Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The solution I have is to start destocking. We are overstocked. We hear every farmer around the country saying that because the physical reality is that we cannot feed our cattle, not to mention the issue of emissions. We have a 50 million tonne overshoot which we have to deal with by 2030. The agriculture industry has to play its part in that. We also have to destock because of water pollution. It is becoming increasingly clear that we cannot feed our cattle and sheep. They have increased in numbers. We have added 1 million cattle and an extra 1.5 million sheep in the past five years and we cannot feed them. Has the Minister done research on the optimal number? What should our herd size be?

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