To Cull a Mockingbird

Would culling hundreds of thousands of dairy cows across Europe help meet emissions targets? 

Yes, of course. 

The targets would be met, the spreadsheets go green, pastry-scoffing bureaucrats across the continent will be patting each other on the back in cabinet meetings.

And yet, I fear, unresolved issues would rear their head. 

Take Ireland, for example. Ireland proposed plans to cull 200,000 dairy cows over a 3 year period. Not only would the government be paying out the farmers, but also absorbing the loss of income in one of their biggest export markets. The plan has now been scrapped, or rather, postponed. 

Let’s play out more consequences of large scale incentivised cow herd reductions:

• With less supply, the farmers who didn’t sell-out could likely get a better price for their milk. Unless they are capped, farmer’s herd numbers could grow to fill the gap, as demand hasn’t decreased. Ireland could breed another 200,000 cows in a few years and be back at square one.

• With fewer, larger dairy farms, less people are employed. 

• More crop production could take place on the now vacant land which, if not regulated, could lead to more soil erosion and nutrient losses; throwing well-meaning emissions targets askew.

As is so common, silver bullet solutions like culling cow herds give no attention to long term consequences. But that’s to be expected. What’s more frustrating to me, is the lack of awareness of the current situation. With awareness and understanding, we can sober up and think objectively about why we are where we are.

‘Why are these dairy farms so damaging?’ could prompt questions like ‘are they really as damaging as we think?’ ‘How are we measuring this?’ and ‘what policies and economic strategies have led to our current state?’. Then, perhaps, we can have more clarity over food policies.