IRISH AGRICULTURE will be capable of adapting to climate change and most crops cultivated here will remain viable, the National Teagasc Reps conference in Tullamore was told yesterday by Prof John Sweeney of NUI Maynooth.
He said the rural environment protection scheme (Reps) could be a useful tool in adapting to the changes already predicted as these would centre either on maximising outputs or minimising inputs.
Opening the conference, which was devoted to the climate change issue, Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith said Ireland would have great difficulty meeting its agricultural commitments of a 20 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.
Stressing the Government was committed to meeting the overall target, he said he was arguing at EU level that cutting back on the EU herd numbers would mean an increase in herd sizes in less efficient and unregulated areas where deforestation could take place, increasing the problem.
He added that the food miles would also increase by transporting beef back to Europe and to Ireland which had the most sustainable beef production in the world.
Dr Gary Lanigan, of Teagasc environmental research centre, said there was a conflict between reduced emissions from agriculture, increased food production and food security.
He also warned that reductions in agriculture would be offset by increased production elsewhere.
Prof Alan Mathews, of Trinity College Dublin, said modifications would be made to the Reps programme in the current "health check" negotiations on the common agriculture policy.
This would include, he added, expanding the remit of rural development policy to respond to challenges such as climate change, water management and biodiversity.
He said there was no reason to think the public desire for environmental values produced by the farmed landscape would diminish.
But market demands would make these environmental services more costly and could lead to abandonment of land.