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

The Deputy is very worried about what I am saying here. It is good to know he is paying attention and I thank him for that.

This also means focusing on our environmental and climate credentials and facilitating the sector to contribute to our national ambitions on climate in a fair and balanced way. That is a road the sector is already travelling and I have seen first hand the steps many farmers are taking to improve their farms and reduce their carbon footprint and their environmental impact.

I recently attended an event in Kildare put on by the local Irish Farmers' Association, IFA, and Teagasc to showcase the adoption of a number of practices by a local farmer, Stephen Byrne, and his family. It highlighted the need for a partnership approach if we are to support farmers on this journey. Stephen was undertaking a number of actions. He was working to reduce chemical fertiliser use through the incorporation of nitrogen-fixing grasses and making best use of organic fertilisers. Despite an additional cost, he was replacing ammonia-based fertiliser with protected urea, and to protect water quality he had created a buffer zone along his farm water course which he proudly identified as thriving with wildlife.

So much of what is happening now on farms is underpinned by research in my Department also. The programme for Government and Food Vision 2030 highlight the need for support and investment in research. It is through research and innovation that these series of actions have been developed. Once implemented, these actions can reduce emissions from the sector underpinned by robust science. Efforts to develop new solutions to reduce emissions must continue. That is why I have significantly strengthened my Department's research budget. In our most recent major research call, more than 53% of the total awards, worth almost €16 million, was directed towards climate-related research. This investment in national and international research covers different aspects, including feed additives, animal breeding and genetics, slurry additives, pasture and soil management, and other emerging areas of promise for mitigating and offsetting agricultural greenhouse gasses, GHGs. Commitments have been made to increase climate-related spending by 60% out to 2025 compared to 2020 which will ensure a solid pipeline of solutions. This research is for solutions to the very problems about which farmers are worried and aware of. Indeed, only this morning, I announced new supports under the Global Research Alliance, GRA, for agriculture and greenhouse gases, which brings together 67 countries to find ways to produce food without growing greenhouse gas emissions. I have allocated €450,000 to support Ireland's participation in two flagship projects on feed additives and ruminal microbiology that are focused on reducing methane emissions for cattle while maintaining productivity.

My Department will also provide €1.2 million to an EU research funding initiative called Green ERA-Hub. This new research call is an opportunity for Irish researchers to collaborate with European partners in areas of fertiliser-use sufficiency, mitigating GHGs from agriculture, increasing European protein self-sufficiency, and sustainable energy production and use in agriculture. These are all strategically important areas for Irish agriculture. We are working as a leading collaborator internationally with other countries to accelerate the pace of research and the solutions we all need. This has created the basis for a solid roadmap for the sector backed by Teagasc's marginal abatement cost curve, MACC, which has identified measures which can, and are, reducing emissions in agriculture. First, we need to drive the adoption of measures which we know now will work. Alongside that, we must continue to develop newer technologies such as methane-mitigating feed additives and updating our breeding strategies. Finally, we must offer the opportunity for farmers to diversify their income with a suite of options where they can chose those that best suit their farms. We have been very clear with farmers from the outset. These measures-----

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