Sir, – Dr George Ramsbottom, president of the Agricultural Science Association, tells Mark Hilliard that “Debate on farming emissions must stick to facts” (News, August 9th).
He then proceeds to fall at the first hurdle when he reportedly says “emissions have remained relatively unchanged since the 1990s and he saw no signs of any increase in the dairy herd”.
In fact, according to the latest EPA figures released in July, greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture have risen by 15 per cent since 1990, compared to falls of 9 per cent from electricity, 7 per cent from homes and a rise of 112 per cent in transport. And the 2020 CSO Census of Agriculture results, published last December, show the dairy herd had grown 46 per cent since 2010, 33 per cent since 2000 and 18 per cent since 1991. – Yours, etc,
OISÍN COGHLAN,
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Chief Executive,
Friends of the Earth,
Dublin 2.