The report of phase two of the Land Use Review, titled “A Living Land”, has been published and it makes concerning reading for anyone involved in Ireland’s beef sector.
The report looks at Government policy and legislation regarding climate, environment, air and water quality, and socioeconomic targets. It then suggests pathways for changes in land use, which would allow Ireland to reach those targets.
The biggest loser across all of the suggested pathways is the beef industry, with output dropping from 795,363t in 2020 to as little as 286,175t by 2050.
Even under the most optimistic of the pathways for beef, other than the business-as-usual pathway, beef output is seen dropping to 435,490t. Dairy output is actually seen as rising under three of the five suggested pathways. Sheepmeat output is unchanged under all pathways.
There is also a significant increase in afforestation under the pathways towards climate neutrality by 2050. It suggests rates would need to increase from the approximately 2,000ha per year seen at the moment to between 16,000 and 20,000ha per year. By the year 2100, almost a third of Ireland’s land would be covered with trees.
The report acknowledges that these changes would have significant socioeconomic effects and says that the suggested changes should be part of a “just transition” within agriculture, where landowners are incentivised to change how they farm, rather than being forced into new ways of farming. These incentives could include financial payments for environmental measures, but could also include changes in how payments to farmers are structured.
This sentiment is increasingly reflected in recent European policy documents on the structure of CAP payments in future.
The report makes it clear that it is not an articulation of government policy, nor is it a new strategy in relation to land use. Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon has emphasised that landowners are and will be the ultimate decision makers under any changes to land use in Ireland.
SHARING OPTIONS