No. The NDC is, indeed, funded by farmers – but it is an independent voice and not the result of a simple ‘quid pro quo’ relationship. It’s our job to defend the dairy industry, to highlight the positives, to bring the farmer and the consumer closer together and to protect our social licence to produce – and we do it from a position of knowledge, backed by robust research and scientific fact.

We would say that, wouldn’t we? Yes – because we know what we’re saying is true.

No, not really – and it’s not an issue that’s restricted to our country. All over the world, the dairy industry is facing the same problem – the consumer is disconnected from the producer (often never having visited a farm) and doesn’t see the hard work that goes in to delivering quality dairy produce and all the steps that are being taken to limit the industry’s environmental impact and keep it sustainable. 

If the consumer doesn’t know about it, then they will happily listen to the pressure groups and – before they’re aware of it happening – the dairy industry will be reduced in size and scope. This will mean that the growing demand for dairy products won’t be met, and dairy will begin to cost more.

There’s been dairy farming in Ireland for 4.000 years – if that’s not heritage and identity, it’s difficult to say what is. On top of that, dairy farming accounts for one in every 40 Irish jobs (60,000 in total), and delivers €5bn to the Irish economy every year – so, yes, dairy is central to Ireland Inc.

We know these things because we’re interested in them and we make a point of asking the questions. Both of these statistics came from pieces of research that we did during July and August 2021. We’ve also been finding out what people think about the new advertising campaign and whether it’s had the desired effect of connecting the consumer and the farmer – and we think it has.

Not really. If the dairy industry cannot make its voice heard, if the actions it is taking on emissions and environmental impact are not understood, if there is no recognition of the difference between farming and burning fossil fuels, then the industry will be hit hard and farmers’ livelihoods will be affected.

They mean exactly what they’re saying – if you read, or listen to, media coverage of the industry, you would think that the farming community is doing nothing at all to make the industry more sustainable. 

All you’d hear is that production is increasing, cows are responsible for a significant percentage of greenhouse gas emissions and that farmers have done little to play their part in combating climate change. It’s by no means as simple, or as black and white, as that.

As we know, there are organisations that campaign on behalf of biodiversity and the environment and they’ve been around for a long time. Now - with the Irish government’s climate action bill, data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the COP Summit in 2021 – they are attracting more attention. 

Partly because of this, the voice of the dairy industry – and the good news stories about the things that are being done to make Irish dairy farming more sustainable and to reduce its impact on the environment – is not always given the opportunity to make itself heard. 

And if it’s not heard – how can it affect the decisions being made in its behalf?

Well – there are a lot of people saying that a cull is the only way the goals of the Climate Action Bill – that’s a 22% cut in agricultural emissions by 2030 – can be achieved. 

No-one, of course, is saying by when, or by how much - which makes the whole thing even more difficult – and they’re certainly not taking into account that Ireland’s dairy herd is the same size as it was in the mid-1980s and is small, relative to other countries.

The fact of the matter is that Irish dairy is already the most carbon-efficient in Europe. People want more dairy and if we reduce our production here, then it will just go somewhere else that is less efficient, and that means more emissions globally.

That are lots of things that we are already doing – and can do more of – like herd management, and grass management and energy efficiencies, which will all impact on dairy’s environmental impact without reducing numbers of cows.

There’s confusion and misinformation around methane - in Ireland and elsewhere - that needs to be addressed.

First, methane is in the atmosphere for tens of years, not hundreds and as it is produced by cows eating grass which has already absorbed C02 and will absorb more as it grows, methane can be seen as carbon neutral. 

There are two scientific calculations for the impact of emissions on global warming (GWP100 and GWP*) and under the second, if methane levels are stable, then it has no warming effect.

Second – and disregarding which GWP calculation is used altogether – preliminary Irish research (based on real measurements and not predictive modelling) shows that levels of methane may have been overestimated by as much as 15%. If this figure is robust, it will reduce dairy’s carbon footprint, it will reduce the proportion of Ireland’s GHG emissions that come from agriculture and it will impact on the total reductions the industry has to achieve.

In any case, methane needs to be treated differently to C02 – cows aren’t the same as cars. OF course every industry has to play its part in reducing emissions, however the dairy industry is already doing a lot – and will do a lot more – to reduce its impact. 

We just want to be given the chance to show that we can.

We ask people, simple as that. Of course, as we all know, Irish people are fiercely proud of what our country stands for and what it produces, so it’s hardly a surprise. 

There must be some truth to it though – Ireland exports dairy to over 120 countries and it feeds some 45 million people each year. It’s worth €5bn a year to the Irish economy and much of that goes into the local economy. Dairy really is at the centre of Irish life – and it takes Irish life abroad.