DEAR SIR:

I write in relation to an article that was published in the Irish Farmers Journal entitled “A real climate change debate starts” by Matt Dempsey.

I am a young environmental scientist who is appalled with the lack of critical review that your newspaper must go through before publishing. I would like to believe that the publishing of this article was a horrific editorial mistake on your behalf and was not intentionally published.

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I hope you understand how seriously concerning it is when a popular journal such as the Irish Farmers Journal fails to prevent the publication of fake news.

I along with every other environmental and climate scientist in the world would appreciate it if you could publish a new article in the journal which gives the actual facts about farming emissions, soil degradation and methane emissions in particular from cows and their exact effect on the environment.

You have undervalued and undermined science, which is completely unacceptable. I myself come from a farming area and I am surrounded every day by educated farmers who would not undervalue the effect of agriculture on the environment.

If your newspaper wishes to talk about climate change I would hope that you would suggest alternative fertiliser options and talk about the importance of maintaining soil quality for farmers instead of entering into a debate in which the evidence has already been solidified by scientific research.

I really hope that the Irish Farmers Journal will take this on board. I think you produce a great newspaper for farmers all over Ireland but a mistake/misjudgement such as the publication of this article cannot go unnoticed.