Brexit has managed to make household names of many we would otherwise never have heard of. Jacob Rees-Mogg for example. Here in Ireland, an otherwise little-known senator called Neale Richmond has emerged as the Government’s quasi-Brexit spokesman. He seems to have become the go-to man for radio and TV debates on Brexit both here and across various British broadcasting outlets too, fighting the good fight from an Irish perspective.

Farming is taking a hammering right now in the media. Whether it’s to do with animal welfare, the environment or meat consumption, the honest slog of the typical small farmer is being ridiculed ferociously like never before. And the fight back is nothing more than meek. I use senator Richmond as an example of crises management.

There does not seem to be any really good go-to experts to debate the big issues, the big questions, the facts and the myths which are being fired at Irish agriculture right now. With all due respect to Michael Healy-Rae, on the day the controversial and provocative EAT-Lancet Report was published last month, it was as if he was the lone ranger available to go on national radio and defend Irish farming.

This is about the entire agri food industry from the farmers to the processors to the various other rural entities which benefit from a thriving agricultural sector to be more cohesive in facing up to genuine questions about the challenges and obligations which it faces socially, economically and environmentally

Last year when veganism became trendy and every radio and TV show wanted to feature an item on it, the president of the ICSA went on Primetime. It wasn’t one of his finer moments as he tried to address some of the wilder views and accusations which the vegan movement is allowed fire unchallenged at farmers.

It was, to put it mildly, one of those lost opportunities to call out some of the hysteria about animal welfare which the anti-agriculture crusade is getting away with unchallenged. That said, it shouldn’t be just left to the farmer lobby groups to firefight. It’s not necessarily their remit.

It is a challenge much bigger than that. This is about the entire agri food industry from the farmers to the processors to the various other rural entities which benefit from a thriving agricultural sector to be more cohesive in facing up to genuine questions about the challenges and obligations which it faces socially, economically and environmentally.

This is not about spin doctoring. It is about being more creative and proactive in addressing these challenges in the modern world of social media, fake news and campaigning journalism. Face the hard questions and debunk the myths.

But there is no joined-up thinking across the broad spectrum of the Irish agri food and agri food sectors when it comes to combining to respond to this rapidly changing world. Bord Bia will give us a very positive plethora of impressive macro statistics regarding our agri-food sector and its global footprint. But we rarely hear any of the academics who comment on a range of issues to do with the economy or social justice give us an independent assessment of the broad Irish agri food sector.

It might be time to commission a comprehensive fact-based report into the combined contribution which Irish Agriculture Inc, makes to the social, environmental and economic fabric of the country for once and for all. It might give farmer’s aswell as commentators something concrete to go on when responding to the myriad of attacks raining down on the sector right now. CL

That rugby team

No doubt heard in pubs all over Ireland last Saturday night: “That rugby team is no good at all.”