Ireland’s beef sector on track to being most carbon-efficient in EU

Ireland’s beef industry could become the most carbon-efficient in Europe, generating an additional €300m on-farm income per year, according to a report launched by Bord Bia in Dublin yesterday.

The report on the first three years of Bord Bia’s groundbreaking ‘Origin Green’ programme states that this could be achieved if the carbon footprint of the beef herd was reduced by 10% through specified performance measures.

‘Origin Green’ is the world’s first sustainability programme for a country’s entire food and drink sector and will soon be extended to retail and food service to complete the food supply chain.

Ireland’s green image is a key platform for the success of the food and drink export industry, which last year exported to 175 markets and generated some €10.5bn for the economy.

Did you see @OriginGreen report launch on @rtenews w/ @GeorgeLeeRTE? You can read our 1st sustainability report here https://t.co/JFmvRnlHWy

— Bord Bia - The Irish Food Board (@Bordbia) November 9, 2015

The report insists it is no longer sufficent for Ireland to simply declare it is ‘green’. In a world facing challenges from climate change and resource scarcity, it must prove its credentials as well.

More than 55,000 Irish farms and 122 food and drink companies are fully verified members of the programme. A further 352 companies are preparing, or have submitted, plans for verification.

The farms account for 90% of Ireland’s beef production and half of its milk output, while the companies are responsible for 85% of the country’s food and drink exports.

As part of the programme, food and drink manufacturers have commited to more than 800 sustainability targets around raw material sourcing, manufacturing processes and social sustainability.

The targets provide for reductions of €12m and €17m in energy and water usage, respectively, by 2017, and seek to reduce general waste generation by 14,000 tonnes.

Bord Bia chief executive Aidan Cotter said almost 90,000 carbon assessments have been carried out on farms since ‘Origin Green’ was launched. This action alone makes Ireland a world-leader in sustainability, he said.

“No other country anywhere is carbon foot-printing its farms on, what is, in effect, a national scale,” said Mr Cotter.