Question: As an agri-enviromentalist will Ireland have to get rid of all our cows

Dominika Krol answered on 9 Nov 2021:

I don’t think so. We have quite a unique climate and soils meaning that we can grow grass for cows very well and they can be outside for most of the year (in other places they are inside for much longer, even all the time so our system is more extensive this way). If we got rid of all cows, what would we do with the land and how would farmers earn their living? There are many places in Ireland that simply can’t grow crops or it’s difficult and expensive to do it. Also, ploughing up our grasslands release carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. There is a saying ‘it’s not the cow, it’s how’ meaning that it’s important how we manage farming land so that agriculture is sustainable without just shutting it down.