Agriculture | Business Post

Exclusive: EU will fund Ireland to pay farmers directly for nature restoration and ‘ecosystem services’

European Commission document outlines ‘possible avenues for moving forward’ with a focus on contentious areas such as the rewetting of some agricultural land

Restoration of nature ‘crucial’, says European commissioner amid concerns from farmers

It comes as the European People’s Party, of which Mairead McGuinness is a member, walked out of talks on the EU’s nature restoration law last week

Climate & Environment

Culture war of farming versus environment is a dangerous distraction

Nature restoration, emissions reductions and carbon sequestration are fundamental necessities on a par with food production – and our political debates should be about how to pay farmers a proper price for them

Employment rate reaches record high with 2.6m working - CSO

70 per cent of females under 64 have jobs, the highest number recorded

Food industry hits out at plan to force supermarkets to reveal profit margins

Proposed food ombudsman would have powers to probe suspected unfair trading practices as chains are accused of price gouging

Climate & Environment

Aidan Regan: We cannot allow climate crisis to turn farming community into the enemy

There is no way Ireland can achieve its climate targets without huge disruptions to farming – but we need to take care of farmers while we do it or we will politically pay the price

Cost Of Living Crisis

Food prices to keep rising despite slowdown in inflation

Producers were absorbing costs but are now passing them on to retailers and, ultimately, customers

Letter From America

Marion McKeone: Kerrygold withdrawal meltdown as butter disappears off US shelves

The popular Irish butter has been temporarily removed from supermarkets in California and New York due to new packaging regulations, leading to scavenger-like hunts for the precious commodity

Farmers cold on forestry due to rise of ‘invisible investors’ buying up land, industry warns

Irish Farmers’ Association to claim strategy of courting private capital for forestry is counterproductive as it is causing farmers and rural communities to oppose afforestation

IFA calls for Leaving Cert course to recognise agriculture’s ‘environmental credentials’

Organisation says famers are being ‘vilified’ as the sole cause of climate change while minister says it’s time to move away from 'adversarial’ positions on the issue

Climate & Environment

Action stations: Turning Ireland’s climate ambitions into reality

Our national targets for reducing emissions, set out in the new Climate Action Plan, are now among the most ambitious in the world – and each sector has specific carbon budgets and pathways to deliver on by 2025 – but how achievable are they?

Climate & Environment

John Gibbons: We’ve got to change our choice of food to feed our growing population

Half of all the habitable land on Earth is now used to feed our vast livestock herds, and for crop production for direct human consumption, with profound impacts on the biosphere

Second London hedge fund takes short bet against Kerry Group

Greenvale Capital joins Marshall Wace in betting that the food giant’s shares will continue to fall

Irishman leads the way in New Zealand’s drive to produce methane livestock vaccine

John Roche from Co Kerry is advising the government in Wellington on technologies including a possible methane vaccine for cattle and sheep

Climate & Environment

Pace of government climate policy ‘out of step with worsening conditions’

Friends of the Earth said that while the government’s performance in the areas of nature and transport had improved from last year, there was a decline in performance in energy, climate, water, and buildings

Barley buyer to deduct ‘energy surcharge’ from price paid for grain

French-owned Boortmalt, the main buyer of the malting crop produced here for the Irish drinks industry, announces the cut as farm inputs rise by 40 per cent

Cairns calls for CAP subsidies to be shifted from farmers to consumers

The Social Democrats TD says the current system encourages below-cost selling and benefits supermarkets rather than farmers

Threat of global food crisis recedes as grain ships leave Ukrainian ports

The vessels are the first to depart the ports on the Black Sea in months, following Russia’s deal with Ukraine last month to allow safe passage to grain shipments

Brian Keegan: Concerns of farmers serve as a magnifying glass on politics

The resolution of the agriculture emissions problem requires it to be seen for what it is: a problem of oversupply of a by-product

Climate & Environment

Farmers to be asked to reduce emissions by 25%

Negotiations over sectoral emissions ceilings had reached an impasse in recent weeks over agriculture’s proposed range of 22-30% emissions reductions by 2030 from 2018 levels