Can farmers enhance trust with consumers on climate action?

in trapping heat over 100 years than carbon dioxide. It also hangs around the atmosphere for up to 12 years, so the race is on to reduce every molecule emitted.

Unfortunately, the science from Teagasc also suggests that methane from ruminant livestock (cattle and sheep) accounts for 58% of Irish methane emissions. So simple mathematics leads to simple policy ideas – if we have fewer cows the problem can be solved.

e problem is that no two cows are the same.

Some cows are genetically better at producing less methane. Some cows have access to types of feed or feed additives that promote less methane production. Teagasc itself has a number of research projects that are designed to look at ways to make the cows less of a problem. Farmers’ groups point to the fact that some research is based on international data, not national data.

So more research and time are needed when already farmers are up against a deadline. And understandably they get defensive when the herd they have been encouraged to invest in is discussed in national media as a problem that could be easily solved with a nice neat cull and a few Euro for your trouble. Defensiveness is a ne position when you are communicating with your own people, but it is not a strategy. Farmers in Ireland produce good food well and e ciently. A recent corporate reputations survey put Bord Bia in the top 10 trusted brands in Ireland, whilst food and beverage brands were seen as having ‘strong’ reputations.

By ghting the wrong battle with policymakers, or by rising to provocations from the more extreme ends of the green movement, farmers are wasting time that they could be using to communicate a clearer message to the consumer. at message needs to be simple - we will work to do our part to help the environment, to reduce emissions, and you can trust us to do it. It will cost you more at the till, but you will be purchasing something that every scienti c and management e ort has been made to make it better for the environment.

Both the energy and transport sectors have the same problem to address and communicate to the same audience – we need to reduce emissions and be more e cient. ey are doing a better job of bringing people along with them, due in no small part to the signi cant nancial supports both energy and transport are getting to make the change. Farmers don’t have the luxury of a vast fund to manage this transition to greener, more expensive food.

Consumers want real evidence that those supplying their food are working towards a greener economy. If farmers start building that trust with the consumer and convince them that they are working imaginatively with the green agenda, instead of ghting it one cow at a time, they can convince the consumer to help them hit that 25% target. And that consumer should be the No. 1 audience for farmers – mindful that consumer and farmers will still be in business long after 2030 has come and gone.

*Barry McLoughlin is a farmer and the Head of Client Engagement and a Senior Consultant at e Communications Clinic.