Ireland is “better placed virtually than any other country in the European Union” to take on the challenge of meeting the EU’s Green Deal and Farm to Fork strategies, according to Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney.
Speaking at the Agriculture Science Association (ASA) virtual conference on Friday, Coveney said Irish agriculture has a natural competitive advantage versus many other EU countries.
“If you look at how agriculture works in the Netherlands, for example, really efficient, very profitable in many cases, are very good at what they do, but you know we are trying to move agriculture into a space that creates a much more sustainable story in terms of protecting nature and biodiversity and soil, and air quality and so on, you know, because we have a grass-based system that's the basis for virtually all food production in Ireland,” he said.
Status quo
“I think we are better placed actually than virtually any other country in the European Union to be efficient, to be profitable, but also to be sustainable,” he said.
“Now, that doesn't mean the status quo is good enough. It's not. Our grassland management can be better in terms of managing nitrogen.”
He referred to the use of technology to be more targeted in terms of how we apply fertilisers and sprays.
“Ireland does have a natural competitive advantage in terms of our starting point,” he maintained.
“Is it going to be easy? No. Is it going to be expensive to make that transition for the state, and for the EU? Yes, because we cannot ask farmers to change how they produce food, unless we support them financially in that change and that's what the next round of the Common Agricultural Policy is going to be all about.”
Read more
Mercosur trade agreement fails the sustainability test - Oxford report
The big interview with Janusz Wojciechowski: ‘Farmers are part of the solution’
Watch back: the new CAP and the EU Green Deal webinar
Ireland is “better placed virtually than any other country in the European Union” to take on the challenge of meeting the EU’s Green Deal and Farm to Fork strategies, according to Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney.
Speaking at the Agriculture Science Association (ASA) virtual conference on Friday, Coveney said Irish agriculture has a natural competitive advantage versus many other EU countries.
“If you look at how agriculture works in the Netherlands, for example, really efficient, very profitable in many cases, are very good at what they do, but you know we are trying to move agriculture into a space that creates a much more sustainable story in terms of protecting nature and biodiversity and soil, and air quality and so on, you know, because we have a grass-based system that's the basis for virtually all food production in Ireland,” he said.
Status quo
“I think we are better placed actually than virtually any other country in the European Union to be efficient, to be profitable, but also to be sustainable,” he said.
“Now, that doesn't mean the status quo is good enough. It's not. Our grassland management can be better in terms of managing nitrogen.”
He referred to the use of technology to be more targeted in terms of how we apply fertilisers and sprays.
“Ireland does have a natural competitive advantage in terms of our starting point,” he maintained.
“Is it going to be easy? No. Is it going to be expensive to make that transition for the state, and for the EU? Yes, because we cannot ask farmers to change how they produce food, unless we support them financially in that change and that's what the next round of the Common Agricultural Policy is going to be all about.”
Read more
Mercosur trade agreement fails the sustainability test - Oxford report
The big interview with Janusz Wojciechowski: ‘Farmers are part of the solution’
Watch back: the new CAP and the EU Green Deal webinar
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