Sir, – Reducing methane emissions has been a central discussion point at Cop26.
The reality is that the current global appetite for meat and dairy is unsustainable: 84 per cent of Irish land is used to feed livestock in terms of silage, hay and pasture. We need some of that land back. The UK National Food Strategy proposes the use of diverse methods of agriculture; high-yielding sustainable intensification, lower-yielding regenerative farming, and land that is left to nature.
This model combines the key goals of productivity, lowering of emissions and enhanced biodiversity. But farms are businesses, not hobbies. Farmers cannot be expected to adopt more sustainable practices – including some that will deliberately lower their yields, and some that return the land entirely back to nature – if it destroys the balance sheet.
A strategy that supports a diversity of farming methods incorporates the need to be food producers along with the need to reduce meat consumption and develop meat alternative proteins in line with changing consumption habits; and the need to protect nature.
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More of the same – in terms of maintaining the national herd at all costs – is greenwashing and not ambitious enough for our farmers, or our position on the global stage in reaching 51 per cent reductions in emissions by 2030 and zero emissions by 2050.
– Yours, etc,
CATHERINE CONLON,
Ballintemple,
Cork.