"Green" policies are destroying this country

What do farms do currently when they stop operating?

You didn't answer my question.

I don't know exactly what happens when farms stop operating because they typically don't stop operating. If a farmer doesn't farm the land it will grow wild. That doesn't tend to happen though. It might happen on a very small scale for a short while, i.e. an old farmer with a small farm stops farming and the land isn't used much til they die and the farm is either set or sold. A farmer who can't farm any more tends to sell the land or set it so that someone else will farm the land.

So, I've tried to answer your question. Now have a go at answering my question. Are you suggesting that farmers stop farming and leave the land idle?

Sell it would be the obvious answer. Or at least sell part of the land.

Plenty of land needed for housing rezoning, as we all know.

There are still plenty of farms within the fringes of towns though. It isnt as though they are all in highly remote areas.

In terms of a farmer selling the farm to another farmer, i guess the question there is, would it be a wise investment, considering the restrictions on production?

One thing that isnt clear is how the emissions targets will be enforced.

so if a farmer ignores the call to cut the herd etc and/or demonstrate reduction in emissions, what is the consequence?

I am not sure how the Govt will handle that to be honest.

Not just for farming, but for all industries.

A few farmers might be able to diverify into things like holiday guesthouses and/or clay pigeon shooting grounds but only so many (maybe 5-10% at best?) will be in a practical/financial/physical position to make such a transition.

Does the world owe anyone a living?

Close the datacenters

Problem is.. Who would they sell up to?

Usually they are sold. Ya don't see much farmed land around the country left idle do ya? And the suggestion to sell for housing is MADNESS. Mose agri land doesn't bounds a town, and most that does is not zoned for residential

Who said it does? Farmers produce food. If they don't produce it, who does? We don't over produce. We produce what is demanded of us. We produce more than we need and then we export the rest by the billions of euro load. We're actually quiet good at it. If say we said to those we sell to that we were just producing enough for ourselves. Well that means they go get what they want somewhere else. We lose out. Then the processors/retailers here have farmers by the balls as there's no competition now. Closed market. Prices for producers down, prices for consumers up

Herd reduction is already here via stealth - nitrates banding, TAMS grants with limits, etc

Yes, I dont know how they plan to monitor farms emission reduction targets.

It will be interesting to see what the strategy there is.

It wont be much use saying we arent hitting our targets if some farms are reducing and doing their bit and others arent.

I dont have anything against farmers. but other industries seem more accepting of their targets. I havent heard one farmer yet say they are onboard.

Agriculture is one of the only industries who actually have some plans in place and are working towards them. 2 big ones are LESS and Protected Urea. In addition extra regulations around nitrates (though thats more water related). Farmers are the only ones who can sequester carbon and will carry the can more than any other industry. Don't forget that.

Ireland reducing food production leads to others increasing to fill the void. Remember, global population is growing and more food is needed on less land due to rewilding plans, forestry plans, bio fuel plans, AD plans, more housing, etc, etc. Ireland is 2nd on the sustainability scale for dairy behind New Zealand. Cutting Irelands dairy leads to increases elsewhere in less efficent places. We get rain, we grow grass. We can turn that easily into protein for humans. We're excellent at it.

Farming practices will change to meet the targets, or try at least. There's big promotion on clover, cover crops, MSS, crop rotation in tillage, native proteins. A lot of this was done years ago but the promotion of artificial fertiliser by government and industry meant that changed. Thankfully it's coming full circle.

How will it work if Irish farmers have to reduce but population increases ?

2 plus 2 will still equal 4.People will still need food .Where wil it come from ?

There was a poster on here some years ago who continually tried to downplay ag. contribution to the Irish economy and was obsessed with rural tax contribution vs spend.

Agriculture contributes proportionally more to the Irish economy than it does in many countries so its of much more importance to us.Its also one of the few things we can do with our own natural resources and is in the main Irish owned companies involved.

I see this story is gathering more legs. It seems that they are importing these wood chips from half way around the world so they can meet their environmental obligations and reduce their carbon emissions targets. Both Bord na Móna and Eamon Ryan need to hauled over the hot coals on this.