Letters to the Editor: Agriculture in Ireland plays only a minor role in global warming

'Ireland’s overall contribution to global warming is a mere 0.11% of the world total, which means that the contribution of agriculture is 0.0407% of the world total, hardly enough to warrant the enforced culling of a single cow.' Picture: iStock
Recently, as a scientist long concerned with global warming, travelling throughout Ireland by foot, bike, car, bus, and train, I discovered a strange phenomenon — the complete absence of the vast herds of cows that we are told are producing vast quantities of methane and carbon dioxide, breaking our international climate agreements as well as having a devastating effect on the planet.
Trips to Mayo, Kerry, and West Cork by car; to Dublin by train; walking and hiking through the Golden Vale — the heart of the mainly culpable dairy industry — climbing Croagh Patrick and Mount Brandon, I was surprised by the almost total absence of belching cattle in the fields as far as the eye could see, even during the grass feeding period.