EU agriculture ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Monday and Tuesday this week have agreed the adoption of the Farm to Fork strategy.

It was launched by the EU Commissioner for health and food safety Stella Kyriacos in May and is intended as the plan for agriculture’s contribution to the EU green deal, which targets making the EU carbon neutral by 2050.

The approval is subject to an impact assessment being undertaken before any legislation is introduced.

The Hungarian Minister for agriculture was particularly forceful in pointing out that he would have preferred the impact assessment to have been carried out in advance and that calls for reduction in pesticide use should take into account countries that have already made cuts.

Support from Minister McConalogue

Minister McConalogue also supported the need for an impact assessment in his comments and while welcoming the strategy that will benefit EU farmers and consumers, also cautioned against underestimating the challenge it presents.

He said that “change must be market-led by industry and consumers and that it must be recognised and rewarded when it happened".

He also referred to the importance of livestock in Irish farming and that the strategy had to consider the impact on EU production, rural livelihoods and be inclusive of economic growth.

Saying that Ireland was ready to contribute to the objectives of Farm to Fork, the Minister also said that Ireland was already in discussions with the European Commission on the formulation of a national strategic plan for delivery of the CAP funding which will be hugely influenced by this strategy.

Looking beyond the next CAP, the minister spoke of the challenges that have to be met in many CAP periods beyond 2030 and towards 2050.

“Sustainable adequate funding will be imperative and CAP alone cannot do everything,” he said and suggested “imaginative used of other levers to achieve goals”.