Farmers are being encouraged to take part in an online survey on climate change so that the outcome of the survey will be “balanced”.
The government’s Climate Conversations 2023 online questionnaire was launched in June, and remains available to fill out until September 8.
The survey, which takes about 15 minutes to complete, features questions on what the survey participant is doing in their personal lives to take part in climate change mitigation, and what changes in their personal lives they would consider making.
These include questions that ask if you eat a vegetarian or vegan diet, or if you would consider doing so.
Apart from multiple choice questions, the survey also includes comment boxes, where participants can include their opinions on various issues.
Eddie Punch, the general secretary of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association (ICSA), is concerned that the questions in the survey – as well as the type of people likely to come across it and fill it out – will produce results that are not reflective of the views of the farming and rural communities.
Speaking to Agriland, Punch said: “We’ve sent it out to our members, and the reason I say that is it will be pushed by environmental activists.
“I’ve seen too many of these surveys to not know what goes on. That survey is being set up in order for the government to say it has consulted widely with citizens. The citizens, then, will be whoever takes part in the survey,” he added.
“The survey takes up a bit of time. A lot of people will get sick of it. But obviously people who are in the environmental movement, or who are advocating for ever stronger, ever more draconian rules when it comes to climate change, will be motivated to do it.”
Many of the questions ask the participant how they feel about a particular issue, with the answers to choose from ranging in sentiment, i.e. ‘not at all worried’ about climate change to ‘extremely worried’ about climate change.
Punch found issues with the survey apparent from the first question.
“When you go into it, your first question is ‘how worried are you about climate change?’. That’s inviting people to start by expressing their fears,” he said.
“I’m not an expert on surveys, but…if you’re not sure what the answer is, you’ll tend towards the middle, you’ll say ‘I’m somewhat worried’. Then [the government] will turn around and say [a certain amount] of citizens are worried about climate change.”
However, according to the ICSA general secretary, the main concerns with the survey are deeper into it, especially the questions relating to diet.
“When you get deep into it there are several questions there that are inviting you to believe, or to think, or to say, that we should move towards…options of a vegan diet, a vegetarian diet, or a Mediterranean diet,” he said.
Punch added: “None of those are good options, because even with a Mediterranean diet, you’d be convinced that Mediterranean [people] are doing nothing but eating fruit and veg and that’s very far from reality. In fact, people in Spain, Portugal, and Italy eat more meat [per capita] than people in Ireland.”
The survey also contains questions relating to land use, with Punch concerned that these questions too, and the answer-options presented, will skew the survey results in favour of land use change away from traditional farming.
“Even if they get something like 30% [of respondents to say land use change in important], they can say that there’s an increasing awareness that land use change is important in the battle against climate change, with 30% of people saying something must be done,” he said.
According to Punch, it is important for farmers to be aware of the survey and that they make their own decisions on how to fill it out.
The ICSA general secretary is concerned that, without farmer input, the survey will produce results that suggest eating less meat, adopting a vegan diet, or rewilding farms should be pursued as part of climate change mitigation.
Although the survey doesn’t specifically mention rewilding, Punch claimed that it is “implicit” in the survey.
“What it is is a kind of softening up of people in order for the government to say it is taking action because people are demanding it. What you’ll get out of this is engaged lobbyists and activists for the environmental movement demanding ever more draconian measures,” he commented.
Punch continued: “I know very well that 99% of farmers won’t come across this survey because they’re too busy. I just want some of them to do it to try and get some sort of balance in this.”
He added: “If we sit back this [survey] will end up being filled to the gills with environmentalists and activists filling it up, and almost all the people filling it up will be people who will be unaffected personally or financially [by climate change mitigation].
“The government will try and use this as a stick to beat us with, with ever more draconian climate measures, and I think citizens, including farmers, and not just environmental activists, should be involved in trying to fill this form out.”
Punch commented: “The point is I want people to be made aware of this survey. It’s not about being a ‘far-right nut job’, but if you think that going vegan is the solution to climate change, then you’re not really worried about climate change. You’re worried about something else.”