Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

130. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the policies that he is putting in place to help farmers achieve sectoral emissions targets in a just manner. [60999/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy will be aware, the agriculture sector was assigned a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2030 based on a 2018 baseline of 23MT CO2 eq.

This reduction in emissions will contribute to the economy wide reduction of 51% by 2030. It is a challenging and ambitious target but is one that farmers and the industry are committed to achieving.

Earlier this year, I established two Food Vision groups - a Dairy group as well as a Beef and Sheep group. The final reports of both groups are currently being considered, however, it is clear that the measures contained within both reports will form the basis of the agricultural mitigation measures of the Climate Action Plan 2023, when it is published shortly.

The challenge now is to have these measures taken up at farm level, this process is well under way. The Teagasc Climate Action Strategy was recently launched with a strong focus on benchmarking farm emissions and expanding the Signpost programme. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) will continue to ensure Teagasc are well funded in the role out of these programmes. 

More specifically, from a DAFM perspective, significant financial aid will be put in place to support farmers in their transition. The new €1.3 billion forestry programme was recently launched, with attractive long-term payments available. We will, I'm convinced, see an entitre step change when it comes to forestry in this country.

We have just closed the first tranche of applications for the new €1.5bn flagship 1.5 agri-environmental scheme called ACRES. There has been a tremendous response from farmers to ACRES.

In relation to organic farming, we have delivered a 500% increase in funding for the Organics Scheme in the next CAP compared to the outgoing CAP. Other targeted measures include financial support to establish red clover and multispecies swards to assist in reducing chemical nitrogen demand. 

Farmers and the agri-sector are leading out on their climate targets. Farmers have also been on this journey for many years. Both I as Minister, and the Government will continue to back and support them in the period ahead.