We need to talk about our land use – Climate Conversations 2015

7 Apr 2015

In the third part of the Climate Conversations series, a number of Ireland’s leading food innovators come together to address how Ireland’s agriculture industry affects our environment.

Given that the agriculture sector is worth approximately €24bn to the Irish economy and employs around 150,000 people, how we can create a society where the environmental impact of agriculture is minimal is crucial.

The five-part conversation series came about following the 5th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and a decision by a number of organisations from varying backgrounds, most notably those in economic development, labour rights and social and environmental justice, to come together to see how we achieve all we need to for the years ahead.

Some of the speakers at tomorrow night’s event include founder of FoodCloud and speaker at Inspirefest 2015, Iseult Ward, University College Cork’s Paul Deane, Andrew Doyle, chairman of the Dáil Committee on Agriculture, and Rogier Schulte of Teagasc.

Ward has gained considerable notice for her work with her start-up, which allows companies that sell food to connect with FoodCloud and community organisations to distribute the surplus food to those who need it most.

Greengrocer Jack Roche will also be showing those in the audience of the event what dishes can be prepared from food that would have otherwise been thrown out as waste to highlight its uses.

Two more events are scheduled to happen over the next two months under the titles Prophetic Voices and The Call to New Horizons as part of the build up to the UN Climate negotiations in Paris in December 2015.

Plant growing out of ground image via Shutterstock

Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com