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Over €7m is being awarded for four climate and agriculture research projects being carried out in collaboration with New Zealand.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is awarding €3.6m, with the additional funding made available by the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries, for projects arising from the 2022 Ireland – New Zealand joint research call.
The research seeks to address the challenge of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from pasture-based livestock systems to help meet the climate goals of both countries.
Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue welcomed the funding for the research projects, saying that they will help to tackle the critical issue of enteric emissions from livestock farming.
“Awards under this new partnership reflect the significant investment that both governments are making to help ensure the future sustainability of our livestock systems,” Mr McConalogue said.
The four projects are in key areas including rumen microbiology for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, monitoring and emission reduction technologies, animal breeding for reduced emissions, and inventory improvement.
Taken together, they offer “significant potential” for the development of new insights and technologies to better account for, and mitigate, greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Department of Agriculture.
Minister of State Martin Heydon said that Ireland and New Zealand are “unique” in being faced with a “significant challenge to reduce and offset emissions from our pasture-based, livestock farming systems”.
“Research and innovation will play a key role in addressing that challenge,” Mr Heydon said.
“The collaboration we will see in these four projects will bring together some of the best expertise, know-how, equipment, and experience in both our countries.
“Working together, I am confident we can speed up the pace of the research and deliver solutions that the sector needs.”
Minister for Primary Industries Damien O’Connor remarked that both countries “understand the complexities of farming systems and the need to enhance productivity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions”.
“New Zealand and Ireland are also founding members of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases [GRA].
“We have shared interests in pasture-based farming, we co-chair the GRA Livestock Research Group, and are committed to reducing agricultural emissions globally,” Mr O’Connor said.
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