A €2.7million investment has been announced to expand the National Agricultural Soil Carbon Observatory (NASCO).
Charlie McConalogue, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, confirmed the new funding to step up the carbon farming framework.
The investment will be used to purchase additional greenhouse gas (GHG) monitoring equipment to increase the range and types of soil and land uses being monitored by observatory.
Minister McConalogue said the new NASCO funding is a sign of the Government’s commitment to develop a carbon faming model supported by precise data.
“Carbon farming is an area that will become a crucial part of the future of farming in this country. This will be an opportunity for our farmers to derive a new income stream for their farm,” said Minister McConalogue.
“To reward our farmers for the actions they take to remove and store carbon in our soils, forests, grasslands, croplands and hedgerows, a well-functioning carbon farming framework that provides confidence, verification and certification is essential.”
NASCO was created in 2020 to verify progress on climate targets by correctly reflecting the carbon emissions and grassland sequestration.
Head of the Environment, Soils and Land-Use Research Department at Teagasc, Dr Karl Richards, said that the expansion of the observatory will provide cutting edge research facilities.
LSL News.