Department ‘satisfied’ Food Vision strategy will stand up in court

The Department of Agriculture has stated it is satisfied that the Food Vision 2030 strategy and the process behind its formulation will stand up to court scrutiny, when queried by the Irish Farmers Journal.

The comments were made after Friends of the Irish Environment (FOIE) was granted leave to judicially review the Food Vision strategy, which it claims will prevent the agri-food sector from meeting climate, biodiversity and water quality commitments.

“The Department is aware of and engaged with the proceedings and is satisfied that Food Vision 2030 and the process for its development will stand up to scrutiny,” a spokesperson from the Department told the Irish Farmers Journal.

Commitments

“The commitments for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the agriculture sector are challenging and delivering real results will require collaboration, co-operation and a sense of shared responsibility between citizens, industry and the State.

“The Food Vision process allows the sector to progress its environmental ambitions encompassing climate, water quality and biodiversity,” the Department said.

Dairy group

The Department went on to mention the convening of the Food Vision dairy group as an example of its commitment to act on environmental issues within the strategy.

The group is to compile a roadmap outlining the path that the dairy sector will take to “manage the sustainable environmental footprint of the dairy sector”.

“This is in addition to progressing the actions in the Climate Action Plan 2021, continuing to fund agri-environmental schemes and planning for additional schemes under the new CAP to reflect a higher level of environmental ambition,” the Department added.

Court review

FOIE has said that Government advisers had provided guidance to the Department of Agriculture against the adoption of the strategy.

Minister McConalogue’s acceptance of the roadmap was in “absence of any clear scientific evidence or mitigation measures”, according to the group.

“The grounds of the review include an alleged failure to properly subject the plan to the strategic environmental assessment and habitats directives, as well as the lack of monitoring,” FOIE said in the statement it issued on announcing the granting of leave to review.

“FOIE points out to the court that the environmental assessments accompanying Food Vision 2030 unequivocally concluded that an alternative strategy would have the most beneficial environmental outcomes.

“Nevertheless, this was rejected in favour of an industry’s agenda. Instead of a potential rural renaissance and a just transition for rural communities, we instead have [a] plan that will undermine our national climate and biodiversity goals,” the environmental group said.