Climate opportunities for farming
Deputy Bruton argued Ireland should lead in climate-conscious food markets and help farms earn income from environmental services as well as food. Deputy Coveney agreed, saying a full debate was warranted and farmers had to be brought along to meet future market demands.
Does the Minister, as a former Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and a former Minister with responsibility for trade, agree that Ireland, as a food exporter with 90% of our produce exported, must aim to be an early mover in respect of earning high margins from climate conscious consumers? Does he also agree there are significant opportunities for family farms to earn income not only from food production to the highest standard, but also from environmental services and climate services? Can the policy tools be created and delivered so that those pathways can be successfully travelled by farmers and we can have prosperous farming in a net-zero-emissions world?
Comment on this
That question is worthy of a two-hour debate, to be honest.
Comment on this
We should have such a debate in this House. To respond quickly, the answer is "yes" but we must bring farmers with us on that journey. Anybody advocating to just leave farming alone and as it is, without changing anything, does not understand the kind of markets into which we sell our food around the world. The reason Ireland has a good reputation globally as a sustainable and high-quality, safe food producer is we try to see ahead in terms of what consumers will demand in future. Consumers are going to demand a food product they can consume knowing it has been produced in a way that takes the environment and climate into account. We must bring farmers with us on this journey through new income opportunities that will emerge in this new era of greening agriculture.