The emergence of new threats to EU food security should prompt a winding down of the Department of Agriculture’s Food Vision dairy group, as efforts shift to securing adequate food and feed supplies for winter 2022, Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) dairy committee chair Stephen Arthur has said.

Supplies of agricultural inputs, such as animal feed and fertiliser, have been severely affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Calls have been made at national and EU levels to ensure these input supplies do not lead to a shortfall in food supplies.

“Obviously, our first thoughts are with the people of the Ukraine, but we have to recognise that food security is now a much bigger political priority,” said the dairy chair.

Arthur stated that the Department’s messaging had been mixed, with suggestions that the dairy sector be reined in with quotas at odds with the calls to ramp up farm production.

“On Sunday, we had the Minister calling for a ‘wartime effort’ to produce more food. Then on Monday, we had his officials telling us they were considering quotas on production. It is not consistent,” claimed Arthur.

Quota fears

A mention of quotas by a senior Department official has had a negative effect on farmers, who are facing difficulties in securing the inputs they need for the coming year, the dairy chair continued.

“There is no point creating further stress around quotas when our farmers on the ground are struggling to get key inputs for their farms,” Arthur went on.

“The responsible thing to do now is to suspend the Food Vision dairy group until we have some degree of certainty.”

The dairy chair finished by calling for supports to be put in place to allow farmers to navigate the income crisis.

“The Department and all actors in the sector need to focus on assisting farmers during the current crisis,” he concluded.