The IFA recently participated in an international climate conference in France and called for a new approach to address the climate challenge, which puts food security and sustainable intensification at the centre of future climate policy.

Speakers at the conference from the World Farmers’ Organisation described feeding the world while addressing climate change as one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century. The world’s population is expected to exceed nine billion by 2050.

Agricultural production

Agricultural production must therefore increase by an estimated 70%, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. This fact cannot be ignored at a time when the international community is also seeking to halve global emissions over the same period. A demand for the agriculture sector to achieve such emission reductions at the same time as growing output is not feasible.

France will host the UN international climate talks in Paris this December, which will seek to identify a global plan to address this challenge over the next decade. Based on comments made by Minister for Foreign Affairs Laurent Fabius at the conference, agriculture seems to be starting in a good place. While acknowledging the intimate link between agriculture and climate, he said that agriculture’s response must evolve towards sustainable production and better management of resources.

Ireland is a world leader in sustainable production, measuring and reducing greenhouse gas emissions throughout the supply chain, whether inside the farmgate or at processor level. No other country can look at its agri-food sector and refer to initiatives such as Origin Green, the quality beef assurance scheme, Smart Farming or the sustainable dairy assurance scheme and say “we are environmentally sustainable at what we produce and it is independently verified”.

These initiatives are valuable for maintaining existing markets and securing new ones. However, sustainability must also deliver an increased economic return to the farmer. This was a key message from IFA at discussions with attendees at the conference from New Zealand, Denmark, Britain and also Ireland’s Department of Agriculture.

A number of recommendations were put forward at the conference to build on this and lead to a more sustainable future for farmers, foresters and the world’s population. These recommendations will inform the UN international discussions in Paris in December. Most importantly, there is a need to differentiate agriculture from other sectors when it comes to greenhouse gas emission reductions. This is a point which was broadly ignored in previous international talks and past mistakes must not be repeated. The majority of emissions from agriculture differ from other sectors such as industry and transport; the gases are naturally occurring and result from the primary aim of addressing the global food security challenge.

Agriculture will play its part in contributing to further reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The carbon sequestration potential of agricultural soils, forestry and bioenergy needs to be recognised when looking at greenhouse gas emissions from the sector. For example, internationally, the mitigation potential of agricultural soils is between one and four billion tonnes of CO2 per year.

Unachievable, binding sector-specific targets are unworkable at an international or national level. This is a point well recognised by the Irish Government in the draft climate legislation being debated in Dáil Éireann.

It was also successfully advocated at EU level by Ireland last October, when the heads of Government agreed a climate text, concluding that agriculture has many roles including food, energy and fuel production, as well as environmental protection.

Agriculture, climate change and food security are all interlinked. The overall approach to the agriculture sector must recognise these multiple challenges. The IFA is lobbying in Europe and internationally to ensure that the international talks in Paris build on recent EU heads of Government agreements and deliver a fair and balanced agreement for agriculture.