Mr. Donal Sheehan:

There are huge opportunities, especially in the last year. The crude protein, CP, requirement has come down because of the emissions. In the springtime, dairy farmers usually use an 18% crude protein ration, but that has come down. We are able to produce cereals and beans, in particular, which is a high-protein crop. There should be huge incentives there to get tillage farmers to come on board and supply dairy farmers. That incentive is not there at the moment. It is an awful pity.

Glanbia did a pilot project a couple years ago where it measured 100 farms for their carbon footprint. The 100 farms that were sampled came out quite well. However, what Glanbia did not take into account was the ration that we were importing. We were in a position to say that while our carbon footprint was low, we were also contributing to the carbon footprint of transport from places such as Brazil, New Guinea, south east Asia, or wherever, by buying plant kernel, coconut, soybeans and so on from those locations.

There is an opportunity there. This is regenerative farming where we support other farmers. That needs to start happening. Before, dairy farmers, in particular, were just going for the cheapest possible way to produce milk. There was no account taken of other factors. For instance, a couple years ago the jersey cow was supposed to be the most efficient to produce milk. There was a big swing over to jersey cows because they had high protein and high solid content. However, nobody had factored in that the quality of the bull calf was poor. The farmer who buys my bull calves depends on me for bull calves. However, I did not go down the jersey route. He was annoyed that the quality of the calves was not as good as what it had been before. There was a situation where dairy farmers were benefiting, but beef farmers were not. It is easy to say that everyone has to look after their own. There is a cost to that down the road. If I cannot sell my bull calves to a farmer and that farmer has to make money out of that, that is going to impact me.

Likewise, I depend on my cereal-producing neighbours so that I can buy my straw from them. If they are going to go out of business, where will I buy my straw? Will it come in from abroad as well? We need to look at the way we produce food in a more holistic way. The decisions we make should not impact on other people. It should be a win-win situation for all farmers, and not just for one sector.