Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 July 2018
1887. Deputy Timmy Dooley asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the amount spent on investigating measures to increase the carbon efficiency of agriculture in each of the past ten years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33166/18]
View answerMy Department has placed a major emphasis in its research funding over many years on measures that have contributed heavily to increasing the carbon efficiency of agriculture. This long-term level of commitment is evidenced by the funding of 25 separate projects in this thematic area over the past 10 years with a cumulative spend of €10.7 million over the period in question – this encompassed projects funded under the Department’s Competitive Research Funding Programmes for agriculture and forestry and it also included co-funding of the Irish partners in multi-country partnered projects at a European level to help address our shared challenges.
I am acutely aware of the need for constant innovation and deepening of our scientific knowledge in this area, thus earlier this month as part of the latest round of new funding awards made by my Department I was delighted to announce funding for a project Evaluating Land-Use and Land Management Impacts on Soil organic Carbon in Irish Agricultural Systems which will examine Carbon sequestration associated with pastures and improved grassland management and which could provide mitigation options without impacting on agricultural production – this will be co-funded by the EPA and will have a significant international outreach collaborative component, and will contribute strongly to the substantive body of evidence garnered in the other 24 projects funded over the past 10 years.
