The long-awaited strategy that will shape Irish agriculture for the remainder of this decade was released for public consultation late on Friday afternoon.

From an initial reading, the voice of the environmental pillar has been heard despite them leaving early.

As farmers peruse the document, they will feel the environmental voice was much more influential in the final outcome than the farming voice as represented by the farm organisations.

Similarly, while it is a stakeholder-wide publication under chair Tom Arnold, the Department has had a significant input in drafting the document and providing wider support where necessary.

There is a clear link between the targets in the Department’s Ag Climatise, which sets the environmental targets for 2050, and the strategy dovetails with that.

New direction

This is the fifth strategy for the Irish agri-food sector in the 21st century, but the first where the output from Irish farms is secondary to managing the land and rural environment to deliver a net-zero carbon position by 2050 and with major strides taken by 2030.

Expansion is no longer the highlight, rather it is about adding value to existing production and on this is built an ambition to grow exports to €21bn by 2030, with a “more equitable distribution” of the value along the chain.

This is a worthy ambition but it is unclear what this will look like. Similarly, the importance of transparency is alluded to but again there is no clear detail on how it will be delivered.

Ambition for competitive advantage

The strategy believes that transformation of Ireland’s farming will be the basis for securing a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

This is a worthy ambition but again it is unclear as to how this will be achieved. Acknowledgement is correctly given to the achievements of opening markets beyond Europe in the past decade and a recognition that there is more to do.

However, the reality for Irish exports entering these markets is that there are already strong competitors from North and South America plus Australia and New Zealand that operate with much fewer constraints than are proposed in this strategy.

Organic

The ambition to grow organic production to 6% of land farmed, while more realistic than the 25% highlighted in the EU farm-to-fork strategy, may prove challenging also.

It has been tried before in Food Harvest 2020 which was published in 2010. It targeted a growth in Organic production from 1% to 5% and finished up with 2%.

On the basis of previous performance, a target of 6% still seems ambitious as there is no evidence of market demand, though it could be driven by production incentives.

Brexit and trade

Brexit and additional competition in Britain are recognised by the strategy as presenting a challenge, but there is confidence that the strong links already established will maintain competitiveness.

Of course, shaping the UK or indeed EU trade strategy was beyond the brief of the group but the reality for Irish farmers is that not only are they facing unprecedented production constraints in the years ahead, they are also facing increased competition from all the major exporters beyond the EU that have more production than environmental focus.

Elements that can benefit farmers

While the strategy is focused more on environment and climate as opposed to farmer-facing, it does contain elements that can benefit farmers.

Food waste benefits nobody and reducing it will be supported. Similarly, more efficient use of fertiliser will benefit farmers by reducing costs, and genotyping the national herd will drive efficient and ultimately more profitable farming.

Nobody can object to initiatives that seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions nor the ambition to be carbon neutral by 2050.

The problem is that the EU is leading from so far in front of the rest of the world that agriculture and industry get squeezed out of production and replaced by imports from elsewhere. It means targets are met locally but not globally, where it has to happen to achieve the wider objective.

Once-in-a-lifetime change needs once-in-a-lifetime support

For Irish farmers, the direction of Irish travel is clear.

The core purpose of farmers is no longer to transform pasture into food but achieve carbon neutrality in less than three decades.

Within this primary objective, farming has to function and it is clear that CAP resources will be targeted accordingly.

Huge demands will be made from farmers that will cost their business beyond what is available in the CAP and with no certainty of increased market return.

Therefore, the focus now has to be that if this is the direction of travel required by Government from Irish agriculture, then appropriate funding must be put in place.

Farmers will await these proposals with interest as the EU’s Farm to Fork strategy is effectively adopted as Ireland’s farm strategy.