Farmers say it’s a fallacy to suggest cutting Irish beef production will help the global environment

Farmers say it’s a fallacy to suggest cutting Irish beef production will help the global environment.

The president of the Irish Farmers’ Association says Brazil and other countries are waiting in the wings to increase their herds if we cut ours – and they have a higher carbon footprint.

Speaking at the Tullamore Show in County Offaly, Tim Cullinane says beef contributes hugely to the sustainability of rural Ireland, and should be celebrated not undermined.

“There’s two aspects of this, the margin that farmers made from producers from making beef. There’s whole aspects of the job role or the social aspect, keeping people living in rural Ireland, keeping an industry going, so it’s not just farmers that benefits from the beef sector. So it’s all local communities up and down the country.”