Climate Change Policy

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 February 2023

Tuesday, 28 February 2023

Questions (59)

Peadar Tóibín

Question:

59. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if his attention has been drawn to the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, report (details supplied) noting the need to reduce the national herd by 30% in order to meet climate targets; if his Department has undertaken a study to determine the impact that these proposals would have on the livelihoods of farmers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9816/23]

Oral answers (6 contributions)

Deputy Peadar Tóibín

Agriculture across the country is in crisis. I do not make that statement lightly. Every year, farmers leave the land. The number of farmers is reducing throughout the Twenty-six Counties. According to Teagasc, only one third of farmers make a living out of the farm. Another third of farmers only make a living because somebody is working off the farm. A full third of farmers are currently making losses. They are in poverty or are going into debt. The threats that we will see a 30% reduction in the national herd are scaring the farming community.

Deputy Ossian Smyth

I do not think anybody should scare the farming community. It is important to stick to the facts on this but also to speak honestly to farmers. The Government recently approved the first phase of the land-use review. This phase was a substantial evidence-gathering exercise, required to deliver on a key commitment in the programme for Government. A comprehensive evidence base is essential to informing Government decisions on the optimisation of our land use. Studies such as the draft EPA research report are part of this evidence-gathering process. The primary objective of the first phase was to identify gaps in our knowledge and to inform the second phase of the land-use review.

The second phase of the land-use review will build on the evidence gathered in the first phase and continue the gathering of relevant evidence to close knowledge gaps. This is critical for supporting the Government's wider economic, social and environmental objectives for land. These objectives include supporting the significant role that farmers and farm families play in the overall success of the economy and society as a whole, ensuring that we have resilient rural and urban communities, and meeting our wider environmental objectives. Proposals for the second phase are being finalised and will be put to the Government in a few weeks.

Deputy Peadar Tóibín

That was probably the most nebulous, vague response that we have got to such an important question in this Chamber in a long time. It is incredible that the sector which produces food for this country and is the backbone of rural communities is facing a significant cut to its livelihood by this Government. The EPA report is clear in its focus and targeting of the agricultural sector to reduce climate-changing emissions. The difficulty, as I know from farmers, is that they know change is needed but they do not want to become the martyrs of the climate change crisis in Ireland, especially when one sees Ministers jetting around the world. They do not want to be bankrupted when we see an explosion of Brazilian beef exports annually. There is a real issue with the viability of the Irish farm. The only way to make it viable is to guarantee a different price. If one wants to build bridges with the farming community, the first thing one needs to do is tell farmers that they will be able to make a living in the future.

Deputy Ossian Smyth

The twin policy issues for agriculture are how we reduce emissions and sustain farming incomes at the same time. That is the challenge for our agricultural policy and where all our focus will be.

The Deputy is right to say, and I am glad to hear him say, that farmers know there has to be change but that change has to be fair and it has to be explained. We should not do it without having proper evidence. It is not nebulous to collect the right data. Agricultural emissions are much more complex than they are in other sectors. There are pluses and negatives. Obviously there are carbon storage possibilities. Farmers can do so much for the environment, either through wetting, generating electricity, or through forestry. Land use management will be absolutely critical to this. Carrying out the right scientific research is absolutely the right thing to do. The Environmental Protection Agency report was not a policy paper or a political paper but a scientific report. It did not prescribe what we should do; it just laid out its assessment of the evidence and the likely scenarios.

Deputy Peadar Tóibín

The trust of farmers in this Government is very low and I will tell the Minister of State why it is low. We have a supply chain in agriculture at the moment that usually consists of a farmer, maybe a factory, and a supermarket. Agriculture is enormously profitable in this country but all of that profit lands in the last two elements of that supply chain. The factories and supermarkets are making supernormal profits from produce that farmers are making, and the farmers are typically making barely above the cost of production. The prices are regularly pushed below the cost of production in beef, sheep, poultry and pigs. This Government stands over that system. We had Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Ministers literally say that it is unreasonable for farmers to expect a price above the cost of production. How can the farmers put trust in them to make a living from farming in the future while that is happening and still see this train wreck coming down the line of the national herd being reduced? I am asking the Minister of State to take that off the table and to ensure farmers have proper funding and a proper income in the future.

Deputy Ossian Smyth

When the pandemic ended, I had many opportunities to go round the country and speak to farmers. I took every opportunity I could to do that. What I took from farmers is that the drive for increased production has pushed down unit prices. It is more work for the same amount of money. Pushing up production has not worked. Fertiliser prices are a killer in that they are so high and are linked to the price of fossil fuels. The price of feed has gone up as well. While farmers' input costs have gone up, their output price is not going up in the same way. They want something different and, as the Deputy said, farmers are open to change. We have a climate action plan which has specific actions in agriculture, including advanced animal efficiency through breeding, feeding and finishing; and changes to how we keep land fertile which will reduce nitrous oxide emissions from farms. We are trying to bring in a fivefold increase in organic farming to 450,000 ha. The Deputy knows we are one of the lowest countries in Europe for organic farming which does not really make any sense when one looks at the size of our country, our culture, or our disposition.