In this week's edition, Phelim O’Neill details the performance of Irish food and drinks exports for 2021. The resilience and value of the sector to the Irish economy is once again reinforced. Despite pandemic-related challenges, the value of exports reached a record level of €13.5bn.

In the case of dairy, beef and lamb, it is encouraging to see the value growth translating back into stronger farmgate prices. Given the extent to which the price of key farm inputs are increasing, the continuation of this trend will be essential

Looking ahead, the Bord Bia strategy is focused on growing export value though value creation and capture rather than further significant volume growth.

While there is no doubt Ornua has been successful in delivering such a strategy through the Kerrygold brand, it is less obvious where this has been achieved elsewhere in the context of farmgate prices.

However, the Bord Bia ambition to grow the value of exports to €21bn by 2030 should be encouraged. But likewise, Bord Bia performance must be measured against delivery. Any strategy to deliver value growth of 55% over the next nine years needs to see a corresponding increase in farmgate prices over this period if it is to be deemed successful.

A strategy that creates and captures value in the marketplace but for it not to be reflected in farmgate prices is of no value to farmers.

This week's cartoon

\ Jim Cogan

Policy needed as clock ticks on emissions reduction targets

There should be no room for complacency on the need to reduce emissions. The clock is ticking on the delivery of legally binding emission reduction targets. If the existing tools to reduce emissions are either not available or not being utilised, then policy action is required.

We should be under no illusions – if emission reduction tools are not fully exploited then major cuts to livestock numbers will be required. Against this backdrop, it is worrying to hear reports that the uptake of protected urea, one of the key emission reduction technologies, is again limited by both availability and price. Individual farmers cannot be expected to incur additional costs of protected urea in the national interest while others choose to ignore it or cannot acquire product.

We won’t achieve targets in the absence of national policy alignment.

Silage: measuring to manage the key

Also in this week’s edition, we feature the silage test results from the Northern Ireland Sheep programme and our Footprint Farmers Programme.

Results are extremely variable across samples and it just shows the importance of testing silage and measuring to manage on farms.

Not only will tailoring animal diets according to results help manage spend, but it can also have a positive effect on efficiency and the environment.

Another job which is being carried out at present is soil-sampling. Given current fertiliser prices, an up-to-date set of results has never been more valuable.