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DEAR SIR: In relation to the piece “The climate actions on the big MACC menu”, I was disappointed to see that agroforestry was not listed under Teagasc’s costed list of climate measures. This is despite the fact that research on this island has clearly shown that silvopastoral agroforestry has the potential to deliver more biodiversity, create a more welfare-friendly grazing environment and sequester more carbon into grassland than grass-only systems. It significantly increases the length of the grazing season (hence reducing ammonia emissions and increasing grass utilisation) and creates a more permeable soil to aid water runoff for flood mitigation.
Silvopastoral systems can generally deliver a more sustainable and climate change-resilient grassland system and even a small area, strategically used on a grazing farm, can make a significant impact on the carbon balance of livestock systems. There is considerable farmer interest in Northern Ireland in the Higher Level EHS Agroforestry option. It really should be on that list.
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