Written answers
Tuesday, 8 April 2025
Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Departmental Policies
Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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782. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to media reports (details supplied), whether it remains his Department’s position that wool is a “low carbon” product; the scientific basis there is for such a position; the professional scientific expertise his Department uses to assess claims about the environmental impact of different agricultural products; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17435/25]
Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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Wool is a natural and renewable fibre produced by sheep reared in both lowland or upland settings. It is natural product, produced sustainably.
The determination of the sustainability of wool value chains is undertaken using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and this type of analysis distributes the emissions of sheep farming among its different products to reflect their contributions as accurately as possible.
A large portion of wool’s environmental footprint occurs before the wool leaves the farm and critical factors to consider in wool’s carbon footprint include: yield, manure management, feed production and enteric emissions. Agri-environmental and climate land management lowers the environmental and climate impact of animal fibers while boosting biodiversity, improving water quality, and enhancing soil health. Key agri-environmental and climate practices include methane reduction techniques to lower emissions from sheep, focusing on soil health improvement by implementing agri-environment and climate farming practices, completing nutrient budgets, and using bio-based fertiliers to enhance soil quality.
The Department and other research funders are investing in research projects (e.g., 'Spring Wool' led by MTU and 'REVEIRE' led by UCC) to develop the knowledge base to connect food and fibre production systems with sustainable food systems, sustainable textiles and biobased materials.
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