MICHEÁL MARTIN PREVIOUSLY said electric tractors are the future of farming, but according to Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon, they’re still “a good bit off” from becoming a feature of Irish farming.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio One’s Today with David McCullagh, Heydon was asked how the agriculture and haulage sectors could move away from dependence on fossil fuels. 

He said electric vehicles are becoming “more prevalent in certain areas”, but not yet as a replacement for larger vehicles.

“Obviously, with the larger vehicles, tractors and heavy usage, we’re a good bit off in that space,” he added.

I might go farming myself, Martin declared after trying an electric tractor in Ethiopia in 2024. The Journal The Journal

However, Heydon said there has been a “modal shift” in terms of reliance on fossil fuels across the country, highlighting the use of electric cars and renewable energy resources.

Back in 2024, the Taoiseach tried out an electric tractor developed by the firm Regenerators Ltd, co-founded by Dubliner David Moore, in Hawassa, Ethiopia.

“I might go farming myself,” he declared after sitting in the vehicle.

Anna Marie McHugh, Assistant Managing Director of the National Ploughing Association, said she also imagines Ireland is “a bit away” from electric tractors.

Speaking to The Journal, she said: “We haven’t got the cars right yet, so I imagine we’re a bit off.”

McHugh said she isn’t aware of any electric tractors available on the Irish market which have the capacity to handle the workload required by Irish farmers. Instead she believes they are used more in more controlled setting which require less heavy lifting, for example vineyards.