Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I concur with all that has been said by my colleague, Senator Lombard. This is an important area. I touched on this in my Second Stage contribution.

The potential for carbon sequestration on farms is huge and unquantified. In terms of research, there is potential to quantify the level of carbon sequestration in hedgerows, trees and soil. It is an area that has huge potential for the industry in terms of limiting reductions that are necessary within the sector.

There is concern regarding future targets in relation to, for example, the national herd and the consequences of the carbon budgets and the necessity to reduce the level of production of greenhouse gases. The potential of hedgerows, trees and soils to sequester carbon needs to be looked at and taken into account in the carbon budgets.

If this amendment, as worded, cannot be accepted, I would ask that the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, would come back on Report Stage with an alternative because it is a hugely important area. It is all about acknowledging at this stage in the context of the legislation the contribution trees and hedgerows throughout our beautiful countryside make to every farm and to the country's carbon targets. The farmers themselves should get the reward for that and they should be taken into account in the agricultural industry's and the country's carbon targets.

The amendment, as worded, acknowledges the need to look at those "removals" of carbon and carbon that is sequestered. I ask that the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, would look at that whole area.

As Senator Lombard said, the focus on agriculture over the past two decades, through the REPS, AEOS and GLAS and through the various requirements under good agricultural environmental practice under all the farm schemes, has been on planting trees and hedgerows, improving storage of farm nutrients, on targets in relation to farm nutrients, on calendar farming and on the closed period for applying agricultural manures, both organic and inorganic. The farming industry has done much in terms of improving its performance, increasing the level of biodiversity and reversing of some of the State-supported removal of biodiversity over the years. I welcome that it has been reversed.

As I said, the hedgerows, the trees, the peat soils and the grasslands need to be taken into account in regard to carbon. Farmers, and certainly the industry, need to be rewarded and recognised for what they are producing and what they are continuing to plant. That should be taken into account for future carbon budgets.