A huge amount of work is being done to reduce emissions from agriculture with “momentum” growing in the last couple of years, director general of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Laura Burke has said.

Speaking at last week’s Moorepark open day in Fermoy, she highlighted how emissions from agriculture were down by 4.1% in 2023 and by 1.7% in 2024.

“At best, with all the current policies and plans and measures, we’re talking about a 16% reduction in agriculture emissions versus the 25% [target] - 16% will still be a huge achievement but it’s not hitting the target.

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“It’s going in the right direction,” Burke said.

Speaking about the 10% reduction in nitrogen levels in Irish rivers in the past year, Burke said that nitrate levels in the east and south of the country are still too high.

“They’re above the levels that are acceptable but it’s going in the right direction and that’s really important.

Results

“A huge amount of work is happening and we’re starting to see the results of that,” Burke said.

In 2022 the EPA developed the National Agricultural Inspection Programme to drive improvements in water quality.

County councils have been tasked by the EPA under this programme to carry out 4,545 farm inspections in 2025.

Burke said that there’s been a lot of “really positive” results from it.

“What I would say, which is really disappointing, is that 40% of the inspections that have been done fail for non-compliance on the first inspection,” she said.

These include basic things like manure management and protected materials getting into waters, she added.

“And the reason I want to raise that is because you have all of these really good farmers doing the right thing but everybody needs to do it.

“So it’s not only adopting new technology, but it’s doing the basics really well, and that has to be the standard that everybody works to,” the EPA director general told the crowd at Moorepark.