Mr. Desmond Savage:

I thank the members of the joint committees for the opportunity to address them on the subject of exploring technologies and opportunities that may exist in the effort to reduce emissions in the agricultural sector. For the purpose of my submission, I shall focus on greenhouse gas, GHG, emissions from cattle. The principle points I wish to discuss today are, first, the importance of choosing the right metrics in advance of making decisions on the size of the national herd and, second, that technology has a key role to play in sustainable agriculture and its adoption should be incentivised.

I am the co-founder and chairman of Moonsyst International Ltd, an Irish company that was formed in partnership with Moonsyst Hungary in November 2020. Moonsyst International develops Internet of things cattle monitoring solutions, with particular focus on animal health and sustainability. The company is supported by the Cork north and west local enterprise office and, in September 2021, received the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council and Enterprise Ireland best newcomer award at the ploughing championships innovation arena. Prior to getting involved in the agricultural technology sector, I spent more than 20 years in manufacturing as a process improvement engineer and consultant, during which time I worked on teams deploying multi-million euro manufacturing IT systems into some of the world’s largest companies.

A lesson I learnt on my first job and carried through on every other assignment was that if you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it. Metrics really matter, so long as they are the right metrics. Rather than looking at the size of the national herd or national biogenic reductions, better metrics are required before decisions are made or legislation enacted. As part of the draft agrifood strategy 2030, Ireland should focus on efficiencies in producing high-quality animal protein, that is, milk and meat, rather than committing to national biogenic methane reductions or reducing the size of the national herd. There is no mention of how biogenic methane can cost-effectively be measured and I am deeply concerned that if the right metrics are not available, the wrong decisions will be made.

Global demand for milk and beef is expected to grow constantly for at least another 30 years, as more people around the world enter middle class and seek these high-quality animal proteins in their diets. Ireland has one of the best and most natural systems in the world for producing bovine milk and meat. If we do not serve this increasing global demand, countries in which animal welfare and sustainability lag Ireland’s record will do so, which will have a global negative net impact on sustainability and the global environment.

Article 2.1 of the Paris Agreement refers to the importance of protecting food production while reducing emissions. I strongly believe Ireland is best positioned to do this by being a world leader on sustainable bovine meat and dairy production through utilising our natural advantages, particularly our grass-fed system. This does not equate to reducing cattle numbers in Ireland but arguably means Ireland should increase its production of bovine dairy and meat, which would have a net benefit on global emissions. For this reason, I think the current metrics under consideration, that is, biogenic methane reduction or national herd size reductions, are wrong.

Focus should be placed on optimising animal efficiencies in the production of dairy and meat.

There is long list of factors that impact on these efficiencies, including genetics, breed, health, feed, seasonality, age, lactation cycle, sward types, use of feed additives, environmental factors, herdsmanship, supply chain factors and so forth. For example, cattle that eructate, that is, belch, excessively are cattle that have poor feed conversion, health issues and produce excessive greenhouse gas emissions. A healthy rumen equals a healthy cow and less greenhouse gas emissions.

Cattle, like cars, can vary extensively but not all cars are treated equally when it comes to greenhouse gases. A ten-year-old car with a 4 l engine will attract higher road taxes and fuel taxes than a new car with a 1 l engine, and rightly so. They will both do the same job, that is, getting you from A to B, but they have different impacts on the environment. Great advancements are being made in this industry to reduce greenhouse gases because each car can be measured for its impact on the environment and incentives applied to improve. The same cannot be said for the proposed metrics associated with the national herd even though emissions from cattle can also vary extensively. More attention needs to be placed on measuring and establishing the correct metrics before decisions are made at a national level. When cattle's rumen health is good, it helps farmers maximise feed conversion and minimise the amount of greenhouse gas produced by each animal. This has the potential to improve protein conversion yields in both meat and milk, which in turn represents a further gain for the farmer, without negatively impacting the environment. With such information to hand, Governments and large corporate entities such as retailers could incentivise progressive farmers to produce more sustainably, for example, by rewarding farmers for investments in genetics, new swards or methane-blocking feed additives. Moonsyst is working on providing a cost-effective method of monitoring the rumen of cattle in real time. With this information to hand, farmers can better understand the health of their animals and optimise the feed conversion rates, which in turn will minimise biogenic emissions, helping the environment. As I mentioned, if you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it.

At present there are no direct financial incentives to reward beef and dairy farmers who manage low biogenic emitting herds. Incentives should be considered to drive this progressive behaviour. For example, technologies that are deemed to enable more sustainable farming could be made exempt from VAT or classified as a capital expenditure. From discussions with farmers, we know that all they want to do is the right thing by the environment as it is crucial for their businesses going forward. However, they are not being incentivised sufficiently. As is called out in the draft agrifood strategy 2030, technology has a key role to play in the coming years and any incentives that can be put in place to expedite the adoption of these technologies have to be a good thing.

In summary, I ask this committee to consider the two principal points I presented today. The first is that, before decisions are made on biogenic emissions, we must ensure the right metrics are put in place to drive sustainability and ensure a net positive benefit in respect of global climate change. The second is that we should put in place simple incentives to encourage Irish farmers to adopt technologies that will enable them to become more sustainable. I thank all of the committee members for again allowing me the time and opportunity to express my views on this important matter for Irish farming, Ireland and the world.