Ireland's farms produce around 37.5% of our greenhouse gas emissions according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Most of that comes from methane associated with livestock.
Despite government plans to reduce such emissions from agriculture by 25% by 2030, the number of cattle in Ireland increased by a modest 0.5% in 2022 and stands 7.4 million.
The size of the dairy herd grew to 1.6 million, a substantial increase of 14% since 2017.
Climate experts, including scientists from several Irish universities, say that number needs to come down significantly if we are to have any chance of meeting our climate obligations.
However, many farmers have argued that emission targets can be met using alternative methods.
As part of The Conversation from RTÉ's Upfront with Katie Hannon, we asked two people to join our WhatsApp group to discuss the topic.
Sadhbh O’Neill is a coordinator for Stop Climate Chaos and a member of the Dublin City University (DCU) Centre for Climate and Society.
James O’Connor is a Fianna Fáil TD for Cork East. He grew up on his family’s dairy farm and is the youngest TD in the Dáil at 25.
Sadhbh O’Neill: Hello James. Nice to meet you.
James O’Connor: Hi Sadhbh.
Sadhbh O’Neill: The climate impact of Irish agriculture is recorded by the Enviornmental Protection Agency (EPA) and livestock emissions represent a very high share of Ireland's total impact.
In sum, the current livestock model is putting the environment under huge pressure, and something needs to give.
Dairy farming cannot keep expanding because it is reliant on inputs - synthetic fertiliser and land for pasture/silage.
So, my point would be that the numbers of cattle on the land should be determined by, among other things, the number that the land and resources can support.
Over to you!
James O’Connor: As a 25-year-old that wants to leave a better world behind for the generations of young people to come, my experience of agriculture stems from my life living on a family dairy farm.
I believe that livestock farmers in Ireland, particularly dairy farmers, are getting a very unfair level of media attention in relation to our climate obligations.
Ireland has a unique role in the global food system as the national dairy herd and much of our beef is grass-based in comparison to many countries where animals remain indoors all year round.
It is true that the proportion of emissions by agriculture in Ireland are higher than some of our EU neighbours but that is a consequence of the successes that have been achieved in the industry.
Farmers in Ireland rightly do not feel that other sectors of the economy are having to experience the potential economic damage that may be experienced in Irish agriculture should a proposal to reduce the national herd come to fruition.
Sadhbh O’Neill: But the dairy farm that you grew up on - in all likelihood, James - would have been very different.
The dairy farms of old were much smaller and the milk output per cow much lower. Since the removal of the milk quotas in 2015 - and supported by government policy to increase milk production and exports of dairy products - the dairy herd (which had declined) started to grow again.
This expansion created new opportunities and livelihoods for farmers - yes - and everyone wants to see farmers get fair prices for their produce and a reliable income. But this has all come at a cost to the environment.
No one is paying for the environmental cost of all that extra nitrogen, leading to excess nutrient run-off, water pollution, ammonia pollution and biodiversity loss.
Farmers are NOT to blame for this. They are, as a young farmer wrote today, cogs in a much larger wheel, caught between market forces and government and EU policies.
However, there is no question that from a national environmental policy including climate, we must call a halt to further dairy expansion now. To meet our net zero targets, which you presumably voted for in the Dáil, we'll need to reduce the total numbers of cattle by circa 30%.
James O’Connor: I feel this is where lived experience of the situation is vital in this argument. The farm I live on today has had little change in herd numbers from when I arrived as a baby in 1997.
It is a similar situation for many of my neighbours who are milking cows in our area.
In the cases where there has been change and expansion, which I am sure you were referring to, there are situations where some farmers acquired ground for expansion.
Often this occurs when a neighbouring farm comes on the market. The age profile of farmers in Ireland has increased so that is not uncommon - but I don't think expansion is worthy of the criticism it is receiving.
Not everyone has done this, and it is not something that I frown upon. It is good to see businesses grow and expand which has happened in Ireland since the abolition of the milk quotas.
Sadhbh O’Neill: I think there is a perception there that farmers, who made essentially good business decisions, are being criticised by people like myself for 'sacrificing' the environment. But that's not what I mean.
Farming practices and investments in expansion are determined by market forces and government policies, neither of which are mindful of planetary boundaries or catchment-specific limits to production.
That simply has to change. We are destroying our natural environment and adding to climate change but despite all the food we produce, we are still major importers of the food we eat ourselves.
That is not resilient!
James O’Connor: From an environmental standpoint, this is the great crossroads in the debate where again farmers are getting substantial and unwarranted criticism.
We have a major role to play in encouraging biodiversity, improving habitats and improving water quality. These are not things that farmers do not want. This is why the research being undertaken by Teasagc and other research organisations is so important but it's a journey that farmers want to be involved in.
Sadhbh O’Neill: I'm not criticising farmers at all. It's government policies that need to change first and yes, we need the active leadership of farmers, but Teagasc can't fix these problems with research alone. It comes down to literally the amount of organic fertiliser the land can take, the amount of methane allowable under the carbon budgets, the amount of land available and the best use of land (we need more tillage too).
James O’Connor: I fundamentally disagree that research by Teagasc won't identify future solutions.
Their work has played a major role in identifying the most efficient ways to spread fertilisers for grass which has significantly reduced wastage.
Technology also plays a critical role such as GPS systems and low emission slurry spreading.
The narrative in Ireland is that farming is the easy way to drop emissions but I just don't see the sacrifices coming forward from other sectors of the population.
While I accept that there are areas of agriculture where there must be changes to encourage more sustainable practices, I would also ask 'what would a wholesale change in land use in Ireland actually achieve in the global context of climate change?’
Is this going to prevent thousands of acres of rainforest from being removed to allow the expansion of the Brazilian beef industry?
Who is going to produce the enormous quantities of some of the world's most organic baby formula to feed hundreds of millions of newborns around the world?
This is even before we reach the stage of assessing the economic damage.
Sadhbh O’Neill: Research will be very important across the board in identifying solutions that we can scale up quickly to reduce greenhouse gases.
But I think the point is being missed - we have legal obligations under EU and international law to protect our environment - air quality, water quality and climate laws are being breached because we are not regulating how we manage our environment well.
That leaves Ireland open to reputational damage as well as fines. But more importantly Irish farmers are vulnerable to climate impacts themselves - we narrowly avoided a fodder crisis this winter but who knows about next year?
My daughter is in Spain at the moment on a transition year trip. She’s wearing factor 50 sunscreen, and it’s April.
Our world, our climate, is changing and not for the better. We will all need to respond if there is to be anything left for future generations, and especially future farmers.
The sense I'm getting from this conversation and others before, is that farmers are fearful for the future.
They are getting a hint of major policy u-turns and that seems very unfair when they were encouraged to expand and get into dairy. I accept all of that, but our predicament is urgent.
We are losing species, hedgerows and water bodies at an alarming rate. We can't wait for a magic solution or a technological fix. We have to act NOW to prevent further deterioration.
And farmers need to be part of shaping the solutions. To me, that should include reduced livestock numbers and diversification - including forestry.
James O’Connor: There are 18,000 dairy farmers in Ireland who face a very uncertain future because of the ongoing debate around the national herd.
What agriculture has achieved economically in this country in recent decades is something to be proud of.
Farms in Ireland contribute €8.2 billion in outputs to our economy while supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs in every part of rural Ireland.
Without it, rural Ireland would not have a future. The negativity and uncertainty is causing many young people to think twice about a career in farming and the *march by Macra na Feirme this week proves that this is a major issue.
[*Editor’s note: Young farmers begin march from Kildare to Dublin].
Our produce is the gold standard on consumers' shopping lists across the world because of the grass-based system of farming practices in Ireland.
The debate on the need for Ireland to play its role in reducing emissions has cast a very unfair shadow over livestock farming considering the ethical nature of farming practices we have in this country.
We are not just some easy fix to the environmental lobby. Behind the numbers, there are 140,000 farming livelihoods.
Ireland can be a world leader in offshore wind energy and in green technology, but we don't have a major industrial economy like many countries on the European continent.
Farmers do not want to shy away from the points you make. We have work to do but cutting our nose to spite our face is not the answer. That's why I cannot support a reduction in the national herd without a concrete plan to support farming livelihoods.
Sadhbh, I enjoyed our debate. Thank you.
Sadhbh O’Neill: Likewise! I look forward to meeting in person sometime. Bye for now!
Read last week's edition of The Conversation, where we asked if a cashless society is a cause for concern, here.
