EPA - Ireland's Environment, An Integrated Assessment - 2020

Chapter 13: Environment and Agriculture Environment and Agriculture 1. Introduction Agriculture in Ireland The agri-food sector is Ireland’s oldest indigenous industry and continues to play a vital role in Ireland’s economy, as well as shaping its landscape and environment. Food produced by Ireland’s farmers, fishermen and agri-food companies is exported to over 180 countries worldwide. In 2019, agri-food exports were worth €14.5 billion (Bord Bia, 2020), almost 10 per cent of total exports, and accounted for 173,000 jobs, representing 7.7 per cent of total employment (DAFM, 2019a), demonstrating the importance of the sector to the Irish economy. In 2015, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) published a 10-year strategy for the agri-food industry, Food Wise 2025 (DAFM, 2015a), identifying the opportunities and challenges faced by the sector. The strategy outlines ambitious growth targets for the industry, including an 85 per cent increase in exports to €19 billion and the creation of 23,000 additional jobs along the supply chain, from production to high-end value- added product development. These targets are set against a 3-year (2012-2014 inclusive) baseline. A guiding principle of the strategy is that ‘environmental protection and economic competitiveness are equal and complementary: one will not be achieved at the expense of the other’. However, significantly increasing food production without depleting the natural resources on which the sector depends remains a fundamental challenge. Evidence now shows that the objective of environmental protection is not being met (EPA, 2019a). Damage to the environment from agriculture activity undermines the credibility of Ireland’s clean, green image on which the Food Wise 2025 vision is constructed. Currently, plans for the development of a new 10-year strategy for the period to 2030 present an opportunity to address the negative effects on the environment that have occurred in recent years with respect to water quality, greenhouse gas emissions, ammonia emissions and biodiversity. The EPA has outlined these challenges in its recent submission to DAFM in relation to the strategy. 1 1 http://www.epa.ie/pubs/epasub/epasubmissionontheagri- foodstrategy2030.html Topic Box 13.1 Agriculture in Ireland – past to present Ireland’s countryside has been shaped by agriculture throughout the last two centuries. Up to the middle of the 1800s, smallholdings of less than 5 acres were prevalent. These produced cereals and raised livestock to generate income to pay landlords, and potatoes to provide subsistence for smallholders, cottiers and labourers. Post famine, the area devoted to cereals more than halved as grassland and cattle numbers increased. This change occurred because of social, political and other factors, including the non-availability of workers for the then labour- intensive cereal production and improved shipping and transport of goods by rail. Improved modes of transport made it easier to move agricultural produce over large distances, leading to a decline in the area devoted to cereal production, not only in Ireland but also across northern Europe. In addition, increased living standards in the UK resulted in a growing demand for meat and dairy products (CSO, 2016). These changes form the basis of the largely grass- based livestock production systems that currently exist in Ireland. Market and policy developments in recent decades have further reinforced the dominance of livestock production. Agricultural production is not solely associated with the production of food. Farming, when carried out in a manner that is sensitive to the environment, can provide valuable ecosystem services to society, ranging from protecting water from pollution to maintaining nutrient cycles and enhancing biodiversity. These broader ecosystem services need to become an increasingly important part of day-to-day farming in Ireland. 327