Ireland is considering culling some 200,000 cattle in the next three years in a bid to reach its climate goals and fight global warming.
This is according to an internal memo from the agriculture ministry on Monday.
Talks between dairy farmers and government representatives were planned, Pat McCormack, president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association, told dpa.
He said the Irish government would have to show commitment and present a budget to finance this.
”In addition, such a programme could only be voluntary,” McCormack added.
The government would offer farmers voluntary, financially attractive options, a spokeswoman for the agriculture ministry told dpa.
Ireland’s Environmental Protection Agency recently announced that the country would likely miss its climate targets by a wide margin.
One of these targets states that emissions from the agricultural sector alone should fall by between 4 percent and 20 percent by 2030.
Overall, Ireland aims to reduce the country’s emissions by 30 per cent compared to 2005 levels.
