The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue has outlined the progress of agriculture in meeting climate targets.
The Minister outlined how the agriculture, food and marine sectors are playing a leadership role in delivering on the ambitions target which culminate in a whole-of-economy 51% emissions reduction by 2030.
To support farmers on this challenging journey, I have introduced measures to achieve abatement potential in the agriculture sector, backed by financial commitment including:
CAP Strategic Plan with a budget of €9.8 billion to support farmers to transition to more sustainable practices while also supporting family farm incomes,
A budget of €1.5 billion for the new agri-environment scheme ACRES,
A five-fold increase in funding for Organic Farming to €256 million to triple the area to 7.5% of utilised agricultural area,
€260 million to improve the carbon efficiency of the suckler herd through genetic improvement,
and
€43 million for a major genotyping programme for Irish cattle which was announced in May 2023 which will enhance the environmental sustainability, health and productivity of Irish beef and dairy herds.
Minister McConalogue noted that emissions from the sector had reduced in 2022 which marked an important reversal of what had been a steady upwards trend since the lowest emissions were reported in 2011.
The most significant driver for the decrease in emissions in 2022 was a decrease in use of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser of 14.0%, which came following a similar decrease in 2021.
