Game up for Irish agriculture

48 November/December 2020

CCORDING TO the Central Statistics

Office’s  Ireland Indicators

report, Ireland had the third worst

emissions of reenhouse ases per

capita in the EU, they were the

equivalent of . tonnes of carbon dioxide per

capita,  per cent hiher than the EU 

averae of . tonnes.

The government is ‘committed’ to 7% average

reductions in general annual emissions. The EU

has a 2030 emissions reduction target of at least

55% as a stepping stone to its 2050 climate neu

trality goal.

Agriculture is the largest source of emissions,

representing 34 per cent of total national emis

sions in 2018. Greenhouse gas emissions from

agriculture increased by 1.9% in 2018 largely

because of higher dairy cow numbers (+2.7%),

with an increase in milk production of 4.4%.

From 2013 to 2018, dairy cow numbers in

creased by 27% and milk production increased

by 40%. This reﬂects the national plans to ex

pand milk production under Food Wise 2025,

and the removal of themilk quotain 2015 since

when we have added half a million cows to the

national herd.

Stop Climate Chaos noted recently that no

body is expecting agriculture to cut emissions

as fast as other sectors. Agricultural emissions,

they suggested, need to fall from 20 million

tonnes a year to about 12 to 15 million tonnes.

Last year Department of Public Expenditure

secretary general Robert Watt noted in a let

ter to senior government ocials that some

key targets in the Government’s climate action

plan were “not credible”, and it should cut the

national herd rather than “ignoring” agriculture

emissions.

Given that agriculture accounted for a large

portion of emissions, he said, the plan should

include a “negligible” 5 per cent cut in herd

numbers. Ignoring agriculture would increase

costs for other sectors and for the economy as

a whole.

The EPA director, Laura Burke, usually slow

to tell harsh truths, told the Department of Ag

riculture in October that Irish farming’s ‘green’

reputation is not supported by the evidence.

Game up for Irish agriculture

By Hannah Dunne

Re-orient Bord Bia, Origin Green, AgriFood 2030, Food Wise 2025 but

start with the Department of Agriculture. Just do it sustainably.

In rare hardest-hitting comments on the sec-

tor’s environmental performance, Burke, who

in 2012 said she wanted to reposition the EPA

to support economic growth, said agriculture

is responsible for about one-third of national

greenhouse gas emissions, and over 99pc of

national ammonia emissions and that despite

some instances of on-farm improvements: “tak

ing the sector as a whole, the economic growth

in recent years is happening at the expense of

the environment as witnessed by the trends in

water quality, emissions and biodiversity all go

ing in the wrong direction”.

Symptomising the problem, national agri-

expansion plans ‘Food Harvest 2020’ and

‘Food Wise 2025’ have been accepted by Bord

Bia’s abrasive CEO, Tara McCarthy, as ‘industry

owned”.

Bord Bia/the Irish Food Board was estab

lished by an act in 1994 bringing together the

former CBF (the Irish Meat and Livestock Board)

and the food promotion activities of An Bord

Tráchtála and later the functions of Bord Glas

(the horticulture Board) and the marketing func

tions of Bord Iascaigh Mhara. It runs those glow-

ing ads ,‘Your food is our Passion’, on the box.

Headquartered in Dublin, Bord Bia supports

the national and international ambitions of

Irish food, drink and horticulture businesses

through its “highly focused organisational

structure” and its network of oces worldwide.

Its purpose is to bring Ireland’s “outstanding

produce to the world, thus enabling the growth

and sustainability of producers”. However, its

stated ‘Vision’ is based on a sadly false prem

ise: “Our producers set the global standard in

sustainable production”.

Bord Bia’s budget has increased by over 50%

in recent years, and now stands at around €70

million a year.

Rather than promoting genuine sustainability

such as organic farming, much of its marketing

spend has instead gone in greenwashing eorts

for the emissions and pollution-intensive recent

expansion of Ireland’s dairy sector.

Bord Bia’s recent involvement, along with pri

vate sector meat and dairy companies, in fund-

ing and promoting the ‘Meat and Dairy Facts’

project, promoting questionable claims about

sustainability and eciency, calls Bord Bia’s

independence from industry into question.Bord

Bia which owns greenwashing operation ‘Origin

Green’, ‘Ireland’s pioneering food and drink sus

tainability programme’ beneﬁts from no ecologi-

cal expertise on its board.

According to Burke, Bord Bia’s lack of inde

pendence “is a serious reputational risk for the

agri-food sector in Ireland. Pending evidence

and implementation of eective solutions to

ongoing unsustainable air and water emissions,

any plans for further intensiﬁcation/expansion

of the dairy herd would be dicult to sustain”,

Ms Burke added, in her submission to the na

tional Agri-Food 2030 strategy.

The 31-person committee developing this

strategy is almost completely dominated by in

dustry and sectoral special interests.

The EPA and the Environmental Pillar have

pointed out to this committee that it needs to

address and align with the new EU Farm to Fork

2030 strategy among the requirements of which

are a 50% reduction in pesticide use; at least a

20% cut in chemical fertilisers and, most ambi

tiously, that a quarter of all EU farmland be un-

der organic farming by 2030.

Ireland is an international laggard in or

ganic farming with barely 2% of farmlandor-

ganic.

According to Ian Lumley of An Taisce: “The

money being squandered on Bord Bia’s

‘Origin Green’ PR and spin would be better

directed into supporting farmers to reduce

chemical inputs, transitioning to organic sys

tems, and investing massively in biodiversity

protection and restoration”.

We could

shre your

pssion if

the food ws

sustinble

OPINION