Farmers must try harder to win green debates

COUNTING cows is what Irish farming has been reduced to in the national discourse.

Reducing ‘the national herd’ is the primary question that the media put to politicians and policymakers - it’s a simple concept to explain and arouses extreme positions on both sides.

The problem for farmers is that what is a critical policy for environmental and economic survival, is now presented as a simple, binary issue - four cows bad, two cows good.

But good public policy is rarely simple, and farmers need to be more imaginative about how they win the hearts and minds of the public on this issue.

Recently, Eamon Ryan was asked on RTÉ radio if the Green Party ed a cattle cull to reduce the national herd. Unsurprisingly, the Minister’s answer was a mix of aspirations towards higher farm incomes with less work for farmers overall. Do less and get more.

But farming shouldn’t be an industry to be pitied, to be propped up, or worse, to be feared. If farmers continue to allow themselves to be defined by the number of belching cows they refuse to kill, they are missing a massive opportunity to educate consumers on what solutions the sector can come up with to the food security/environmental impact conundrum.

Farming has been handed the responsibility of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by about 5.5 megatonnes, or 25%, by 2030.

This is a significant target, and the cows are right in the centre of the target because of the methane that they produce.

Methane is a particularly nasty greenhouse gas as, according to Teagasc, it is 28 times more effective in trapping heat over 100 years than carbon dioxide.

It also hangs around the atmosphere for up to 12 years, so the race is on to reduce every molecule emitted.

Unfortunately, the science from Teagasc also suggests that methane from ruminant livestock (cattle and sheep) s for 58% of Irish methane emissions. So simple mathematics leads to simple policy ideas - if we have fewer cows, the problem can be solved.

The problem is that no two cows are the same. Some cows are genetically better at producing less methane. Some cows have access to types of feed or feed additives that promote less methane production.

Teagasc itself has a number of research projects that are designed to look at ways to make the cows less of a problem.

Farmers’ groups point to the fact that some research is based on international data, not national data. So more research and time are needed when already farmers are up against a deadline.

And, understandably, they get defensive when the herd they have been encouraged to invest in is discussed in national media as a problem that could be easily solved with a nice neat cull and a few euro for your trouble.

Defensiveness is a fine position when you are communicating with your own people, but it is not a strategy.

Farmers in Ireland produce good food well and efficiently. A recent corporate reputations survey put Bord Bia in the top 10 trusted brands in Ireland, whilst food and beverage brands were seen as having “strong” reputations.

By fighting the wrong battle with policymakers, or by rising to provocations from the more extreme ends of the green movement, farmers are wasting time that they could be using to communicate a clearer message to the consumer.

That message needs to be simple - we will work to do our part to help the environment, to reduce emissions, and you can trust us to do it.

It will cost you more at the till, but you will be purchasing something that every scientific and management effort has been made to make it better for the environment.

Both the energy and transport sectors have the same problem to address and communicate to the same audience - we need to reduce emissions and be more efficient.

They are doing a better job of bringing people along with them, due in no small part to the significant financial s both energy and transport are getting to make the change. Farmers don’t have the luxury of a vast fund to manage this transition to greener, more expensive food.

Consumers want real evidence that those supplying their food are working towards a greener economy.

If farmers start building that trust with the consumer and convince them that they are working imaginatively with the green agenda, instead of fighting it one cow at a time, they can convince the consumer to help them hit that 25% target.

And that consumer should be the number one audience for farmers - mind that consumer and farmers will still be in business long after 2030 has come and gone.