production of food, the EPA environment assessment in 2016 states that farmers and farming can provide valuable ecosystem services to society, such as safe clean water, regulation of nutrient cycles and enhancement of biodiversity.

When discussing agriculture's contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, it should be remembered that Ireland has a small cohort of heavy industrial contributors of greenhouse gases when compared to the rest of Europe. This exaggerates agriculture’s output of greenhouse gases relative to our European colleagues and is often used to portray the industry in a negative light. Telling the full story on climate change is very important. Irish dairy emissions, for example, are the lowest in the EU at just over 1 kg of carbon per kg of milk solids produced and our emissions are continually declining on units of food our farmers produce. From a carbon credit perspective, agriculture does not always receive its fair share of credit. Grassland, for example, is an acceptable carbon sink from a scientific point of view and recognised by the Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO, but is not currently an accepted mode of carbon sequestration for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC. Ireland is making decisions on greenhouse gas policy for agriculture in the absence of this key abatement resource.

Macra na Feirme appreciates the complexity of developing policies and strategies to address climate change. The short timeframe in which the Citizens' Assembly considered and made recommendations on this critical issue is a cause for concern. Time does not permit me to go through all of the recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly. However, I would like to elaborate on recommendations Nos. 5 and 6. Macra na Feirme has highlighted in its pre-budget submissions the need for action on developing positive policies on planning permission and REFIT tariffs for renewable energy. These, along with financial tools, are required to help stimulate greater uptake of on-farm renewable energy projects including biogas from anaerobic digestion and the installation of solar panels on farm buildings. To achieve greater investment in the sector, farmers who want to join together in collaborative projects should be facilitated to apply collectively under grant aid schemes to allow them to achieve economies of scale. All feed sources for biomass production should be indigenous to encourage development of the supply chain.

On abatement measures at farm level, the Teagasc marginal abatement cost curve, MACC, includes a range of scientific advancements and measures around grassland management, the inclusion of clover in swards, nutrient management planning and sexed semen, to name just a few. The three fundamental requirements for achieving the aforementioned measures are education and advice, policy and CAP supports to help gain traction among farmers. According to Teagasc, widespread uptake of nutrient management planning could achieve a 10% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and a 15% reduction in ammonia emissions. The key to unlocking this potential is understanding how farmers digest, use and process scientific information. However, environmental sustainability cannot be taken in isolation. It is also linked to farmers' economic sustainability and equally important is farmers' social and mental sustainability.

We are sometimes led to believe that emissions reduction can only be achieved by reducing farming activity. This type of messaging is incorrect and must stop. The farm advisory service and various schemes, including the knowledge transfer scheme, the beef data genomics programme, BDGP, and the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, have all helped to engage farmers in a positive way and have led to emissions reductions. Education, training and innovative industry projects have also played a significant role. Macra na Feirme's Young Farmer Skillnet, for example, runs a successful young beef farmer sustainability programme that focuses on many of the farm practices that contribute positively to addressing climate change.

Macra na Feirme disagrees with recommendation No. 11 of the Citizens' Assembly report on a carbon tax on Irish agriculture. It would be a blunt, counterproductive instrument, which would divert output to places where carbon emissions and costs per unit of food are higher. Climate change is a global issue and must be considered in such a context. Irish agriculture is exploring and developing proactive approaches to decreasing climate change impacts such as feeding strategies that maximise the efficiency of grass-based production systems, ICT in agriculture to aid delivery of sustainable intensification, improvements to animal health and welfare, sustainable land management that contributes to climate change mitigation and sustainable management of soil and forest carbon sinks.

Regarding the reform of the CAP, Macra na Feirme favours a move towards a combination of results based and management based payments as part of environmental and climate measures. Results-based payments have many advantages, including directly linking payments to outcomes, achieving more specific goals, creating a common goal between farmers and conservationists and providing coherence in policy instruments at national and European level. Future CAP measures must focus more on outcomes rather than being input driven and they must reward productive and less greenhouse gas intensive farming.

Macra na Feirme has commissioned research into the development of a framework for continuing professional development, CPD, in the agriculture sector. Upskilling and developing human capital on climate change in the sector could return significant dividends. Also, from an industry perspective, a significant number of solutions are possible. Encouraging further research into the manufacturing process of fertilisers, for example, could yield significant improvements similar to those possible with the use of protected urea.

Young farmers are the new environmentalists, reducing their carbon emission through a range of scientific, technological and management advancements per unit of food produced. Most importantly, whatever route is chosen, young farmers need a just transition period. Ensuring that farmers have adequate time and funding to reduce their emissions without sacrificing the rural population and rural economy is vital and should be the focus of this committee. To that end, a tax on agricultural production would actively draw funds and resources from those who need to be supported to reduce their emissions intensity. Support, engagement and encouragement of our farming community to address climate change will deliver greater dividends for the environment and the people who live in our communities.