Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for being here today. As Senator Boyhan said, the Minister, Deputy McConalogue contacted me to say that he could not be here because he is launching an important climate action strategy. It is important that a member of the Green Party is taking this Commencement matter. I ask that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine update the House on the actions of the Department to audit and calculate the current carbon sequestration of agricultural land and farm holdings.

The Minister of State knows this issue is important. I have been talking about it for years and I am very frustrated by the lack of clarity. We have had crazy debates, some of which involved bullying, over the summer with regard to carbon budgets for agriculture. The narrative by some media and elected representatives around the conversation shows a level of misunderstanding by the majority of Irish agriculture and, as a result, often threatens and downgrades Irish agriculture. Such a narrative can be very difficult for farming families.

The agri sector people speak about is not an anonymous entity. Rather, it comprises the farm I grew up on which my family farms to this day and my neighbours. Many people struggle to make ends meet. While trying to keep farms going they are hearing that we need to cut emissions. They agree with that, but they feel taken advantage of because farm holdings big and small are the carbon sink of the nation and there is no acknowledgement by the State of this. Trees, grass, soil and even sheep's wool sequester carbon. Some 400,000 km of hedgerows across this country are carbon sinks and biodiversity havens.The lowly, common hawthorn can support more than 200 insect species. That alone is something that should be acknowledged.

We are entering an era that could be an exciting time for farmers. We could be empowering our farmers and we could be giving them control in working towards net-zero agriculture. We could also be allowing them to send energy from solar panels back onto the grid. There are acres of roof space across the country, but for some bureaucratic lack of will they are denied the ability to do this. I passionately believe the science will back me up when I say that many of our farmers are actually farming at net zero.

As the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, is probably well aware, a private enterprise, an agri-tech company named Devenish, has launched the ground-breaking sustainable farming initiative which helps to decarbonise the global agricultural sector by supporting farmers to continue to produce nutritious meat and milk while dramatically improving their carbon balance. Knowing one’s carbon balance sheet will help one identify the actions that will help the wider agricultural sector to reach net-zero carbon emissions and beyond, boosting environmental credentials for producers and processors at every point along the food the chain. Accurately measuring on-farm carbon emissions and carbon sequestration will create a new value for farmers across the island of Ireland and will substantially accelerate the achievement of climate goals while improving biodiversity, water quality and overall farm resilience.

The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland is doing this on a voluntary basis on dairy farms. There are already many farms across the country that are undertaking this work through various initiatives, but they are doing mitigation in the dark. Knowledge is power, and it is vital that we empower this industry to understand the baselines and to drive improvements in its efforts to mitigate climate change.