The revised Climate Action Plan must provide an opportunity for future food producers, John Keane president of Macra has said.

This comes as a revised Climate Action Plan is expected to be approved by Cabinet on Wednesday, in which, measures to reduce emissions from agriculture will be included.

Keane said that Macra is of the belief that if this plan is structured properly with the right measures included, it can pave a real pathway forward for future food producers

"Macra has consistently highlighted the need for increased investment for youth in agriculture, in order to ensure vibrant rural communities and a thriving agriculture sector.

Obligations

"It is the young people who will drive the changes on farm that will be needed to meet our climate obligations," he said.

Keane also pointed out that research concludes that farmer characteristics including age, innovativeness of the farmer and the preparedness to tackle environmental measures on farm, impact the decision to adopt smart farming or precision agriculture technologies (Blasch et al., 2020).

"With research reinforcing the belief that young food producers have the above characteristics, now is time for Government to invest in young people in agriculture to meet our climate objectives," he said.

What is needed from today’s Climate Action Plan is investment in young food producers to break down the barriers that exist around access to finance, access to land and increased investment support, he argued.

"Reductionist food production policy will not serve Irish farmers well or indeed a growing global population, if this climate action plan invests in reduction and curtailment as opposed to opportunity we will see even fewer young people entering agriculture and we will see our rural communities dwindle," he said.