The State’s climate change watchdog has urged the Government to boost research and plan for new ways of allocating land between food and energy production, and greenhouse gas removal from the air. While there is an “urgent need” for further research and planning into the role of Irish agriculture in curbing greenhouse gas emissions, it is already clear this will involve deep changes in the way land is used across the nation, the Climate Change Advisory Council has warned.

Neutral agriculture

In its new periodic review report, the independent body tasked with advising the Government on climate policy says Ireland must decide now how its agriculture will achieve the national objective of “neutrality in the agriculture and land use sector by 2050” – a point where Irish farms and forests would take as much greenhouse gas from the atmosphere as they emit.

The Council identifies four key areas to work on:

  • So-called negative emission technologies, which actually remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Growing biomass and capturing the gas when it is burned is one option.
  • Improving plant breeding, genomics, farm management and technology to reduce emissions of methane from ruminants and nitrous oxide from fertiliser. In particular, “research has shown that a switch to lower-emission fertilisers would be effective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions”, the report states in reference to protected urea.
  • Take account of the differences between greenhouse gases. “For example, methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, but has an atmospheric lifetime of approximately 12 years. Nitrous oxide is more potent than methane and carbon dioxide, and has an atmospheric lifetime of approximately 120 years,” the council wrote, adding that this should also provide alternative income opportunities.
  • Diversify land use. This could mean switching enterprises or running several productions on the same piece of land.
  • The Climate Advisory Council also highlights the role of forestry in storing carbon to offset emissions from agriculture in the coming decades.