Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein)
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835. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to provide payments to farmers in respect of the carbon that is released from the atmosphere as a result of their soils and hedgerows. [41730/20]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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My Department recognises the significant potential for carbon sequestration from our soils and hedgerows and is working to establish research and technological infrastructure in this area to better inform our future strategies to reward farmers in their efforts to maintain and increase sequestration activities.

Recently my Department provided funding for the establishment of a National Agricultural Soil Carbon Observatory supporting technology for the measurement of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from a range of different soil and farm types which will place Ireland at the forefront of EU carbon sequestration research.

To address the lack of data on hedgerow sequestration, Teagasc has recently commenced a research project called “Farm-Carbon – Farm Hedgerows and Non-forest Woodland Carbon”. The overall objective of this project is to “advance the understanding of the contribution of hedgerows and non-forest woodland to carbon stocks in agricultural landscapes, and to identify approaches to maintain and enhance this contribution”. 

In addition, this Department is currently evaluating a number of submissions under the European Innovation Partnerships (EIP) framework which are focused on drained peatlands under agricultural management with the objective of protecting the soil carbon stock by reducing emissions and restoring sequestration capacity where possible. This project seeks to work with and support farmers on such soils and understand future pathways for the better management of organic soils under agricultural management so as to reduce GHG emissions and promote sequestration activities amongst farmers on these soils .

It is important to note that while the aforementioned research and technological infrastructural activities commenced by my Department will benefit our efforts to reward individual farmers for additional carbon sequestration activities, the knowledge gained from this research will also allow for the refinement of our reporting to the National Inventory on emissions from our soils and hedgerows.