Professor John FitzGerald:

Teagasc has laid out a range of measures in this regard, many of which will save farmers money and some of which will not have much impact. The latter include changing fertiliser, which would reduce nitrogen oxide, NOx, emissions. It is a question of actually implementing those measures but, realistically, these things do not happen overnight. If they could be done overnight, we probably would not be worrying as much about the size of the herd. We expect they will be implemented gradually, but not fully, over the next decade, which could leave a gap. At the moment, as we all are aware, beef farmers are making nothing net out of their work and Brexit is likely to make that situation much worse. My understanding is that for many farmers, shifting some of their land to less intensive farming - using some of it for woodland, for example - could increase their incomes. It might also provide a more secure income. I have been working in agricultural economics for 43 years and beef farming has always been a difficult business.

With Brexit and with artificial beef coming along and a whole range of other issues, reducing the herd could secure farmers' income and lead to a substantial reduction in emissions. The problem is how to implement that change. I am 70 this month and if I were asked to turn into a farmer tomorrow, it would not happen. Likewise, it is not easy for beef farmers to turn into foresters and it will not happen overnight. This is something the farming community will do because it wants to do it and because it sees that it will be profitable and manageable. We need to look at overcoming the obstacles if we are to facilitate a transition that could be a win-win for farmers and for climate action. Such a transition can make a major contribution but it will not happen overnight.