Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The best investment in the future of the agrifood sector is in ensuring our sustainability credentials are recognised at home and abroad. Regrettably, there is a view in certain quarters that the production of greenhouse gases is in some way a consequence of sloppy agriculture. It is not possible to be involved in food production without producing greenhouse gases. It is important we produce it as efficiently as possible and the Paris Agreement clearly reflects same. On the other side, we must sequester as much carbon as possible so that in the agrifood sector we contribute to the national endeavour in the climate change agenda. That will deliver environmental sustainability and in many respects it will also contribute to economic sustainability because in those 180 markets around the world we are in, that is what consumers are increasingly asking. They are not asking if it is safe or traceable but they are asking if it is sustainably produced and how we are taking incremental steps year on year in respect of same. That is what our climate action plan is about and that is what the roadmap that was recently published for consultation in the agriculture sector is all about.

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