Christmas is coming, as you may have noticed. Farmers may have the nagging feeling that something is looming once the turkey has been tidied off. It’s not early lambing – that’s a minority sport nowadays.

It’s Veganuary. The billboards are already pushing the anti-farmed animals agenda, as scene-setters for four weeks of an all-out media assault on Irish farming from a small, vociferous, and extremely well-funded lobby.

What can farmers say in response? A lot, actually. The first point is to acknowledge the scale of the challenge. We have to protect biodiversity, rivers and groundwater, air quality and minimise our carbon footprint, all while maintaining a viable business and income.

It’s healthy to engage with opposing views

A quick look at the last few weeks shows the breadth and depth of debate within the industry.

Last Friday, Teagasc jointly hosted a conference with its Scottish counterparts, the SRUC. The theme was finding sustainable solutions for ruminant grass-based farming. Among the guest speakers was Dr Marco Springmann, whose comments on RTÉ documentary What Planet are you On? caused so much outrage among farmers.

It’s healthy to engage with opposing views.

The hope would be that he comes to some understanding of what Irish farming is and does through the communication. Failing that, at least we hear his arguments and can prepare a response. I don’t know if anyone sought Dr Springmann’s reaction to the funders of the EAT-Lancet report he co-authored buying an airline last month.

Green Offaly, a multi-agency project, hosted an event last week that explored the various ways in which farmers are tackling this task.

Seeing that over 80% of ammonia emissions on a dairy farm come from the housed period was a surprise

Organic farmers such as Seán O’Farrell and Ailbhe Gerrard are focusing on a direct relationship with conscious consumers, including branding of high-value product and a degree of agri-tourism. Meanwhile, Cork dairy farmer Donal Sheehan spoke of the Biodiversity Regeneration In a Dairy Environment (BRIDE) project he is involved in. It is stretching a small budget to impact on derogation farms, tillage farms, and is achieving incremental improvement.

Teagasc held an event last Thursday week examining how to tackle ammonia and greenhouse gas emissions on farms. It was a ConnectEd event, with advisers, farmers and industry representatives all present.

Seeing that over 80% of ammonia emissions on a dairy farm come from the housed period was a surprise. Protected urea offers the prospect of tackling both problems. There are solutions. New year, new challenge.