Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The challenge is to have a baseline. We need to have a baseline so we can adequately market in the future the activities of farmers. Should we have been doing this earlier than recent years? Probably. If we had our baseline from five or ten years ago, we would be in a stronger position now, but that is why the investment we are undertaking now is so important. It is critical to have a meaningful carbon farming option and income stream for farmers into the future. That is why our investment in the national agricultural soil carbon observatory, which will be comprised of a network of greenhouse gas measuring flux towers that are a very significant investment on our part, with up to 20 funded by the Department across a range of farm enterprises and soil types, is critical. These sites are managed by Teagasc and will be established on a range of soils, adding value to existing Teagasc projects, including the industry co-funded signpost farms and the agricultural catchments programme. The resulting national agricultural soil carbon observatory will place Ireland at the forefront of EU carbon sequestration research.

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