Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail)
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The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, is very welcome to the Seanad this morning. Unfortunately, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, cannot be with us because he is at a press conference. Given Waterford's very fertile agricultural land, I know the Minister of State will have an interest in this matter.

I seek a statement from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine on the audit and calculation of the current carbon sequestration of agricultural land and farm holdings, which is basically a carbon balance sheet for farm enterprises.

This is a very important issue, one I have been talking about for many years. I am very frustrated by the lack of clarity on the topic. We have had crazy debates, including some bullying in my opinion, over carbon budgets for agriculture. The narrative from some in the media and among elected representatives in this debate shows a significant level of misunderstanding by the majority about Irish agriculture. As a result, it often threatens and downgrades agriculture. That can be very difficult.

The agricultural sector people speak about is not some sort of anonymous entity. It is the farm I grew up on. It is the farm my neighbours toil on and where they struggle to make ends meet every single day of the week. While we are trying to keep all that going, we must cut emissions, which we agree with, but why are farmers taken advantage of?

We have big and small farm holdings. They are the carbon sink of this nation and to date there is no acknowledgement of that by the State. Trees, grass, soil and even sheep's wool sequesters carbon. The 400,000 km of hedgerows right across the country is a carbon sink and a biodiversity haven. Even the lowly common hawthorn has about 200 different insects living on it. We are entering into an era that could be a very exciting time for farmers. We could be empowering farmers and giving them control to work towards the net-zero agriculture we all want and they want. I passionately believe that science will back me up on this and that the majority of farmers, in particular the small ones, are farming in a net-zero way in terms of carbon, and that we can do this.

Devenish, a private agri-technology company, has done this in County Meath. It is using sustainable farming initiatives that help decarbonise global agriculture by supporting farmers to continue to produce nutritious meat and milk while dramatically improving their carbon balance. As the Minister of State is aware, knowing the carbon balance sheet leads to the identification of actions that will help the wider agricultural sector to reach net-zero carbon emissions and beyond. That will boost environmental credentials for producers and processors at every point along the food chain.

I was very glad to hear the announcement this morning by the Minister of State, Deputy Heydon, about an extra €2 million in funding for his research budget, bringing it to €22.45 million. To quote the press release, "This will be used to drive greater innovation in our agriculture, food, forestry and bioeconomy sectors as we position Irish agriculture as a leader in sustainable food production. In addition, Teagasc will receive an allocation of €168 million to support their activities."

I know the Department is behind me on this, but I want to ensure that money will be put into farms to make sure every farm is audited. We could start a pilot project in County Louth because we have every type of agriculture there - tillage, grain, sheep, cattle, dairy and we even have aquaculture - to ensure that every single farm has a carbon balance sheet. I am very excited about this. I hope the new research budget will assist in that regard.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Senator McGreehan for the passion with which she delivered her opening speech on farms having a balance sheet of carbon sequestration. I have learned a lot in the past four minutes.

At the outset, it is the responsibility of the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, to report emissions and removals associated with land use activities on an annual basis to the EU and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC. However, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is working with the EPA to improve reporting of the agriculture and the land use, land use change and forestry, LULUCF, inventory.

Carbon farming is an essential component of strategies to mitigate climate change and meet our climate targets by reducing emissions and increasing carbon removal from the atmosphere. As Senator McGreehan says, it is therefore critical that this is underpinned by a well-functioning national carbon farming framework that provides confidence, verification, and certification to generate a potential additional income source for farmers in the actions they take to remove and store carbon in soils, forests, grasslands, croplands, and hedgerows.

In November 2022, the European Commission published a proposal on the certification of carbon removals to boost removal technologies and sustainable farming solutions, which underpins the European Green Deal and sets out rules for the independent verification of carbon removals and certification schemes to create a viable carbon farming market.

On 26 September, the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, launched a public consultation to guide the development of a national carbon farming framework, which will be customised to an Irish context, complements the environmental activity within the CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027 and that is cognisant of the trajectory and requirements at EU level.

In addition, the Department has been developing and supporting initiatives to gather national baseline data on a range of activities.To date, we have provided for the establishment of the national agricultural soil carbon observatory and the national soil sampling programme along with a range of research projects on peat soils. An example is the RePEAT project working to accurately identify the extent of organic soils under agricultural management while investment in European innovation projects in the midlands is developing a results-based agri-environmental model to reward farmers for implementing sustainable management practices on peat soils.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is collaborating with the EPA, Teagasc and other research institutions in a range of research projects to better understand the capacity of Irish soils to sequester carbon in different types of grassland or on different individual farms. It is challenging given the different soil types, crops, climatic conditions and land use to accurately measure carbon sequestration emissions as well as proving the additionality and permanence of carbon sequestration.

The Minister has provided funding for the formation of a nationwide network of best practice demonstration and research farms under the Teagasc Signpost programme. The Signpost programme is a collaborative partnership of farmers, industry and State agencies working together to lead climate action and the transition towards more sustainable farming systems.

Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for her response. A lot of work has been done and I know the Department is behind me on this. I know it can be done because Devenish has done it. It has done incredible research in Dowth in County Meath just across the border from County Louth. By accurately measuring on-farm carbon emissions, we can capture and understand carbon sequestration and the power of our land.

In Northern Ireland, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs is doing this. It is putting money behind this on a voluntary basis for dairy farmers. The Department acknowledges that many farms across the country are doing incredible work in various mitigation initiatives. Regarding carbon balance, if people do not know their balance sheet, they are working in the dark so an understanding of the figures is needed. Farmers then need to be rewarded when they are doing a really good job.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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As the Senator is aware, carbon sequestration is only one part of our overall approach. The Signpost programme currently has 119 Signpost farms whose performance is being assessed using data gathered by Teagasc and analysed to calculate greenhouse gas emissions. The reduction of soil-based emissions is very important to deliver the reductions in the overall carbon balance and we have delivered several projects to address knowledge deficits in this area.

One of the tools developed to assess these Signpost farms and soon to be available to all farmers is the new AgNav sustainability digital platform, which delivers science-led support and planning tools to help Irish farmers play their part in reducing agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions. AgNav will facilitate access to reliable and robust estimates of carbon for each individual farm and accurately provide baseline figures for farmers using verified data. Platforms such as this will underpin the adoption of any carbon farming framework by land managers in Ireland.