All stakeholders in Irish agriculture and food, including farmers, need to “double down” on their efforts to communicate the sector’s sustainability credentials, according to Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue.

The Minister said “the scales have become unfairly tilted over the last year or two in the way that agriculture is being targeted in some narratives as not playing its part” when it comes to reaching climate targets.

However, he said he thinks there is a “growing awareness” of Irish farming’s sustainability and that “the [emissions] debate over the last couple of months probably has brought more people’s attention [to it]”.

Minister McConalogue was responding to questions from the Irish Farmers Journal during his Bord Bia-supported trade mission to Japan this week.

The sustainability and green credentials of Irish agriculture is the focus of Bord Bia and the Minister’s pitch to potential meat and dairy customers abroad, with this international audience perhaps receiving far more information on Irish farming than the general public at home.

Work to be done

Communicating the sustainability of Irish agriculture to a domestic audience is “something we need to continue to work at”, said the Minister.

“I’ve consistently said that the very simplistic and easy narrative that Irish agriculture is the boogey man is wrong and something that needs to be corrected.

“Because what we do have is a farming model in Ireland which is very sustainable and one which is based on grass-based agriculture and grass-based production of meat and dairy,” he said.

Deputy McConalogue said this is “unique in terms of many other countries around the world” and that this is “our starting point”.

Educating young people

The Minister was also asked about how farming will be featured in a new climate change subject to be introduced in Irish secondary schools from next year.

While noting that “we can’t do everything through the school curriculum”, he said all those in the agriculture and food sector have a responsibility to better communicate the “healthy credentials of the food we produce, the safety of it” and “the very important work that we are doing to actually reduce the emissions of it”.

He said communicating the importance of meat, proteins, vegetables and cereals in a balanced diet is also “an ongoing piece of work”.