Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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86. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the extent to which he continues to ensure the future of the agri-food sector, while at the same time meeting emission targets, thereby ensuring maximum utilisation of the benefits of arable, productive land to ensure against likely food shortages in the future, which the formation of the European Community sought to avert; if he is satisfied that emissions from the agri-food sector are comparable with the rest of Europe, keeping in mind their national herds; if he will continue to ensure the use of science to curtail emissions in Ireland, in line with targets, thereby ensuring a fair balance between emission reduction, agri-food production and a comparability with other jurisdictions throughout the EU; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25202/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The agriculture sector is the largest contributor to Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions. While challenging from an Irish perspective, and unusual in an international context, this fact reflects the economic, and historical, importance of agriculture, relative to other industries in the Irish economy. Reducing emissions in agriculture is not a uniquely Irish challenge – throughout Europe, reducing green house gas emissions in agriculture has proven difficult. What sets Ireland apart from its EU counterparts is the scale of our beef and dairy primary production industries relative to our population and land size, and the lack of heavy industry in Ireland’s economic make-up.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has several policies and strategies in place to ensure agriculture plays its role in meeting the national climate targets by 2030 and 2050, while continuing to sustainably produce food and feed. The Food Vision 2030 Strategy sets out a pathway for Ireland to become a world leader in Sustainable Food Systems over the next decade. Food security, food safety and nutrition are key components of Sustainable Food Systems.

My position has been consistent- each sector, including agriculture, will need to play its part to achieve these targets.

In the Agriculture chapter of the Climate Action Plan 2023, I have proposed measures around three themes: inputs and additives, husbandry practices, and diversification. In practical terms, the types of actions that the sector is undertaking include reducing chemical nitrogen usage and changing fertiliser type, providing voluntary diversification options for farmers, while also improving the environmental dividend from our farmed land. Each of these measures will be supported by a range of actions, setting out a viable pathway towards reaching our targets.

There is no doubt that some farmers will take up diversification options that are provided as part of our climate transformation including to areas such as Organics, Forestry, Tillage and the provision of feedstock for Anaerobic Digestion as we increase the production of renewables. However, given the efficiency gains that continue to be made at farm level, I remain confident that there is no risk to food security, even if some farmers choose to diversify.

In terms of examples for improvement, we have seen the key role the Economic Breeding Index has played in dairy production over the last decade. I am keen to explore how we can, with the necessary commitment of all stakeholders, extend the work we have already done to improve the genetic profile of the herd in recent years.

Recently I announced a world-first scientific breakthrough in animal breeding that can enable the reduction of methane from the Irish cattle herd through animal genetics. This will be possible because of the publication of methane evaluations which will enable breeding programs to reduce daily methane emissions in beef cattle. The research to underpin this is a result of a €3 million project ‘GREENBREED’, funded by my department. The project has led to the publication of the world’s first national genomic evaluations for methane emissions in Irish beef cattle.

The implementation of a low methane emitting breeding programme has significant potential to harness the genetic variation for methane emissions that exists within the national herd, this, in turn, will bring about permanent and cumulative reductions in the methane output of future generations of livestock.

The results of the research also highlight the potential to breed more environmentally sustainable animals, while at the same time, not having a negative impact on food production.

My aim is to future proof Ireland’s Agri-Food sector for the benefit of our industry, the environment and our farm families who are the backbone of the sector and rural communities. Ireland's agri-food sector will continue to be underpinned by our world class livestock and tillage sectors, and it is critical that we work collectively to achieve our environmental targets while maintaining food production.