Ms Deirdre Ryan:

I thank Deputy Carthy for the question. As the Deputy knows, Bord Bia calculates the carbon footprint on beef, lamb and dairy. For beef and lamb in particular we have been doing that for quite a significant amount of time, since 2014. As we evolve the programme, the data we collect are getting much better. We collect the data through the scheme and through the sustainability survey as farmers answer certain management practice questions. We also connect to the animal identification and movement, AIM, database and get processor information and so on to calculate the footprint. Bord Bia utilises the Teagasc models for the carbon footprint and it has recently updated those models. We use data from the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation so the models are Irish-specific models on latest research in Ireland. We provide farmer feedback reports to all those farmers. For the last two years we have issued approximately 66,000 farmer feedback reports. We post them to farmers and make them available for download as well. The feedback reports provide specific information on greenhouse gas emissions sources and certain easy practices that can be implemented on farms.

As for Deputy Carthy's point on forestry, the soil sequestration models and the science are not accurate enough to integrate those into the models yet. There is a lot of research. About 30 eddy covariance towers have been put in on the Teagasc signpost farms. Deep soil testing is happening across the country. Those tests should enable us to have models and to integrate them at a later stage, but it is just not specific and accurate enough now for us to be able to stand over it.