The Department of Agriculture has commenced a consultation on a voluntary reduction scheme for the dairy herd.
The consultation asks members of the Food Vision Dairy Group, which was established to find ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the dairy industry, to give their views on options for a voluntary reduction scheme.
The group members include representatives from every farming organisation, Teagasc, the EPA, dairy processors and academics.
The consultation will be asked to comment on nine different aspects of a possible scheme and send them to the Department by 31 July.
They include completely or partially destocking dairy farms in a voluntary scheme, the structure and provision of a payment for those reductions, and the future use of land owned by farmers who decide to participate in the scheme.
The aim of a reduction scheme would be to decrease the number of breeding ruminants which would lead to a direct emissions reduction impact.
Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has given no solid commitment to the introduction of a dairy reduction scheme.
He has previously said that 2022 would be the reference year for cow numbers, but that no one should increase their cow numbers to take advantage of a subsequent scheme.
He told RTÉ News he expected to bring clarity on the role of a reduction scheme in early 2024.
A recent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report found that Ireland is on course to miss its 2030 climate targets by a large margin unless all sectors, including agriculture, rapidly deliver further emission reductions.
Total emissions from the agriculture sector are projected to decrease by between 4% and 20% over the period 2021 to 2030, according to the EPA.
However, the target set for the sector under the climate action plan is 25%.
A recently released modelling document, from the Department of Agriculture, suggests the total number of dairy cows in Ireland may need to be reduced by up to 65,000 a year over the next three years at a cost of €200m per year, if the farming sector is to reach its climate targets.
There are currently 1.6 million dairy cows in the country.
