Perhaps the most important part of Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney’s launch this week of a new group to develop an agri-food strategy to 2025 was his selection of John Moloney as chair.

Given Moloney’s track record and status in the sector, he is the ideal choice. His expertise across agribusiness, consumer foods, internationally traded commodities and global brand development is unrivalled. Moloney has also proven his ability to devise a successful long-term strategy for Glanbia and, more importantly, implement it.

Listening to Minister Coveney pay tribute to the previous Government’s foresight in establishing Food Harvest 2020 (FH2020) is a reminder that agriculture is the one area where there is a marked degree of political consensus – to the benefit of all.

Despite its weaknesses, FH2020 has been central to agricultural policy since its launch in July 2010. This was not always the case with its predecessors. The high-profile target for an ambitious 50% growth in dairy output post-milk quota abolition undoubtedly captured attention.

One could argue that events in the beef sector may have been different this year if there was a similar level of buy-in to a coherent and mutually agreed growth plan for beef.

The tillage sector was aggrieved at its lack of acknowledgment in the FH2020 report. The sector was subsequently represented by Teagasc’s crops and energy steering group. We welcome the fact that its chairman, Kilkenny farmer Larry O’Reilly, will represent the sector on the new committee.

Hearing Minister Coveney say at the launch that FH2020 informed CAP negotiations, and directly fed into the Irish Government’s insistence, now acknowledged in Brussels, that food production and security cannot be sacrificed when tackling climate change was a further example of the plan’s tangible influence.

The changes to land taxation announced in the recent budget were also clearly informed by the FH2020 recommendations.

Having a national strategy also ensures that Teagasc and Bord Bia can invest in multi-year research and marketing programmes that are properly aligned to the industry’s direction.

We will return in detail to the issues to be addressed in the 2025 strategy, but a key one must surely be sustainability – and not just of the environmental kind.

One of the weaknesses of Food Harvest 2020 was insufficient focus on farmer profitability. As the Irish pig sector has demonstrated in the past five years, farmers will invest in growth if they have sufficient financial incentive and confidence to do so. Without sufficient profit at farm level, any growth targets will be simply political aspirations.

One of the key mantras of strategic planning is to focus on the areas within your control. In this regard, key national competitiveness issues – such as banking, energy, compliance and legal costs – must be part of the discussions as they have a significant impact on the viability of farmers and the businesses that serve them.

A good starting point for the new strategy would be to robustly examine how many of the previous actions have been delivered. The reality is that international price increases rather than volume growth at home has contributed most of our recent food export growth.

A major consultation process is now under way where farmers and other stakeholders can provide an input. Log on to www.agriculture.gov.ie/2025strategy/ for more information.