Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
AGRICULTURE MINISTER CHARLIE McConalogue has said farmers are “very much up for” exploring a voluntary dairy reduction scheme.
It comes amid reports that the numbers of dairy cows in Ireland will have to be reduced by up to 65,000 cows per year up to 2025 if the agriculture sector is to meet its climate reduction targets.
The sector has been tasked with cutting its carbon emissions by 25% by the end of the decade.
Rural Independent TD Michael Collins denounced it as a “secret plot to massacre our precious cows”.
He added that the “government has been caught red-handed in a diabolical scheme to exterminate our bovine population” and said: “The government’s draconian emission reduction targets for agriculture would inevitably result in a nationwide cow massacre.”
Collins also claimed that the voluntary dairy reduction scheme is an attempt to “diminish and annihilate the sector’s capabilities”.
Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Minister McConalogue said his “team is currently scoping out” a voluntary dairy reduction scheme and that “it’s something that’s under consideration”.
He added that the scheme was one of the recommendations of a dairy vision group.
McConalogue said that “it’s a journey that farmers are already on” and that farmers are “very much up for” schemes like these.
“That is something that has been proposed and I am currently considering whether a voluntary option for those wishing to exit would be put in place,” said McConalogue.
He also pledged a 50% increase in government funding for schemes that “support farmers on that journey” to deliver a 25% reduction in carbon emissions from farming by 2030.
McConalogue also said that he will work closely with farming bodies to ensure that there aren’t “any shocks or surprises here”.
He added that a final decision hasn’t been made yet in the scheme but that “farmers were open and proposed the idea that where some dairy farmers wanted to exit, that a voluntary exit scheme would be helpful in that regard”.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
This is the level of lies and misinformation we have come to expect from our elected officials. I cannot think of any reason any farmer would be ‘well up for’ a massive slashing of their ability to earn an income. What of the knock-on impact on prices to consumers, or to the environment from importing dairy/beef products from countries like Brazil – who are cutting down the Amazon to produce the same products. More virtue-signaling, tokenistic measures designed to give an impression of positive change without actually caring about implications good or bad. Reckless at best, treasonous at worst.
@Caoimhín Mac Giolla Chaoin: you realise Ireland import millions of tonnes of animal feed every year from Brazil and beyond, soy from the destroyed Amazon etc., and then most of what is produced in Ireland is exported?
@Caoimhín Mac Giolla Chaoin: It’s clear from the article that farmers will be compensated.
The solution to the problem of Brazilian beef imports is for Irish people to eat less beef.
@eoin fitzpatrick: I’m aware that the farming/agriculture sector is bent out of all recognition of any sensible analysis by virtue of government interventions and subsidies worldwide. NZ cut all subsidies decades ago and now has a flourishing and largely sustainable agriculture sector, an track to be carbon neutral by 2050. The fact remains that Ireland has among the better climates globally for sustainably producing beef, along with a tradition of high-quality (and welfare) product – even if we are exporting it, it is likely better than washing our hands and expecting everyone else will do it sustainably (hint – they won’t).
@Caoimhín Mac Giolla Chaoin: how is it sustainable if it relies so much on imported feed from places like Brazil?
@eoin fitzpatrick: More sustainable than if the entire animal was produced in Brazil. If unsustainable grains/feeds is the source then let’s address that problem. Not offload it abroad in willful ignorance, as we are currently doing with peat from Latvia for our horticulture, and woodchip from Brazil for our power plants.
@Brendan O’Brien: A one-off payment is not a replacement for a loss of income. Unless the compensation is in the form of an unending welfare-style payment to farmers? As for your suggestion of Irish people eating less beef, of course that would solve everything. Unless you’re willing to adopt super authoritarian governance, where we don’t even have control of what we eat, that’s not an option. Best we stick to real & achievable solutions I think.
@Caoimhín Mac Giolla Chaoin: the fact is we don’t produce enough grass for the amount of cows in ireland. unless we reduce the number we’ll keep on having to import feed from brazil.
the reason we have no forests in ireland is because of farming, brazil are just catching up.
@Caoimhín Mac Giolla Chaoin: Attempting to educate Irish people towards eating less (or no) beef is certainly an option.
There are already ongoing incentives for farmers to farm in more environmentally friendly ways, and they are subsidized in various ways. They and their organizations should be willing to take the initiative on this to some degree. ‘Nothing’s going to change my world’ is not a tenable philosophy.
@eoin fitzpatrick: As I understand it, the grain is often used as a finishing product in this country (to ensure quicker fattening and earlier slaughter). I don’t see why we wouldn’t encourage finishing on grass instead of grain to address the unsustainable grain problem. I still maintain/believe that a cull is tantamount to burying our heads in the sand.
@eoin fitzpatrick: You do realise that one of the Green proposals is to finish beef for factory in 30 months instead of 36 at the moment.
Guess what that means? Import feed stuff for quicker finishing. No joined up thinking.
Before considering ‘culling’ anything can we prove that doing this in Ireland will alter carbon levels one bit? And will make any tangible difference to climate?
What could be more natural than a cow eating grass?
I do not eat beef myself, but this is madness & wrong
@Tilal Moore: 100,000 cows eating grass is no more ‘natural’ than, say, 50,000 cows eating grass. None of it particularly ‘natural’: it is driven by profit.
The proposed cuts in emissions are based on the science of climate change. They will contribute to mitigating the worst effects of climate change.
A “secret plot to massacre our precious cows”—I assume that Michael Collins is vegetarian if he is so opposed to the killing of cows.
Precious cows, lol. They’ve no problem sending 100s of 1000s of precious unwanted baby calves abroad every year to places like Poland, Spain and Libya, cramped together on ships on long arduous journeys.
And another thing our cows are different because they are grass fed.
By the way why do we import so much soy based meal ironically often from Brazil where the rainforest is cleared to grow the sky beans. But our cows are “sustainable” unlike Brazilian cattle who need the rain forest to be cleared to facilitate grazing – sorry need to lie down as my brain is sore trying to sort this conundrum out!
@Pato: mostly grass fed. look at the likes of weanling crunch and other animal feeds, they are all made from soy and maize that comes from south america and the rest of the world. millions of tonnes of this are imported every year.
Well Minister these cows and the rest of our great agricultural practices are ruining our wildlife and killing wild Ireland on a daily basis. It sickens me to see ditches and trees knocked on a weekly basis to provide more grass for these so called cows. Nature is hanging on by it’s fingertips in this country. Feck global warming, if we look after nature, nature will fix itself.
@edwardjp: I mean, yer mostly right but “so called” cows?
Eh?
No, they are cows.
What percentage of the atmosphere is carbon?
@Edward Corbett: none… carbon cannot exist on its own . It needs another gas to latch onto.
Another climate zealots delusional thinking, all I can say is poor Ireland, it’s now a woke country led by climate cult wokes .
Why does the government stay so silent about the DAA a Semi-State Company that is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases in Ireland? The DAA is now planning a new extension to Dublin Airport to accommodate millions of extra passengers a year and has applied for planning permission to operate 24/7 with no nighttime restrictions all in its bid to become the number one international aviation hub in Europe. But it’s the small farmers, turf cutters, cycle lanes, and reducing the cow heard numbers that seem to be the government’s main priority right now. It all seems to be about punishing ordinary people while the wealthy are exempt to continue living their carbon-intensive lifestyles.
77% of Soya cultivation is for Cattle.
The ‘secret plot to massacre our precious cows’ happens when you send them to what ye call the ‘factory’ to have their throats slit.
Go plant based – save your only planet.
@Eoin Fitzpatrick : You haven’t an absolute clue of what your talking about, agricultural goods do not count on the carbon count of the country they are exported into, so the feed or the beef from Brazil doesn’t go on our bill hence the drive to bring all this Brazilian beef to Europe and sell cars back to them ALL THE CARBON IS IN THEIR BILL. Farmers with outdoor reared grass fed beef and dairy in Ireland are carbon neutral but because the govts of every EU country have sequestered Irelands grasslands hedgerows and woodlands and handed it to FDIs and heavy industry to make them look cleaner, along with the other ridiculous scenario where you can’t export your production carbon like every other industry can, farming is public enemy no 1. It’s complete horse all decided at high level in Europe by people looking after their own interest. You come back on here when our food production industry is on its knees thanks to this EU driven crap and your paying 6 quid for a carton of milk and can’t afford to feed your children and see if you so bloody smug. Why don’t you rag on about the world’s military complex which is by far the biggest emitter of carbon in the world, but guess what it’s exempt, give me a effin break
If farmers breath, they get a subsidy. They massively increased the cattle count over the last few years and now they are being given more money to reduce it. Is there not a crisis in Climate change, health and Housing that is more important. If they were big employers, you could sort of understand it but basically they are just facilitating more price gouging. Solution is simple. Only allow them initially replace 50% of cows they kill until we fall in line with climate targets and get rid of subsidies.
@BarryH: Same number of animals in Ireland now as there was in 1980
Unless there is a dramatic change in what we eat does it matter what the farmer does?
If we cull our herd and continue to eat beef in the same volume then it’ll just come from somewhere else no?
Are we not better off addressing our diet and then see where we go from there? If we change our diet then the farmer will automatically have to change/adapt.
If we’re just doing this to export the problem somewhere isn’t it a bit pointless ultimately?
@Joshua Walsh: we could cull nearly all of the cows in ireland and still continue to consume as much beef and dairy as we do. we export nearly all of what is produced.
@eoin fitzpatrick: so are we paying the carbon penalty for the countries that import our product? That doesn’t seem entirely right to me.
The same thoughts apply though, if we cut production and these countries don’t change eating habits and import from elsewhere then there is no net benefit in terms of emissions, unless we in Ireland are able to rare the animals more carbon efficiently than another country, in which case they’d be better off importing from us.
Anyone for a fillet steak? Synthetic of course, shudnt we all be under water by now? That’s what we were told decades ago, I even learned how to swim, seemingly it all our natural resources that the planet provides for us that’s going to kill us all, well New York is still standing, the ice shelf in Antarctica is expanding, Obama has bought a mansions by the Pacific so he’s not expecting the ocean come visit him , but Mary’s turf fire and them feckin cows have to go, we can’t be having them roaming around the countryside eating all the grass , they’re lethal, BTW if ur going to the shop later will ya pick up a couple of pints of milk
have your say