Irish agriculture was put on the naughty step since the release of the latest Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) update on progress towards achieving a reduction of emissions by 2030 of 50%.
At best, Irish agriculture is projected to fall 5% short of its 25% reduction target and will account for over 40% of Ireland's total emissions by 2030.
When judged on numerical performance alone, Irish agriculture is easily cast as the villain in the wider climate debate.
It is easy to form the impression that if it wasn’t for agriculture, Ireland would be a relatively low emitter of greenhouse gasses.
Unfortunately, this complex issue gets shoehorned into a soundbite-driven social media debate, where people who are often well removed from farming fail to understand why we simply don’t downsize agriculture and solve the problem.
Reduction in Ireland means increase elsewhere
If it was as simple as cutting back on output from Irish agriculture to contribute to overall global reduction of emissions, there would be an argument, even if farmers found it unpalatable.
However, the harsh reality is that even if Irish agriculture took the most extreme option and shut down completely, there might be a pat on the back at a national level, but, globally, the world would increase emissions by more, as reduced Irish production would simply be transferred elsewhere.
Ruminant livestock numbers are close to the maximum in Ireland and in most other pasture-based countries.
Some countries that have a large pasture element in their production, such as Australia and the US, fluctuate in output, as they are frequently affected by drought.
Productivity gains are being made everywhere in the world, but the only country with a sufficient landmass for ongoing expansion is Brazil, in addition to the huge growth in beef output already delivered over recent decades.
Brazil easily picks up slack
According to data published by Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE), Brazil processed 3.510m head of cattle in the first three months of 1997.
Data for the first quarter of 2023 show that 7.344m head of cattle were processed - more than double the 1997 figure.
Even comparing with the first quarter of 2022, when 7.011m cattle were processed in Brazilian factories, this is a 333,000 head increase since this time last year.
Brazil has doubled beef production and is forecast to keep growing.
To put that in context, the total Irish cattle slaughter for the first quarter was 394,719 head, just 61,000 more than the increase in Brazil.
While Brazil’s cattle slaughter numbers have doubled over the past 26 years, Irish cattle numbers have been consistently been between 1.5m and 1.8m.
Looking at the total national herd over the period, in Ireland it was slightly higher in 1997 at 7.5m head compared with 7.3m head in 2021.
What this tells us
The bottom line is that in the context of global cattle numbers, Ireland is a small player.
However, our pasture-based agriculture and good water supply makes Ireland a particularly suitable country in which to keep livestock compared with parts of the world where cattle are kept in air-conditioned sheds, feed is imported and water is sourced from wells dunk deep into the earth.
Ireland, along with New Zealand, has among the lowest level of emissions per kilo of beef or litre of milk produced.
However, this context is lost when it comes to the sacred national targets for emission reductions.
Achieving reduction in national targets may be desirable, but what is essential is reduction in global emissions. In this context, Irish policy is counterproductive.
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Irish agriculture was put on the naughty step since the release of the latest Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) update on progress towards achieving a reduction of emissions by 2030 of 50%.
At best, Irish agriculture is projected to fall 5% short of its 25% reduction target and will account for over 40% of Ireland's total emissions by 2030.
When judged on numerical performance alone, Irish agriculture is easily cast as the villain in the wider climate debate.
It is easy to form the impression that if it wasn’t for agriculture, Ireland would be a relatively low emitter of greenhouse gasses.
Unfortunately, this complex issue gets shoehorned into a soundbite-driven social media debate, where people who are often well removed from farming fail to understand why we simply don’t downsize agriculture and solve the problem.
Reduction in Ireland means increase elsewhere
If it was as simple as cutting back on output from Irish agriculture to contribute to overall global reduction of emissions, there would be an argument, even if farmers found it unpalatable.
However, the harsh reality is that even if Irish agriculture took the most extreme option and shut down completely, there might be a pat on the back at a national level, but, globally, the world would increase emissions by more, as reduced Irish production would simply be transferred elsewhere.
Ruminant livestock numbers are close to the maximum in Ireland and in most other pasture-based countries.
Some countries that have a large pasture element in their production, such as Australia and the US, fluctuate in output, as they are frequently affected by drought.
Productivity gains are being made everywhere in the world, but the only country with a sufficient landmass for ongoing expansion is Brazil, in addition to the huge growth in beef output already delivered over recent decades.
Brazil easily picks up slack
According to data published by Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE), Brazil processed 3.510m head of cattle in the first three months of 1997.
Data for the first quarter of 2023 show that 7.344m head of cattle were processed - more than double the 1997 figure.
Even comparing with the first quarter of 2022, when 7.011m cattle were processed in Brazilian factories, this is a 333,000 head increase since this time last year.
Brazil has doubled beef production and is forecast to keep growing.
To put that in context, the total Irish cattle slaughter for the first quarter was 394,719 head, just 61,000 more than the increase in Brazil.
While Brazil’s cattle slaughter numbers have doubled over the past 26 years, Irish cattle numbers have been consistently been between 1.5m and 1.8m.
Looking at the total national herd over the period, in Ireland it was slightly higher in 1997 at 7.5m head compared with 7.3m head in 2021.
What this tells us
The bottom line is that in the context of global cattle numbers, Ireland is a small player.
However, our pasture-based agriculture and good water supply makes Ireland a particularly suitable country in which to keep livestock compared with parts of the world where cattle are kept in air-conditioned sheds, feed is imported and water is sourced from wells dunk deep into the earth.
Ireland, along with New Zealand, has among the lowest level of emissions per kilo of beef or litre of milk produced.
However, this context is lost when it comes to the sacred national targets for emission reductions.
Achieving reduction in national targets may be desirable, but what is essential is reduction in global emissions. In this context, Irish policy is counterproductive.
Read more
Global greenhouse gas emissions hit record
Elon Musk backing brave
Opinion: we need more time, we have no time
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