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DEAR SIR: The recent letter by Donal Murphy-Bokern is another example of the divisive and polarised debate around climate action.
His failure to acknowledge the presentations at the IFA climate seminar of Prof John Fitzgerald, chair of the Climate Change Advisory Council and Prof Frank O’Mara, director of research at Teagasc, highlights his ongoing animosity towards Prof Mitloehner. He’s incorrect about what Prof Mitloehner said about distractors who seek to wrongly blame agriculture for the climate damage caused by oil and gas extraction and use.
As a professor of animal science and air quality specialist from the University of California, Davis, and former chair of a UN FAO partnership benchmarking the environmental footprint of livestock production, Frank Mitloehner presented the findings of peer-reviewed research from the University of Oxford.
To use this inflammatory language and seek to make farmers feel like criminals does a disservice to the huge level of climate action in the sector
That’s why Prof John Fitzgerald said the way methane is calculated is “probably not appropriate”. Methane from livestock is not new carbon in the atmosphere, it is recycled carbon. When reporting climate figures for the sector, the EPA is obliged to reflect this and ensure that the agri food sector is fairly represented. It’s not the “get-out-of-jail card for cattle and sheep” that Mr Murphy-Bokern seems to think.
To use this inflammatory language and seek to make farmers feel like criminals does a disservice to the huge level of climate action in the sector. Over 250,000 carbon assessments have now been completed by farmers, using the carbon monitoring tool developed by Bord Bia and Teagasc. Over 40% of farmers are in GLAS, which is oversubscribed and closed to new entrants.
Farmers themselves have moved beyond their regulatory obligations, by voluntarily taking part in programmes such as ASSAP and Smart Farming.
Farmers themselves have moved beyond their regulatory obligations, by voluntarily taking part in programmes such as ASSAP and Smart Farming.
IFA will continue to advocate for a balanced approach to climate action. This also means we will highlight new science from Oxford University and Prof Mitloehner, which shows that methane is destroyed along with being produced, as part of an animal’s natural carbon cycle. Our research community must support the Oxford University work and also ensure the sector is credited for the carbon that is stored in our hedgerows, forestry and grasslands.
If the Teagasc 2030 climate roadmap is to become a reality, there must be a budget from government to deliver it. An implementation group, which includes IFA, must also be set up. Grid connection, export feed-in tariffs and planning consents must all be addressed if farm-scale and community renewables are to become a reality. All of this activity must lead to improved farm incomes. This is what a Just Transition is supposed to be about. It is what IFA is all about, improving the incomes of farm families who produce high-quality, carbon-efficient food.
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