Michael Brady.
Agricultural Consultant and managing director at Brady Group: Agricultural Consultants & Land Agents. The Lodge, Lee Road, Cork.
New Minister of Agriculture – New Vision
The general election is done and dusted and now the process of forming a new government is underway.
But who will be the next Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Food & Marine (DAFM) and what should be their mission?
Here are 7 areas where the new minister can make a difference:
- Implement the Food Vision 2030 Plan
Food Vision 2030 outlines a strategy for the future of Irelands Agrifood industry, it consists of 22 Goals, grouped into four high-level Missions for the sector to work toward:
1) A Climate Smart, Environmentally Sustainable Agri-Food Sector
2) Viable and Resilient Primary Producers with Enhanced Well-Being
3) Food Which is Safe, Nutritious And Appealing, Trusted And Valued at Home and Abroad
4) An Innovative, Competitive and Resilient Agri-Food Sector, Driven by Technology and Talent
The vision is that ‘Ireland will become a world leader in Sustainable Food Systems (SFS) over the next decade. This will deliver significant benefits for the Irish agri-food sector itself, for Irish society and the environment. In demonstrating the Irish agri-food sector meets the highest standards of sustainability – economic, environmental, and social – this will also provide the basis for the future competitive advantage of the sector. By adopting an integrated food systems approach, Ireland will seek to become a global leader of innovation for sustainable food and agriculture systems, producing safe, nutritious, and high-value food that tastes great, while protecting and enhancing our natural and cultural resources and contributing to vibrant rural and coastal communities and the national economy.’
The new minister needs to take this vision and bring it down to grassroots level by identifying long term and short-term actions required and who will carry them out to ensure the plan is implemented.
- Farm Profitability – make it a priority.
“It’s the economy stupid” was a phrase coined by James Carville in 1992, when he was advising Bill Clinton in his successful run for the White House.’ Farmers need to make profit to survive and prosper. Economics delivers Sustainability and Governance i.e. E=SG. More efficient distribution of EU and national funds, innovative tax breaks and not being afraid to allow certain sectors to fail should be the cure for the new minister in boosting money in farmers pockets.
- Environment: Get environmentalists & agriculturalists working together.
Just because the Greens were annihilated in the election does not mean the climate regulation has eased. We have a climate crisis and a water quality issue, our industry is in a great position to resolve both issues. In respect of the climate crisis we can help other industries solve their climate problems too. The new minister must put a stop to divisions in the industry and get forward thinking agriculturalists and environmentalists working together – weed out the activists on both sides.
- System for carbon farming.
Develop a carbon farming enterprise that is attractive (profitable) to commercial and hobby farmers. Farmers are crying out for such a system, this is an open goal waiting to be scored.
- Fewer and better schemes.
Get rid of all the meaningless schemes which have created a bureaucratic monster for farmers, advisors and DAFM. Create one good Agri-Environmental Scheme which is attractive for farmers, advisors, DAFM and the EU. Trust farmers and advisors to get the work done and ease the penalty regime.
- Capital taxation
The capital tax system for genuine farming families is not broken in this country, there is no need to fix it. Take note from the farmers demonstrating in the UK after the first Labour Party budget which introduced stringent capital tax changes, this will happen here too.
- Housing
There is a housing problem in the country. Farmers have derelict houses, old farm buildings, land and experience of completing building projects. Incentivise them to develop badly needed residential accommodation. The children of that farmer should be allowed build houses on the farm. This can be done in synchrony with good planning and development practice.
- Labour
It is particularly difficult to employ farm labour. There is full employment in most Northern Europe countries and in Southern European countries where unemployment is high, in general they have no interest in working on Irish farms. We need a cheaper, faster work permit system for farm workers from places outside the EU like Brazil, Philippines and Africa. This could be linked with the on-farm housing idea.
Not everyone agrees, but the centrist politics in Ireland voted in by the people since the formation of the state provides great continuity to develop all industries in our country.
We can be confident that the new government is not going to spend the next 5 years unwinding the work of previous governments like in the UK or the USA, clearly this is a wate of time and money.
Our agrifood industry in Ireland has a very solid base to work on. It’s now time to make the AgriFood industry attractive again, if the truth be told it has lost it’s shine of late.
Let’s ensure we get a new enthusiastic minister who leads our AgriFood industry to be the envy of every other country in the world.