Carbon farming must complement but not replace productive farming, a report on the public consultation on a draft set of principles to develop a national carbon farming framework for Ireland has found.

The report was published on 20 May by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon.

The public consultation generated 59 submissions with three key stakeholder workshops that took place consisting of 200 attendees.

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Following the public consultation and stakeholder events, four recommendations were identified by stakeholders:

1. Development and delivery of national carbon farming

To deliver a framework that builds confidence and guidance for the establishment of activities to deliver carbon farming in Ireland.

2. To develop and implement a demonstration initiative to guide learning and scaling

The national carbon farming framework must function to strengthen and protect the family farm model, while uniting environmental responsibility with economic output. Carbon farming must complement but not replace productive agriculture. It must build confidence on both the farmer and buyer sides of the market.

3. Establishment of a governance board and technical committee

The establishment of a governance board should be formed with representative stakeholders. Additionally, a technical committee should be established to ensure consistency in the rules or standards used and that there is alignment with the Carbon Farming Certification Regulation (CRCF).

4. Developing an Irish registry

There is a strong consensus that an Irish registry should be established by governmental organisations designed from the start to work with the future Union Registry (to be developed by DG-Clima by 2028). This will help to strengthen market integrity and build confidence and trust in carbon farming in Ireland by ensuring transparency, integrity and sending a clear investment signal for farmers and project developers.

Guidance

“My ambition is to develop a framework that will give guidance to farmers, foresters, and landowners whilst providing confidence to those wishing to invest in carbon farming. The consultation sought input from stakeholders to shape a framework that can potentially diversify farm incomes,” the minister said.

“I want to continue my commitments to engage fully with all stakeholders on policy development, and I will shortly convene an extended working group of stakeholders, to include all farm bodies, to discuss the development of a National Carbon Farming Framework. I echo stakeholder feedback in saying that a successful framework must be simple, farmer-friendly, environmentally sustainable and cost-effective.”