Andy Boland is heavily involved with the Teagasc work around climate change and the environment, having spent a number of decades working in this area.

It’s an extremely complicated subject and sometimes farmers get it hard to get their heads around the science of emmissions and climate change.

One aspect of this where Teagasc and the government came in for heavy criticism on Thursday night was the fact that our grassland, hedgerows or woodlands are currently not being counted as a sequestration source for carbon.

Unique

Andy Boland pointed out that our grassland systems of production are unique and ultimately up there with some of the most carbon-efficient systems in the world.

“If you ask me we don’t shout about this enough. If we take the average Irish drystock farm, it emits 4t/ha of CO2 equivalents. Grassland has the potential to sequester 2t/ha of this,” he said.

"If hedgerows and trees are added in along with some management changes, suddenly our carbon issue isn’t as big of an issue any more."

Challenges

Our industry has a huge amount of challenges. As our world population grows, so too will our demand for food. GHG (greenhouse gas) and ammonia emissions have increased since 2011 to the tune of a 33% increase for GHGs and a 98% increase in ammonia emissions.

The 2030 targets that Ireland has signed up to are a 10% reduction in emissions from agricultural GHGs and deliver a 10% increase in carbon sequestration. Ammonia targets are a 1% reduction from 2020 to 2030 and a 5% reduction thereafter.

Climate action plan

The Citizens Assembly and the Joint Oireachtas report provided a solid basis for the development of this plan. A total of 183 actions and associated sub actions have been listed for implementation.

Key Sectoral Target Reductions

  • Electricity 50-55%.
  • Transport 45-50%.
  • Built environment 40-45%.
  • Enterprise 10-15%.
  • Agriculture 10-15%.

    • Carbon pricing and cross-cutting policies

  • Carbon tax of €80/t.
  • Mobilise 26.8m tonnes of CO2 credits from land use.
  • Reform public spending code to increase the shadow price of carbon.
  • Mobilisation of finance.
  • Capacity and capability building in research and development.

    • "Agriculture has been set a target of a 10-15% reduction in emissions. I actually thought this was going to a lot worse than 10-15%, closer to 30% perhaps. "

    "Hitting these targets can be achieved if we start working at it now,” he said. The good thing is that a lot of the items in the Teagasc MACC curve are things that will mean more money in farmers' pockets if implemented.

    "Things like better genetics, faster finishing of animals, better nitrogen efficiency from slurry spreading and fertiliser spreading will all help improve profitability along with helping us reach our climate change targets."

    Signpost farms

    Teagasc is currently finalising details of a new programme called CC signpost farms where demonstration farms will be picked by Teagasc to showcase things like low-emission slurry spreading, correct hedgerow management, etc, to farmers. These farms will also be used as hubs for training for farm advisors, students and agricultural professionals.

    Andy finished by saying that climate change is a relatively new phenomenon. "

    Twenty years ago we wouldn’t have been sat here in Cavan talking about climate change issues.

    “I’m very confident that new research will deliver new ways of reducing emissions from agriculture. There is currently research taking place with feed additives, plant extracts like seaweed and garlic, slurry additives, low emission fertilisers and breeding. Some may work and some may not but there is a huge amount of research taking place in this area."