Climate action plan will bring changes on every farm: Creed
Increasing protected urea from 1% of the straight-N market today to 50% by 2030 is one of the details behind the all-of-government climate plan launched last Monday.
Increasing the usage of trailing shoe technology for slurry spreading from 10% to 50% by 2030, increasing the average EBI from €70 today to €230 by 2030, and doubling average afforestation rates from 5,500 ha per annum today to 10,000 ha per annum by 2030, will also be required, said the president of the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society, Jerry Long.
Agriculture Minister Michael Creed said:
“A step-up will be necessary within the sector, that means making changes on each and every one of our 139,000 plus farms. This is not going to be easy.
“Change is never easy, and some of these measures will take time to deliver.
However, it is critical that we take action now, because we have to meet our national obligations, but also because maintaining our green credentials is fundamental to underpinning the competitiveness of our agri-food sector.
Mr Long said: “Farmers and the wider agri-food sector should be under no illusions that the action plan, as set out by the Government, will require a significant effort by all stakeholders working collaboratively.”
The plan to tackle climate breakdown, led by Climate Action Minister Richard Bruton, includes over 180 actions and hundreds of sub-actions.
Mr Bruton said: “Warning signs are growing, and the time for taking action is rapidly reducing.
“When we should be radically reducing our reliance on carbon, Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions have been rising rapidly.”
His plan calls for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture by creating new, sustainable opportunities for family farms. Expansion of forestry planting, and soil management to ensure carbon abatement, will play major roles.
Forestry provides verifiable removal and storage of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Forestry already planted will help in meeting Ireland’s EU commitments from 2021.
The next planning step will be a public consultation on a Department of Agriculture climate action plan, to be published in the coming weeks.
Mr Creed said: “Provided we engage early and strongly with measures identified in the Teagasc MACC curve, we have a framework for emissions reductions and sequestration that we can move forward with.”
Also of interest to farmers in Mr Bruton’s plan are community participation in renewable energy generation, district heating systems, enhancement of biodiversity and water quality, and Common Agricultural Policy aided production of bio-based products and bioenergy.
And it includes recommendations to reduce the one-third of food purchased in Ireland which ends up in the bin, costing the average Irish household around €700 each year.
The plan got a mixed reaction from environmentalists, with some criticising it for being mostly aspirational on forestry, and vague on transitioning away from peat, and restoring or rewetting bogs, and on hedgerow conservation.
