Agriculture at a crossroads: Perceptions of Irish Agricultural Sustainability

Ireland’s current agricultural development paradigm is increasingly leaning towards high - input, intensive farming particularly incentivising the beef and dairy sectors while simultaneously laying claim to the sector’s sustainability. In response to pressin g issues such as climate change and food security, ‘sustainable intensification’ has become an accepted way forward within the dominant agricultural narrative. Alternative models question the long - term impacts of agricultural intensification on sustainabi lity while conventional, input - intensive farming appears to accept the narrative to scale up and intensify. This research paper proposes to explore how farmers and experts from various agricultural models perceive the current status quo in Irish agricult ure. Alternative approaches such as: agroecology, permaculture as well as organic farming question the issues around sustainable farming in Ireland and provide possible ways forward. In giving voice to different opinions and various interpretations of sus tainability this paper examines the debates in Irish agriculture through a different lens and offers an alternative perspective on how Irish agriculture could become truly sustainable