Sustainability initiatives implemented by governments throughout Europe are also setting targets for farms to meet in order to cut down on emissions. The increasing threat of climate change is high on the agenda for governments to tackle due to the increased political pressure applied by a concerned public. According to a report by Globe News Wire ‘The number of dairy cows is expected to decrease from 20M heads in 2022 to 19.6m heads in 2025’. The reduction of dairy herds over the next decade will naturally also affect milk supply. Dairy farming is one of the main areas highlighted by campaigners as a contributor to high greenhouse gas emissions and further political pressure on the sector will lead to more uncertainty.
Closer to home the Irish government recently announced targets for Ireland to be carbon neutral by the year 2050 and for farms to cut emissions by 30%. The Green Party is currently in government in Ireland and have been pushing for more sustainability targets to be met by Irish farms with a view to becoming a global leader. There is increasing anger building up among Irish farmers that the government are trying to cut down production and impact their business. At a rally to demonstrate against the initiatives IFA president Tim Cullinan said that ‘farmers are frustrated and angry at the way they are being treated by the government. Farmers won’t accept being treated like sacrificial lambs to the Green Party in order to keep the government in power’. The dairy industry is a lifeblood of employment in rural Ireland. Of course the increasing threat of global warming is a concern for everyone but we need the whole world to play their part. It will be an interesting litmus test to see how the population of rural Ireland reacts to sustainability targets set out by the Irish government. Whilst major industry powerhouses such as China and the US continue to allow high polluting industry to operate at high scale, it’s hard to see how measures deployed against dairy farming in a small country like Ireland will make a significant contribution to the global outlook.