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Beef industry building on established sustainability credentials

Beef sector is engaged in initiatives aimed at making a significant contribution to the overall emissions reductions targets

Much of the debate surrounding the setting of sectoral emissions ceilings in July centred on agriculture and its overall contribution to the national carbon footprint. However, the established sustainability credentials of sectors such as the beef industry tended to get lost in the heat of the argument.

“Ireland’s natural advantage in terms of climate and our grass-based production systems makes it one of the most efficient beef producers in the world from an environmental perspective,” says Joe Ryan, director of Meat Industry Ireland (MII), the Ibec sector association which represents Ireland’s primary beef, pork and lamb processors. “Ireland’s beef is amongst the top five most carbon efficient in the European Union.”

That production system requires relatively few inputs in terms of feed and fertilisers, he points out. “Combined with the sequestration potential of this undisturbed land, many beef farms could already be close to being carbon neutral.”

The urgent need for emissions reductions is acknowledged. “MII members and the wider beef sector accept the challenge and are committed to playing our part in reducing emissions from beef production,” he says. “Apart from the national target, international customers and consumers are demanding food that has been produced sustainably.”

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The sector is engaged in a number of initiatives aimed at making a significant contribution to the overall emissions reductions targets. These include early finishing.

“The Climate Action Plan includes a target of reducing the average finishing age from 27 to 24 months,” says Ryan. “We are confident of achieving this. We are already doing well there with the finishing age down to 26 months from 30 months 10 years ago. We can certainly hit 24 by 2030 and alongside genomic advances this will result in a reduction of around 1.2 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.”

Another key area is knowledge transfer. “This is a significant focus for us and MII members are providing significant financial and other support to the Teagasc Signpost Farms initiative which aims to create more profitable and sustainable farming enterprises by showcasing science-based technologies that can reduce emissions. Some of the larger beef processors have also invested in their own demonstration farms to showcase best-practice systems for both suckler and dairy beef production.”

Animal health is another important factor. “A healthier herd means less inputs required, less finishing days and a younger animal at finishing,” Ryan explains. “In addition to improving the economics of the beef enterprise, this offers significant benefits in reduced emissions. That’s why MII members provide funding to Animal Health Ireland for its Beef HealthCheck programme.”

The industry is also directly involved in research through Meat Technology Ireland, a collaboration between processors, academia and Enterprise Ireland. “A significant element of its work is focused on sustainability including detailed research into the potential for genetics to breed for lower emitting animals and for earlier finishing. It is working on other areas such as packaging innovation, factory processing efficiencies and shelf-life extension to minimise waste.”

MII members are also working to reduce the environmental footprint of their processing facilities. “Member companies participate in Bord Bia’s Origin Green programme and are committed to achieve measurable sustainability targets. In terms of their processing operations, they are involved in initiatives to reduce water consumption, reduce energy usage, reduce waste to landfill, all of which are independently verified under the Origin Green programme.”

Looking ahead, he points to the importance of genotyping all animals in the national herd at birth to provide certainty in terms of genetic merit from climate and environment perspectives. “Breeding changes require a longer-term focus but investing now is important to help build farmer confidence in the data. The Government has committed to genotyping the herd by 2030 under its Ag Climatise plan, but we believe that this should be completed by 2025.”

He returns to the point that many beef farms could already be near carbon neutral but don’t get the credit for it. “We need a robust, comprehensive on farm measurement system to be able to demonstrate that as well as to measure future emissions reductions. This is a source of frustration for farmers. If they put solar panels on farm buildings or protect their hedgerows the carbon credits go to the energy and land use sectors and not to agriculture. We need an all-farm approach that the farm itself gets some credit.”

He concludes with a warning: “People need to be aware of the unintended consequences of some policies. We have seen it with energy where the EU become overly dependent on imported gas. The EU is not self-sufficient in beef and if we reduce beef production in countries like Ireland, we will just end up importing it from countries with less sustainable production systems, thereby increasing overall global emissions.”