Leadership is important and a plan is needed that will put the food element, of security, high on the political agenda within the international community.

That was the view of former European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Phil Hogan, as he addressed the Nuffield International Agri-Summit in Kilashee House Hotel, Co Kildare, on Friday.

He felt that food security had slipped down the food chain on the political agenda in the UN system and that if he got the job as next director-general of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), he could bring that back up again.

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With less money available for the FAO, he said, that there needs to be more collaboration across the UN organisations that deal with agriculture and they can no longer work in isolation.

“In the UN system, there are three organisations that deal with agriculture at the moment and they don’t work closely together at all. That has to change.

"We have less money so therefore we have to be more effective and efficient and more collaborative and better at implementation and put whatever resources we have into the regions and countries that need them rather than into Rome.”

Speaking on the topic, Global Food Security: The challenge for Europe, he stated that the correlation between energy and agriculture was of immediate concern to him, especially given the current turmoil in the Middle East, this will have an impact on us in 2027 and 2028.

Europe needs proposals to become more food secure, he said, adding.

“There are no meaningful proposals at this stage that will bring about information about how we can be a little more resilient within the European context where we can have more fertiliser for ourselves in future.”

Generational renewal

He also said that the challenge for generational renewal centres on the financial security of the generation stepping back from farming.

“If the older people are not financially secure, then you won’t get the transfer of land and businesses. How to do it is not easy but you have to make sure the older generation are secure first.”

To date, the focus has been on satisfying the young people, he added.