Ireland's State of the Environment Report 2024

269 Chapter 10: Environment and Agriculture Topic Box 10.3  Envisioning a climate-neutral agriculture and land sector (continued) Based on the latest analysis, it is clear that a focus on efficiency and emissions abatement in the agriculture sector, while important, will be inadequate to deliver climate neutrality (in the agriculture and land use sector) and would need to be accompanied by all of the following: (1) at least moderate diversification away from milk and/or beef production; (2) restoring degraded peatlands; (3) water table management across tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of hectares of organic soils under grassland; and (4) planting at least 500,000 ha of new forest (Styles et al ., 2024). Maintaining climate neutrality post 2050 will require measures including extended storage of carbon in biochar, wood products and geological storage via bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (Forster et al ., 2021). Biogenic carbon could become a highly valued resource in a (nearly) fossil fuel-free world, not least because it offers a unique pathway towards negative emissions. To date, there has been a lack of integrated, holistic and spatially explicit evidence gathered on areas of overlap and conflict across competing demands on land, including food production, climate action, biodiversity and catchment management for water quality. For example, replacing cattle with anaerobic digestors for bioenergy generation could play an important role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from both the agriculture and energy sectors but may bring challenges for biodiversity and water quality owing to the need for high grass growth rates and potentially high ammonia emissions from digestate application to soils. It is likely that complementarities can be prioritised, and trade-offs minimised, if actions can be targeted to the most appropriate geographical contexts. As climate change manifests itself, existing food and land systems may become stressed and new systems may become viable in particular regions (IPCC, 2019). Given the long time lag involved in environmental equilibration to land use changes, it is important to incorporate both climate change adaptation and climate change mitigation into land use strategies. Empowering farmers and other landowners to be positive agents for change requires clear policy signalling based on the big picture and the long view. We need transformational change in the food system. Key objectives include: ■ Develop a long-term, integrated, cross-departmental shared vision and leadership for a future thriving, resilient, productive and verifiably sustainable food system out to 2050. ■ Set clear trajectories explicitly linked to the required outcomes that reflect the pace and scale of change that is required, while acknowledging the levels of uncertainty, the need to make progress and the importance of supporting farmers to make the necessary changes. ■ Farm in harmony with nature and within the safe limits of healthy functioning ecosystems. ■ Adapt, diversify, innovate and build resilience into our farm systems to cope with future climate and environmental challenges. ■ Take advantage of the opportunities and multiple benefits of the circular bioeconomy; for example, forestry can contribute to climate action in the LULUCF sector by acting as a carbon sink, and it can also be a bioeconomy feedstock. ■ Recognise that, while optimisation and efficiency gains play important roles in the food system to reduce the environmental footprint of the food being produced, they must be complemented by reductions in absolute emissions to achieve environmental outcomes. ■ Significantly reduce food waste, optimise the use of land, resources and nutrients, and maximise nutrition and health. ■ Collate the evidence, track progress, and actively and adaptively manage the transition to a truly sustainable food system. Adequately support farmers and other landowners to make the necessary changes in practice, while delivering fair economic returns as part of a just transition.