'Ireland is becoming a global leader in sustainable agriculture

Tom Arnold is best known to Irish farmers for chairing the group that put Food Vision 2030 in place. That was launched this time three years ago and he has recently been appointed chair of the Ireland – Africa Rural Development Committee. He spoke to the Irish Farmers Journal to explain what this group is about and why Africa matters to Ireland, and is much more than a beneficiary of Irish aid.

Much of his working career has involved Africa going back to his time as part of DG Agri in the then EEC Commission in the 1970s and then his work with the charity Concern. More recently, he chaired an EU Task Force on rural Africa set up by Phil Hogan when he was Agriculture Commissioner and has since participated in a similar Irish task force.

He says the main purpose of the latter was “to come up with ideas on how Ireland could more effectively contribute to the development of the African agriculture and rural economy”.

Irish economic interest

Africa is a significant export market for Irish agricultural produce, dairy in particular. Arnold believes that “Africa is going to become more important as an economic power and it is in Ireland’s interest to recognise that and build on current relationships”.

His ambition is to combine the various strands of Ireland’s current engagement with the continent and develop a more coherent policy.

Sustainable Irish agriculture

The Food Vision 2030 strategy for Irish agriculture, chaired by Arnold, has been in place since 2021. It had been in gestation for a prolonged period caused by COVID-19 disruption. Looking at the strategy’s progress, he says that Ireland is now a global leader in building sustainable food systems.

He explains that a sustainable food system has three pillars: it must be economically sustainable; it must be socially sustainable; and it must be environmentally sustainable.

At the UN Food Systems Summit in 2021, 148 countries signed up to changing their own food systems to not just expanding their aggregate food output but doing so in a more environmentally sustainable way.

Ireland is in a leadership position on that aspiration and Arnold believes this can underpin Ireland’s relationship with Africa.

In the short term, Ireland can aid Africa in feeding its people sustainably, and in the longer term – 20 to 40 years – Ireland can place itself in strong position to benefit from the continent’s economic development.

Elite level sustainable production

The Irish Farmers Journal put it to Arnold that Irish farmers are failing to see a specific benefit from participating in elite level sustainable production. Shoppers like having a sustainable product to buy, but are slow to pay any extra for it. He recognises this but also says we need to look at the alternative: “What if we are not able to demonstrate sustainability, what if there are question marks about our environmental footprint and our ability to produce food without damaging water quality – that certainly won’t get us a premium.”

We also put it to him that we struggle to find evidence of other countries outside Ireland making a commitment comparable with delivering a 25% reduction in emissions from agriculture.

He says that this journey has only really just begun elsewhere in the world over the past couple of years and that is why Ireland is a world leader in this field.

He refers to the original Conference of the Parties (COP) organised by Angela Merkel as environment minister in Germany in 1995.

“Between then and now and several COP gatherings, there was little or no link made between climate and food and it is only in the last two years that it is truly on the agenda.

“Climate is impacting on food and food is impacting on climate, and Ireland has been ahead of the curve in recognising this and this puts us in a strong position as a global leader in this respect,” he adds.

Tom Arnold says that the international events coming up over the next year will further reinforce the significance of a food systems approach. The UN Food Systems Summit – last held in 2021 when 148 countries signed up to a sustainable food production approach – will meet again in 2025 to report on progress.

Brazil will host COP 2030 and it will be particularly interesting to learn what plans the world’s largest beef exporter that is expanding production has to say about reduce emissions. Arnold’s view is that “if Brazil is advocating for improvements at a global level, they can’t absent themselves from it”.

Comment

Tom Arnold recognises that reconciling the food production required to feed a growing global population with the need to achieve a reduction in emissions to limit climate change is the huge challenge facing the world in the 21st century.

Irish farmers are frustrated by being legislatively bound to deliver a 25% reduction in emissions by 2030 while little appears to be happening elsewhere in the world by way of delivering a similar reduction.

Arnold explains that while the rest of the world has been slow in adapting sustainable farming measures, but this is changing.

The fact that Ireland is already on a sustainable policy path makes us the Silicon Valley of farming – the challenge now is converting this status into monetary value. The warm glow of being a global leader in doing what is right doesn’t pay Irish farmers’ feed and fertiliser bills.

To create monetary value or a price premium means that this high value food systems approach has to be promoted heavily and our processing industry needs to work harder to deliver farmers a premium.

If that can eventually be achieved, then it is a win-win situation. It would be good if doing the right thing ultimately brought financial benefit for those who deliver over those elsewhere in the world that don’t.