Over the last week or so, a number of farming and agri-related events took place that were impossible to hold during the COVID-19 lockdowns and postponements.

Each of the ones – at least that I went to – were very different but in all cases, there was a genuine relief to be mixing normally, with friendships rekindled and useful knowledge exchanged.

The events that I went to ranged from our own Irish Farmers Journal conference in the RDS on the present state of European policy, with Commissioner Mairead McGuinness and Minister Charlie McConologue, as well as former Taoiseach John Bruton.

Not surprisingly the war in Ukraine, food security and the future direction of EU agriculture with its emphasis on the Farm-to-Fork Green Deal dominated the discussion.

The rest of the week was much more sector based. The Department of Agriculture held its cereal open day at Backweston on the Dublin/Kildare border.

It was returning after three years but standards had been fully maintained, with excellent work on how the range of cereals perform under Irish conditions.

Hands-on approach

This is an interesting example of the State having a hands-on approach to not just helping to set farm policy, but actually doing the detailed technical evaluation in a specific sector. This may be an accident of history but it works.

The influence of the State was much more broad-brush at the European Dairy Farmers conference held in Cork. In the context of the growth in output and profitability of the Irish dairy sector the messages were more powerful than ever.

I was particularly struck with Teagasc’s new head of Moorepark, Laurence Shalloo outlining his work to a questioning foreign audience on why Ireland’s seasonal pattern of grass-based milk production was more profitable in national terms despite leaving processing plants significantly under-utilised in the winter period.

With the chief executive of Ornua and the new head of Dairygold on the platform, as well as a Bord Bia participant, there was no push back against Prof Shalloo’s assertion, but overhanging the gathering was the concern that wrongly directed national policy could stymie expansion in a world competitive sector.

The Teagasc beef open day took place earlier this week in Grange. An enormous amount of work went into the day with essential information on liming, how to maximise profits from the growing availability of dairy beef progeny and grass management to the latest “green“ messages on methane reduction and slurry spreading.

The event is deservedly covered fully elsewhere in this week’s Irish Farmers Journal.

Graduation

My final sectoral event was the graduation ceremony of the stud management and breeding course in the Irish National Stud.

Not everyone realises that the Irish thoroughbred breeding sector is as big as that of France and Britain combined, so the international flavour of the event was very evident.

But in all these events, the role of the State, politicians, civil servants and semi-state employees is taken for granted.

As we look at Ukraine and the one-man show that is Russia, as well as the attempt by Donald Trump to subvert US democracy, we should, in my view, be aware of what a well-governed State with strong institutions can achieve and the damage and misery that can be inflicted if these are absent.

We should be slow to take our current system - despite its irritations - for granted.