The Irish government would need to set aside a €600 million budget in order to cull 65,000 cows every year for three years in order to meet its climate targets, according to internal reports seen by the Irish Independent.
The newspaper reported that 10 percent of all livestock in Ireland would need to be “displaced” in the coming years in order to comply with the government’s ambitious plans of achieving net zero carbon emissions by no later than 2050 and reducing emissions by 51 percent by 2030.
A mass culling of 200,000 cows over three years could be one way to help the Irish agricultural sector “close the gap” on its emissions targets, according to the briefing paper by the Department of Agriculture.
The plan would see Irish farmers compensated for the loss of their dairy herd, with the report suggesting a budget of €600 million would be required.
Farmers, however, aren’t convinced of the need to resort to such drastic measures and believe that other polluting industries aren’t being required to suffer the same fate.
Pat McCormack, the president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association, told Newsweek on Tuesday that the Irish dairy herd isn’t any bigger than it was at the turn of the century.
“Our herd isn’t any larger than it was 25, 30 years ago. Can the same be said for the transport industry, can the same be said for the aviation industry?” he asked.
When asked whether farmers consider the cull of its dairy herd to be reasonable, McCormack replied: “If there is a scheme, it needs to be a voluntary scheme. That’s absolutely critical because there’s no point in culling numbers from an individual who has borrowed on the back of a huge financial commitment on the back of achieving a certain target that’s taken from under him.”
Hellbound and Down 