The committee includes senior executives from Bord Bia, Teagasc, Enterprise Ireland, BIM and the EPA, as well as senior officials from relevant Government departments.

“I am delighted to commence the implementation of Food Wise 2025 with all the relevant state agencies, Government departments and the industry,” said Minister Coveney. “I am committed to putting in place a robust implementation process to progress this smart, sustainable growth strategy.”

Today’s meeting discussed priorities and processes for implementation of the Food Wise strategy. Implementation will be influenced by the final environmental report of the strategy.

The Minister also announced continued funding of the Agricultural Catchment Programme for a further four years. This research programme, operated by Teagasc, intensively monitors the effectiveness of measures introduced to reduce the loss of nutrients from agriculture to water.

“This programme is providing scientific-based knowledge that can verify that Irish farmers are producing milk, meat and crops in an environmentally and economically sustainable manner,” said the Minister.