The Bord Bia export figures this week demonstrated the negative impact of Brexit to date, but a significant growth in sales to third countries. Sales to China have almost single-handedly moved our pig meat industry form meltdown a year ago to relative prosperity today, while it and other Asian markets continue to be important for our dairy industry.

The Irish Farmers Journal conference on global trade in Dublin on Friday 27 January will consider in detail not just Brexit, but in a wider context the potential impact of trade deals on Irish agriculture. We worry about the impact of imports on Irish industry, but, as the conference will explore, there are also opportunities. In particular, a free trade agreement (FTA) is close to agreement with Japan which presents no threat to Irish or EU agriculture but considerable export opportunities for Irish dairy pig meat, dairy and to a lesser extent beef.

Keynote speaker at the conference EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan has been to Japan twice in 2016 and will be in a position to update the conference on progress and potential. Similarly, experienced EU trade negotiator John Clarke from DG Agri in Brussels will give an insight on just what is involved in an FTA negotiation from his experience of being involved in EU negotiations over two decades.

Brexit will be a problem for Irish agriculture – it already is. This conference has the ambition to identify opportunities and ways that the worst effects of Brexit can be mitigated for Irish agriculture.

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