Macra president ‘astounded’ at Irish herd reduction push

MACRA president Elaine Houlihan has said she is ‘astounded’ that Ireland is looking to reduce the national herd of dairy cows by 180,000 head in the next three years, while Brazil is planning to increase its herd by 30 million by 2030.

‘The emissions all go into the same atmosphere, with the difference that Ireland is not cutting down a rain forest to meet the global demand for the products that we produce,’ she said.

‘From an ecological perspective, milk production in Ireland produces less greenhouse gasses and uses less water than any other country. Even with that we can do more.’

She added that while farmers are portrayed in some media outlets as the destroyers of our environment with no care about our future, nothing could be further from the truth. ‘Farmers receive the land in trust and hold it in trust for the next generation.’

Ms Houlihan said that while looking at greenhouse gases, it is important to look at the whole story. There are currently approximately 1,800 people employed in data centres in Ireland according to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. 

‘This sector, in addition to providing 1,800 jobs, consumes 18% of the electricity produced in this country, which equates to the same amount of metered electricity as urban dwellings at 18%, and almost double the electricity of rural homes which rests at 10%.

‘Perhaps this is better expressed as every 100 data centre workers consume 1% of the electricity generated in this state and 1,000 data centre workers consume the same amount of electricity as all of our rural households put together.’

She said that instead of vilifying sectors, it should be noted that agricultural produces enough food for 35m people. ‘The World Food Programme estimates that there are currently 345.2 million people who are food insecure – more than double the 2020 figure, it makes little to no sense to reduce production of food of the quality that we have consistently produced.’

Removing 180,000 dairy cows from production in Ireland is like removing 180,000 electric cars in one country and introducing one million old diesel cars that belch black smoke to another country at the same time,’ she concluded.