Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to be here today in the Seanad to speak about the climate challenge from an agriculture perspective.

While the Covid-19 pandemic lingers in Ireland and around the world, we cannot lose sight of other challenges. The climate challenge is certainly one that remains in firm focus both for me personally and for this Government.

The agrifood sector is Ireland's most important indigenous industry. It plays a vital role in Ireland’s economy and the fabric of rural communities and societies. It is the bedrock of every rural village in Ireland. Our agrifood sector is dominated by livestock. We have 80% of our agricultural area under permanent grassland, which underpins our world famous grass based production system, producing beef and dairy products that are exported to 180 countries all over the world. The sector accounts for 8% of all employment and 10% of all exports that leave Ireland are agrifood based. The sector is a significant driver of economic activity in rural Ireland.

The sustainability of Ireland’s food production system is well recognised internationally and acts as a key competitive driver in international markets for Irish food producers. Nevertheless, there are challenges ahead for food production systems globally. No more so than in Ireland where 37% of all national greenhouse gas emissions come from the agrifood sector, which accounts for a total of approximately 21.4 MT CO₂equivalents in the most recent full-year inventory by the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, in 2020.

While farmers have delivered much by way of efficiency gains in recent years, it must be recognised that some environmental metrics have deteriorated on the back of recent dairy expansion. It was in this context that I published AgClimatise, which is our climate and air roadmap out to 2030, in late 2019. This was followed up last summer with the publication of Food Vision 2030.

Food Vision is a landmark for the Irish agrifood sector with the potential to transform agriculture, food, forestry and marine in the period to 2030 and has sustainability at its core. Food Vision is a strategy for the sector that was produced by the sector, and is honest and upfront about the challenges ahead. Crucially, it proposes solutions and charts a pathway to sustainability in all its dimensions that being environmental, economic and social, using a food systems approach, a more holistic view of agrifood and its interconnectiveness.

Food Vision outlines four high-level missions for the sector to achieve its vision of Ireland being a world leader in sustainable food systems. First, there is the mission called A Climate Smart, Environmentally Sustainable Agri-Food Sector that has an overall target of climate-neutrality by 2050 with verifiable progress by 2030, which is critical. There are seven goals in this mission that encompass: missions reductions; carbon sequestration; improvements in air quality; restoration and enhancement of biodiversity; improvements in water quality; development of diverse forests; enhanced seafood sustainability; exploring the bio-economy; and strengthening Origin Green.

Mission 2 is forviable and resilient primary producers with enhanced well-being. The primary producers, who are our farmers, fishers and foresters, have a prominence and centrality in this strategy that sets it apart from its predecessors. There are four goals in this mission which involves: improving the competitiveness and productivity of primary producers; increasing the creation of value and distributing it fairly; introducing greater diversification in production systems and incomes; and improving the social sustainability of primary producers across areas such as generational renewal, gender balance, health and safety, mental health and well-being and rural development. The family farm model is key to the three pillars of sustainability. We recognise that economically sustainable farmers, fishers and foresters are an integral part of the rural and coastal community, and that healthy environments, ecosystems, communities and economies go hand in hand.

Food Vision 2030 points the way to primary producers being providers of a much broader range of ecosystem services. While continuing to produce food, they will also be engaged in activities such as sequestering and capturing carbon, reducing emissions, supporting biodiversity, managing water resources, and protecting and enhancing soil health.

Mission 3 is called Food that is Safe, Nutritious and Appealing, Trusted and Valued at Home and Abroad. Mission 4 is called An Innovative, Competitive and Resilient Agri-Food Sector, Driven by Technology and Talent.

In November 2021, the all-of-government Climate Action Plan was launched. It commits Ireland to a legally binding target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions no later than 2050, and a reduction of 51% by 2030. The plan sets targets for each sector, including a 22% to 30% reduction in agricultural greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. This is an incredibly challenging target for the sector but one that is needed to contribute to the overall 51% economy-wide reduction. This means for agriculture emissions to reduce to between 16 to 18 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2030 then there must be an absolute reduction of between 5 to 7 metric tonnes.

The sector will also contribute additionally through reducing land-based emissions, and managing our soils, in particular peat soils, in a better way. This is a very ambitious target for the sector that I am confident that our farmers and fishers will achieve, and in doing so will require transformational change across the Irish agriculture landscape.

The agriculture sector due to its biological nature, coupled with the high level of methane in the emissions profile for agriculture, results in unique challenges, in particular when compared with other EU member states. In the absence of new technological innovations, and as long as the sector produces food, feed or fibre, there will always be residual emissions. However, we are not starting from a point of inaction, as we know. Plus the commitments within the Climate Action Plan build on progress to date.

The publication of the Climate Action Plan 2021 goes hand in hand with Food Vision 2030 thus ensuring that Ireland can continue to produce high-quality food in a manner that protects the environment and mitigates climate change. It is important that we drive this momentum forward from here on. Food Vision 2030 is about targeting increases in value growth rather than volume growth. It is about evolving and adjusting to a more sustainable way of farming that uses less inputs and relies instead on new technologies, and new practices.

One of the main policy frameworks contributing to environmental improvement, including climate change in agriculture, will be the Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plan 2023-2027. The draft plan was submitted to the European Commission on 31 December 2021 and ahead of our regulatory requirement to do so. The Commission is now assessing our plan. Following this assessment, we expect to receive formal observations in late March or early April. Department officials will continue to engage with their Commission counterparts. It is anticipated that Commissioner Wojciechowski will provide an update on the approval process to all member states at the Council of Ministers meeting in March.

As Senators will be aware, the process of approving the three five-year carbon budgets, as proposed by the Climate Change Advisory Council, are currently being considered by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action. Reaching the ambition of 51% reduction in emissions places Ireland as a global leader in climate action but we must all recognise that reaching this target is not without its challenges. The Climate Action Plan sets outs ranges for each sector so as to meet this ambition and all sectors, including agriculture, must play their part. The sectoral ceilings will be a matter for Government and will be developed after the carbon budgetary process. When setting these sectoral ceilings it is imperative, as outlined in the Climate Action and Low Development (Amendment) Act, that the special economic and social role of agriculture, including with regard to the distinct characteristics of biogenic methane, must be taken into account.

I thank colleagues for their engagement on this very important subject and for putting it on the agenda of the Seanad. Climate is one of my priorities as Minister, so these two hours will be a great opportunity to hear their views and comments. The Climate Action Plan identifies a series of actions that can deliver emissions reductions without the need to reduce numbers. There are known or existing measures that will get the sector close to the target range for the agriculture sector, which is based on maintaining animal numbers at current levels. There is a real opportunity to maximise emissions reductions through early adoption of such measures.Research in reducing agricultural emissions is promising and final animal numbers in 2030 will be determined not only by how technology and innovation delivers for the sector but also to what extent some livestock farmers embrace other opportunities or voluntarily diversify to other enterprises, for example, extending organic farming practices.

We have already laid out a roadmap for environmental ambition in Ag Climatise. This will be revised to align with the targets in the climate action plan. Reaching a target of between 16 to 18 Mt CO2 eq in 2030 will require us to manage the emissions profile from the sector between now and then, through mobilisation of as many actions as possible. I look forward to the contributions of Senators.