A few generations ago farming, and land use, went through a period of major change as the age of horse power came to an end.

The number of horses in Ireland was around 600,000 in 1900. By 1955 that had been cut in half to 300,000. That number halved again by the end of the century.

The thing about that change is that it generally made economic and social sense. The car, train and buses ended the usefulness of the horse for transport and the introduction of the tractor meant literal horse power was no longer needed on the farm.

People generally gave up on horses because something better had come along. Cars were faster and more comfortable. Tractors could do more work for longer. Horses were replaced with things that were more efficient than them.

At no point in the transition away from the horse did Government get directly involved in the move. Nobody put a target on horse reduction. Farmers got rid of horses because it made good business sense to do it.

Similarly, getting farmers to voluntarily move away from cattle will only happen if it makes business sense to do so. Speaking before the Christmas break, Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said that he could see stock numbers fall as farmers are incentivised to move into forestry and lower-yielding organics.

The problem with these moves is that farmers are getting rewarded for a Government-prescribed policy. The train of thought is something like:

  • Government needs to reduce Ireland’s carbon emissions.
  • Government identifies farming as a target.
  • Government decides what it is that farmers should do, and then offers incentives to do that.
  • As with most things involving Government, this seems a little too complicated.

    The goal is for a reduction in carbon. So just pay farmers to do that.

    Instead of investing in forestry regulations, designing organic schemes and threatening to cull cattle numbers, Government should spend its energy developing a functioning carbon market.

    Farmers want to react to incentives, not legislation.

    Establish a proper functioning carbon market, and a proper functioning measuring system, and allow farmers to create carbon credits from actions they are taking.

    Which means paying farmers directly for the carbon reduction, rather than, for example, paying them to plant trees and hoping carbon is captured that way.