There has been much talk in farming circles about the recent announcement of Ireland’s 2030 emissions targets with particular emphasis on the agriculture target. Agriculture has been given a target of reducing emissions in the sector by 25%, a really tough task and one that will mean massive changes on all farms in the next eight years. So far, there has been very little detail around how farms will hit this target, and more importantly, how farmers will be supported in meeting the targets.

The Irish Farmers Journal livestock team will discuss and debate what needs to happen on farms across all sectors, what the low hanging fruit is and what measures will take a much bigger effort to get farmers to adopt. The Teagasc MACC has identified key areas where we can make improvements, but will that be enough without reducing livestock numbers?

The livestock team will also tell the Irish food story from soil to plate in two live demos taking place at 11am and 2pm on each of the three days at the Ploughing. This demo will feature live animals from our beef and sheep demonstration farm in Tullamore and also animals from our THRIVE dairy calf-to-beef demonstration farm in Cashel. Neven Maguire will also be hosting a live cooking demo taking place at 1pm each day.

The aim of the discussion will be to tell the story of how Irish food is produced and complete the circle with food produced on Irish farms being cooked on the stand by Neven Maguire.

During the day, the Irish Farmers Journal team will be on hand to answer any questions or just to have a chat with visitors to the stand. Our stand is located in Block 2, Row 16, Stand 267. If you’re attending the National Ploughing Championships from 20-22 September, be sure to drop by.