There is a price premium to be claimed for food produced sustainably on Irish family farms, but only if farmers continue to improve their environmental credentials, according to two Green party ministers.

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture Pippa Hackett told Tuesday’s Energy in Agriculture event in Gurteen that aiming for the “higher end” of the emissions reduction range would put Ireland at the “forefront of food production in the world”.

Having such climate credentials, she claimed, could see farmers receiving more for what they produce, as well as sourcing alternative revenue streams for public goods.

“The focus now needs to go towards profitability. I think we need to swap the word production for profitability,” she said.

Minister Hackett’s comments echoed those made by Green Party leader and Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan earlier in the day.

“We are not going to compete – our family farm system – with the big Texan or Chinese or Argentinian or other countries where you might have 15,000 cattle in a 3ha enclosure. That’s not the market we are competing with,” said Minister Ryan.

IFA president Tim Cullinan disputed Minister Ryan’s argument, stating that at present, organic milk and meat are receiving less at the farmgate than conventionally-farmed goods.