DEAR SIR: My heart goes out to the Ukrainian people whom are in an unimaginable position and one hopes that their plight will improve in the near future.

Meanwhile, we as European citizens and Irish farmers – along with our industry leaders – should at this point be stepping forward to alleviate some of the projected food shortages. If we as a nation are serious about putting our shoulder to the wheel, we have got to take decisive and meaningful action.

Firstly, we should double the CAP budget and recouple it on kg of beef, lamb, pork and tonnes of grain.

War times are not times to prop up sofa farmers.