There are a million more cows than people in Ireland. Livestock agriculture in Ireland is an international business with supply chains that stretch from one side of the planet to the other.
The biggest source of total agri-food imports into the country is animal feed, with about 40 per cent of it used in the dairy sector. Animal feed imports for dairy are equivalent to the total amount of fruit and vegetables we import to feed ourselves. At the other end of the supply chain, more than 90 per cent of the beef and dairy produced are exported from the country and supply a globally distributed demand.
The consequences of these imports and exports for biodiversity and the climate are far reaching. Imported grains such as maize and soy from South America drive deforestation with high greenhouse gas emissions and the loss of biodiversity from some of the most species-rich areas of the planet.
The supply of imported animal feed can also be disrupted due to geopolitical events in parts of the world over which we have no control, and through climate change that makes extreme weather events more likely and more severe.
Livestock production here in Ireland, together with its environmental consequences, is driven by international, not domestic, demand. Given that global demand for animal products remains high and given our open and export-driven economy, increased sustainability of animal products is the main route for mitigation of the negative climate and biodiversity effects of Irish livestock production.
Competition in the international market for sustainability is fierce, with major dairy processors such as Friesland Campina in Europe and Fonterra in New Zealand committed to reductions of 30-33 per cent in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. The largest dairy processor in Finland, the co-operative Valio, has committed to achieving a carbon-neutral milk value chain by 2035.
There is a critical role for regulation, policy supports and industry-driven action to mesh throughout the supply chain to increase the sustainability of agricultural systems. We have many of the technological tools needed to make significant reductions in emissions through using protected urea fertilisers, replacing fertilisers with multi-species pastures, breeding cows of higher quality, feed additives to reduce methane production and chemicals added to slurry to reduce emissions.
While some of these solutions are economically advantageous for individual farmers as they reduce input costs, other solutions are costly. Government or private industry funding is needed to encourage uptake of agricultural sustainability solutions.
One way in which agri-food companies are already reducing their environmental impacts is by decarbonising and reducing effects on biodiversity throughout their supply chains. Companies set sustainability standards for their suppliers, and provide funding for initiatives to increase the sustainability of the products that they buy. The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive requires that large companies, including co-ops, food processors and retailers in Ireland report reliably on their climate and biodiversity impacts.
By focusing on entire supply chains companies can drive positive impacts right back to the source of emissions, including avoiding the import of animal feed from biodiversity rich countries at risk of deforestation, as well as investing in on-farm technologies to reduce emissions from livestock and pasture systems here in Ireland.
This is called “insetting” where industries invest in their own supply chains to meet their environmental and sustainability targets. In the FarmCredit project funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, we are researching the scaling-up of insetting mechanisms.
Technological solutions and private finance are important but will only get us so far. Big problems such as climate change and biodiversity loss require long-term solutions with reliable policy signals. Systemic change through regulation to protect our waterways, restore nature and reduce emissions from agriculture are needed. Government policy also urgently needs to focus on diversification of farm incomes into domestic animal feed production, sustainable forestry, alternative crops, horticulture, agritourism, conservation and restoration schemes and payments for ecosystem services.
Government subsidies need to switch from subsidising environmentally damaging farming systems, which make Irish farmers uncompetitive on a global stage, to farming systems that can demonstrably sequester carbon, provide clean water and flood mitigation services and support nature while producing high quality and sustainable products.
Prof Yvonne Buckley is co-director of the Co-Centre for Climate + Biodiversity + Water at Trinity College Dublin
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