Back to the future: Multi-functional farms with climate and biodiversity benefits

Irish Times

15-05-2025

'We lived off the land for centuries and then we lived off oil for a few decades which was an aberration in our history. Now, living off the land will be the new normal again,' says Dr Wouter van Winden, chief fermentation scientist at the multinational firm DSM-Firmenich.
He was speaking at the Finding Common Ground festival at the RDS in Dublin recently. At the event, policymakers, academics, farmers and landowners spoke about finding new opportunities for, and more value from, Irish land.
It took place against the backdrop of the Land Use Review, phase two of which has been completed. When it is made public, the review will offer suggestions on future land use in Ireland. Phase one, completed in 2023, gave baseline figures on current land use in terms of the types of agriculture, forestry and associated areas.
The bigger picture involves a realisation that land can no longer be seen solely in terms of food production, but instead with multiple roles in an interconnected system.
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This system will place value on good water and air quality, as well as reducing carbon emissions. It will be geared towards helping biodiversity thrive while bringing socioeconomic benefits from land use alongside production of food.
The future of farming will see an emphasis on reducing waste. Photograph: Ulrich Müller
Land has multiple potential uses when you consider the broader bioeconomy in which value can be extracted at various stages of food production. Every part of the process, including farmyard manure, offers the possibility of an income stream.
'This multifunctional land use includes farm land with biodiversity and climate benefits, but we need private and green finance to fund the transition,' said Prof Mark Scott, of University College Dublin's School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy.
Prof Scott, who chaired the technical group for the review, says change is needed at scale because current land use will undermine both biodiversity and the economy.
Phase two will inform the Government's climate-action plans to achieve emissions reductions in the areas of land use, land-use change and forestry. This is in the context of potential EU fines for overshooting our agricultural emission targets. There is also a need for climate adaptation to protect our rural landscapes from the effects of climate change.
Prof Scott added that as so much land is owned by farmers, rural communities must be central to managing change in the long term. 'We need to give farmers certainty about how they use their own land,' he said. 'Deciding about land-use goals should be a social process rather than a top down technological process.'
At the festival, Dr David Styles, associate professor in agri-sustainability at the University of Galway, presented a number of future scenarios. They included maximising livestock protein within environmental constraints (i.e. specialising in dairy with significantly less beef farming) and a focus on cattle and nature through extensive rather than intensive grazing.
Ireland is way behind on its forestry-planting targets
He also emphasised a focus on pigs, poultry and protein crops (all of which have lower emissions than cattle farming), with grass in clover to reduce fertiliser input and a bioeconomy focus with plant protein, willow and energy.
'We have a very productive land bank but if we used less land for animals and animal feed, we could bring down phosphates and ammonia levels,' said Dr Styles. 'We could produce more protein with half the land, so business as usual isn't necessarily the way forward for food security. Business as usual is very negative with a 2050 lens.'
Dr Styles suggests a well-designed bioeconomy could deliver well for both the Irish economy and environment.
'In the fourth scenario, farmers could grow protein crops (peas and beans) and grass for biorefineries, which produces high-value animal feed as a replacement for imported soyabean,' he says. 'They could also grow willow on marginal land as a feedstock for bioenergy plants producing energy, which could compensate for residual agricultural emissions.'
He talks up the importance of farmers engaging in honest and open conversations about future land-use policy. 'Farmers could be more prosperous. We need to know what fits together for resilience in an uncertain future.'
Dr Styles also suggests that 16,000 hectares of forestry be planted annually from 2030 onwards. Currently, about 2,000 hectares is planted annually, which is about one-quarter of the current target.
Paul O'Brien is a sheep and tillage farmer in Co Kilkenny as well as South Leinster regional chairman of the Irish Farmers Association. He is concerned about the expectations being placed on farmers.
'We are asked to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase biodiversity, change our land use and participate in wind and solar energy production, but where is the funding going to come from for all this?' he says.
Mr O'Brien stresses the need to compensate farmers in the event of new policies failing. In this context, he mentioned ash dieback disease, which damaged the majority of ash trees planted by farmers in recent years.
Dr Andrew Kelly from EnvEcon environmental consultancy firm suggests Ireland needs to engage strongly if the European Commission decides to develop an emissions trading system for agriculture. Such a development would, in essence, be the equivalent to a carbon tax on agriculture emissions.
'The emissions trading scheme for energy companies has generated investment in renewables,' he said. 'There are different types of farms and levels of profitability and some farmers won't be viable in the future, just like some businesses fail.'
Prof Yvonne Buckley of Trinity College, co-chair of the All-Island Climate and Biodiversity Research Network, said at the event: 'To be agile in the future and to make money from land, we need diverse landscapes. Healthy ecosystems are at the heart of this. We need to protect the ones we have and restore degraded ones.'
She accepted the case for farmers getting payments for ecosystem services on their land.
Climate activists at a demonstration in Dublin focused on nature restoration. Photograph: Stephen Collins/Collins Photos
Dr James Moran, lecturer in ecology and biology at Atlantic Technological University in Galway, believes 30-year planning for land use is essential. 'We need to start working together on future policy and we need to consider the interlinked challenges of biodiversity, water quality, food and health of humans and animals,' he said.
Dr Moran acknowledges that in more recent years, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has moved from a food-first approach to one that 'protects nature and water in a liveable climate'.
He said: 'All other EU policies on climate, nature, soil, water need to be integrated into CAP now and we have to transform our land system. Business-as-usual is not an option and a national land-use framework will need to be implemented at regional and local level.'
Niamh Garvey, senior policy analyst with the National Economic and Social Council, says scaling up would give more farmers a sense of what future land use might look like. He also points to the importance of lengthening many of the European Innovation Partnerships and EU Life Programme projects that have proved inspirational.
Patrick Barrett, agricultural inspector at the Department of Agriculture, suggests that the biotechnology and food sectors could eventually come together.
He said: 'The Government will need to support investment in cluster-type developments where one company's waste is another's feedstock and the agrifood sector will be part of this, supplying feedstocks and energy to anaerobic digesters and biorefineries.
'For farmers, foresters, fishers to get more value from what they produce, this sidestream of products needs to be unlocked. This is as much a cultural journey as anything else.'