Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney has welcomed the climate change agreement reached last week in Paris, particularly as it acknowledges the priority of food production and security. However, the minister added that these commitments does not mean there will be a “free pass” for agriculture and that the sector has a key role to play in climate change mitigation and adaption.

“In Ireland, we already have a climate efficient agriculture, but we want to do much more and to ensure that we are and remain the most sustainable producer or milk, beef and other products in the world,” said Minister Coveney.

““We will continue to implement measures to drive down the greenhouse gas intensity of our food production even further from its already existing efficient level, including through the Beef Data and Genomics (BDGP) programme, the GLAS scheme and the carbon navigator/knowledge transfer programmes,” he added.

The minister, who was speaking at a Farm Europe conference in Brussels, added that the COP agreement reached in Paris includes a clear recognition of the role to be played by the forestry sector in mitigating climate change.

“It is also appropriate that world leaders continue to recognise, in Article 2 of the agreement, that, in seeking to prevent interference with climate, we must do so in a manner that does not threaten food production. I welcome the fact that the Paris Agreement acknowledges the fundamental priority of safeguarding food security and ending hunger, and the particular vulnerabilities of food production systems to the adverse impacts of climate change,” said the minister.