Financial vulnerability 'single biggest barrier’ to meeting climate action targets
Ireland’s adoption of renewable technologies at farm level is 'well below' the European average, with biogas production mainstream across Europe and worldwide.
The single biggest barrier to meeting climate action targets for agriculture is the “financial vulnerability” of many farms, Tim Cullinan has said.
The president of the Irish Farmers’ Association told an Oireachtas committee meeting recently that this vulnerability has a “large impact” on the ability of farmers to adopt more sustainable practices, as it “limits their ability to test new practices and stifles innovation due to financial constraints”.
“Creating a viable alternative revenue stream for farmers is vital if the sector is to reduce emissions without negatively impacting the rural economy,” Mr Cullinan said in his submission to the Oireachtas environment and climate action committee.
"Agriculture is a major part of the solution to climate change and with appropriate supports can continue to innovate and support Ireland’s transition to a low carbon and climate neutral economy."
The committee held a meeting on anaerobic digestion (AD) recently, with Mr Cullinan saying that it “offers a significant step towards a more sustainable farming system”.
He told the committee that it can contribute to the reduction of emissions, "particularly those in livestock, thus helping to meet emission targets".
He said that through the production of organic fertiliser, it will help with "reducing the need for chemical fertilisers and reducing the wider environmental impacts of producing chemical fertilisers".
Mr Cullinan added that it will contribute to the production of renewable electricity and heat for on-farm use and/or potentially create an additional source of income from sales of heat, electricity, or biomethane.
“Ireland’s adoption of renewable technologies at farm level is well below the European average," he continued.
"In 2018, Ireland ranked 23rd out of the EU-27 countries for generation of renewable energy from agriculture, producing just 2.6% compared with the EU-27 average of 12.1%."
Mr Cullinan stressed that farmers want to be "central players" in Ireland's energy transition.
“They recognise the opportunities offered by renewable energy to produce energy for their own use but also to diversify their farm income by selling excess energy to the grid thereby enhancing the sustainability of their farm business," he continued.
“AD is a natural fit for Ireland considering our large livestock industry and the availability of manures.
In its submission to the committee, the Irish BioEnergy Association (IrBEA) said that biogas production is mainstream across Europe and worldwide, with "over 20,000 operational AD plants around the EU, and several million across the world".
“Favourable policy measures are driving the development of the industry across Europe,” Sean Finan, chief executive of IrBEA, told the committee.
“Currently, France is commissioning three to four biomethane plants per week, Denmark has a policy where a percentage of its slurry resource must be diverted to AD.
“Ireland is far behind its EU counterparts in policy development terms and utilising this technology, with currently approximately 20 AD plants in operation in Ireland.
“The lack of progress in developing an Irish biogas/biomethane industry is a missed opportunity for Ireland."
He said that this technology brings “many benefits” for the country, including energy security; decarbonising the dairy processing and co-op sector; and providing alternative farm enterprises, among many others.
Mr Finan explained that AD technology utilises organic feedstocks and produces biogas under anaerobic conditions.
“The resultant material left after the AD process is called digestate and is a valuable fertiliser,” he told the meeting.
“Raw biogas undergoes a cleaning process after it is produced by removing the impurities.
"This biogas can be used as a vehicle fuel, heating fuel or to generate electricity in a combined heat and power [CHP] plant.
“This biogas can also be further upgraded by removing CO2 and injected into the gas grid as biomethane.”
Mr Finan said that the potential feedstocks which can be used include slurry and farm wastes; grass and silage including clover and multi-species swards grown without chemical fertiliser; food waste; green horticulture waste; and meat and dairy processing residues and wastes.
Meanwhile, member of the Oireachtas environment and climate action committee and Fianna Fáil TD Christopher O’Sullivan has drafted a bill to allow for the state to come up with a national strategy for recycling organic waste and turning it into biogas.
"By positively contributing to the decarbonisation of Irish agriculture and the generation of renewable energy by the use of anaerobic digestion, Irish farmers will be enabled to play a key role in slowing down the pace of climate change," he said.
“It's not just agriculture that will benefit from and contribute to these facilities.
“Distilleries are growing in number throughout the country, and they’ve had challenges with disposing of the grain used in the distilling process.
Mr O’Sullivan said that an existing medium-scale anaerobic digester in Timoleague in West Cork “produces enough electricity to power 1,000 homes”.
"It’s estimated that over a 10-year period it will have stopped an estimated one million tonnes of carbon from escaping into the atmosphere,” he added.
“Ireland currently doesn’t have a strategy or policy for anaerobic digestion, and the obstacles to establishing and running AD’s have prevented the expansion of this renewable, low carbon technology.
“A national strategy will encourage an expansion of this technology across Ireland, and in doing so provide a secure source of renewable energy.”
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