Ireland's climate battle is being fought in its fields

On a windswept Irish farm, high-tech cow collars track animal health and solar panels glint on the milking parlour's roof, as a country famed for its lush green pastures tries to reduce its agricultural carbon footprint.

The Farm Zero C project near Bandon, County Cork, also manages grazing carefully, uses hedgerow and scrub habitats to shelter pollinators and birds, and plants legume crops to cut chemical fertiliser use, all producing measurable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

Around 40 percent of Ireland's total greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture, far higher than the European Union average.

The unique Bandon initiative in the country's south could provide a model for tackling Ireland's biggest environmental dilemma: how to cut emissions on farms without drastically