No roadmap to achieve 25% cut, says Brady

Last week’s deal struck between the Green Party and their government partners to cut agriculture emissions by 25% was met with disappointment by the local IFA county chair.

Maurice Brady vowed the IFA would keep the minister true to his word that no farmer would be forced to reduce herd size. Speaking to the Celt he also said they would lobby for “new money” to support carbon emissions reduction.

The carbon emissions reduction target was finally announced by Minister Charlie McConalogue on Thursday, bringing an end to tortuous negotiations that have trundled on since sectoral parameters of 22-30% were outlined last April.

Mr Brady had hoped 22% would have been agreed.

“We have a road map to get to 22%, but as we pointed out there really isn’t any kind of a road map written down anywhere to get us to 25%. Having said that, 25% is better than 30,” he accepted.

Systemic change

Environmentalists were also disappointed. Oisín Coghlan of Friends of the Earth noted that by falling short of 30% upper parameter, the agriculture target “makes other sectors’ emission cuts even more challenging as they’ll now have to pick up the slack and make cuts of around 65%.”

Mr Coghlan however conceded that the 25% target still “means systemic change is now needed in the agri sector.

“It’s time now to start a supported transition away from intensive beef and dairy towards a more sustainable model of agriculture with fewer cattle and less pollution. That’s the only way to meet not only the 2030 target but to reach net zero pollution across the whole economy as we have to do by 2050 at the latest.”

Mr Brady’s concern over the lack of plan on how to reach the 25% reduction target was a point shared by Matt Carthy TD.

Updating roadmap

“While there has been much debate as to the precise sectoral emission ceiling for agriculture, there has been little discussion as to how that ceiling will be met in a fair way that protects family farms and the rural communities that depend on them,” said the Sinn Féin TD, when speaking to RTÉ.

Minister Charlie McConalogue accepted the roadmap would need updating with new recommendations from the Food Vision Groups for dairy and beef.

“The sector needs a clear roadmap going forward and my ambition is to progress this process this autumn,” said the Fianna Fáil minister.

Asked if he anticipated that intensively stocked dairy farmers would be the hardest hit under the emission cuts, Maurice Brady said they are already “coming under the most pressure already” noting the Nitrates Directive “kicking in”

“There’s a whole raft of stuff coming in around dairy farming. I wont’ say they are being targeted but dairying is in the firing line at the minute.”

He added: “I think everyone is going to have to do something different, but it’s hard to comment who it’s going to hit most because there’s no details; there’s no plan laid out.”

However Mr Brady said the IFA will try to ensure the minister sticks to his word that no farmers would be forced to reduce herd numbers.

“We are absolutely going to hold him to that,” vowed Mr Brady. “If he wants to come up with proposals around some farmers wanting to retire, that’s fine, we’ll look at those proposals when he brings them forward, but at the minute the whole thing is in a vacuum because there’s just not enough information.”

Funding

The IFA county chair was also eager to pursue the issue of funding the emissions cuts.

“The minister has said that funding will be available to meet some of these measures, so we will be very much looking forward to discussing with the minister and his officials what form that might take. We’re putting down a marker very clearly: that it has to be new money that’s found to help farmers meet these targets,” he said.

Whilst he acknowledges the difference in the Dutch and Irish agri sectors, he uses them as an example of investing in green programmes.

“The government there has come up with €25bn per year,” marvelled Mr Brady. “Our new so-called flagship environmental scheme is €1.5bn stretching over five years. It goes to show the level of ambition isn’t enough from government at the minute.”