Twelfth International Conference on Climate Change: Impacts & Responses

Abstract

Ireland remains a relatively agrarian economy by European standards; however, the financial viability of agricultural activities such as the beef and dairy sectors depends upon the provision of quality and affordable fodder through productive grassland management. Anthropogenic climate change threatens to undermine Irish agriculture by causing an increase in the occurrence of significant fodder shortages by the mid-century, thereby rendering Ireland’s beef and dairy sectors economically nonviable. Having developed a chronological record of the severity of past fodder crisis for a period of over 250 years, our research has identified the occurrence of ninety individual events, with just over thirty being considered severe events. Three of the most severe fodder shortages have occurred during the past decade, both of which have been attributed to climate change. Through the incorporation of regional grass growth models and regional climate models, our research reached an early conclusion that future anthropogenic climate change will lead to an increase in the frequency and intensity of fodder crisis, not just on a national scale, but on a continental scale, providing a considerable challenge to the agricultural industry, but also to national governments and the European Union as a whole.