Farmers to stand ground as climate change hits

CLIMATE change will have a major impact on farming in the years ahead, British and Irish agri-leaders have warned.

Experts are predicting warmer, wetter winters, and fewer frosts. Summers will be hotter and drier with more droughts, while there will be more storms and floods, rising sea levels, and less annual rainfall.

New research among National Farmers Union (NFU) members in Britain reveals 60% of farmers believe they are already experiencing climate change and 70% believe they will be affected in the next 10 years.

NFU president, Peter Kendall, said climate change was one of the biggest challenges facing farmers and society as a whole.

“The farming community is more than ready to demonstrate responsibility and change where needed to tackle the challenges of climate change to ensure we remain economically and environmentally viable.”

Irish Farmers Association (IFA) president Padraig Walshe said the issues of climate change and energy security had major implications for agriculture.

“As politicians worldwide strive for greater energy security, it is evident biofuel crops will increasingly compete directly with food crops for available land. The opportunities and implications for global agriculture are enormous,” he said.

Mr Walshe said the diversion of land into energy crops would have a major impact on the food supply demand balance, removing food surpluses and strengthening international commodity prices.

And the diversion of animal feed grains into bio-ethanol production was re-balancing international grain markets and increasing the costs of intensive cereal-based meat and dairy production.

Mr Walshe said Ireland had the opportunity to maximise its competitive advantage from grass-based livestock production.

He said food security outweighed energy security in importance.

“The European Union is right to take seriously the obvious implications of global warming and energy import dependence. But food security is a European vital interest of even greater importance.

“In a volatile world and with the experience of food rationing in living memory, European politicians would be very foolish and short-sighted to take food security for granted or to barter it away in a trade deal.”