The Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has said that he envisages an anaerobic digestion (AD) boom over the coming years as AD plants spring up on farms diversifying incomes and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“It is my vision to see dozens upon dozens of AD plants across this country in the years ahead,” Minister McConalogue said on Tuesday.

“There is huge and untapped potential in the whole space of anaerobic digestion and carbon farming. Potential that we can and must unleash,” the minister told farmers, stating that funding for “test AD plants” had already been approved.

Similar support for AD had been voiced earlier in the day by Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan.

Minister Ryan said that rooftop solar also posed great opportunities for Irish farmers but that the “economics had changed” on small-scale wind electricity generation.