March 6, 2023

 

Cutting numbers of Ireland's suckler herd can help Irish agriculture meet climate goals, says official

 

 

 

The chair of the Food Vision Beef and Sheep Group, Prof. Thia Hennessy, believes it will be "very challenging" for the agriculture sector to meet climate targets without reducing the suckler herd.

 

Among the recommendations in the group's final report were voluntary diversification and extensification schemes for the beef sector.

 

However, Irish Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue has since said that a government scheme to reduce the Irish beef herd is "off the table".

 

Prof. Hennessy, who is the head of the Department of Food Business and Development and chair of Agri-Food Economics at Cork University Business School, told Agriland that the emissions reduction targets for the agriculture sector "are very ambitious."

 

"As the scientific solutions were presented to us, it became more and more evident that reaching those ambitious targets without some contraction in production is going to be almost impossible," she said.

 

Several farming organisations refused to sign off on the group's final report, with the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers' Association (INHFA) having previously withdrawn from the process entirely.

 

"Those two particular proposals were the ones that received the most resistance within the group. The inclusion of them in the final report was probably what caused many stakeholders to object to the report or not to sign up fully," she said.

 

"My own view was that I was asked to chart a way forward to reaching the targets and with the science available, we could not reach the target without including those proposals. From my perspective, they needed to be in the report to provide the full honest account of where we are within the sector.

 

"After the report was submitted, stakeholders had a number of one-to-one meetings with the minister and obviously his decision arising out of those meetings was that those proposals were too controversial and too disruptive for the sector.

 

"I think that it will be very challenging to reach the proposed targets without some reduction in animal numbers on the beef side."

 

Prof. Hennessy added that it is still unknown what the implication will be if Ireland does not reach its emissions targets.

 

"I think that if we knew that, we'd have more urgency and we'd be making more progress. For me, it just seems like the urgency isn't there at the moment," she said.

 

The Food Vision beef group chair maintains that there was some support for the diversification proposals.

 

"This would allow suckler cow farmers to reduce their cow numbers and receive a payment on the cows that they are taking out of the system," Prof. Hennessy explained. " It would allow them to use that payment to invest in more environmentally-friendly practices for their remaining animals.

 

"So I think it's unfortunate that that proposal has been completely taken off the table, especially when it still exists as a possibility for dairy sector."

 

- Agriland