Irish product goes all over the world but it has to be done in a sustainable fashion and that sustainability has to incorporate economic sustainability at primary production level, the outgoing president of the ICMSA, John Comer, has said.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio on Tuesday, the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) president said that for farmers, it’s all about net margin at the end of the day.
When questioned on greenhouse gas targets and sustainability, Comer said: “People are complicating it beyond belief”.
“We have one global village in terms of the atmosphere, what I’m saying is that the Sustainable Development Goals are sometimes in contradiction with EU trade policy.
“The reality is, that Ireland is the most efficient producer of milk in terms of a litre of milk versus its carbon legacy, we are the fifth most efficient producers of beef.”
So how in the name of God could it make sense to put any impediment in Ireland’s production, in terms of litres of milk or kilos of beef, when the world demand is there for it.
Comer said the farming industry is “absolutely doing [its] bit” to meet our EU target of a reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020.
“We produce enough food in this country for 35 million people. That’s going to grow to about 45-50 million people, where consumer demand globally is growing by 1.5-2%.
“Production should be maintained and improved in this country. We have done an awful lot.
“If you take the 1990 figures we’ve increased production by 40% in terms of volume, and yet our carbon emissions has reduced by 6%.
“So our efficiencies as an industry, through ICBF, through improved genetics, through improved feed efficiency, has put up number one in the world in terms of food production.
“While there is a demand for food and its’ growing, for milk powders and animal proteins, and can anyone contradict me when I say it makes absolutely no sense to shift that production to someplace that is less efficient?”
Jobs in rural Ireland
On rural Ireland, Comer said that in 2007-2008, farming was referred to as the sunset industry.
“Then we became the industry that was charged with taking the economy back out of the abyss and try to recover from the recession.
“I can see that going full circle again with [Ireland] coming close to full employment again and now people are talking, you know, that we’re not quite as important as an industry.
“But remember, nobody is queuing up in rural Ireland to provide jobs, agriculture is the life blood of rural Ireland, without it there would be nobody living there. We provide over 250,000 jobs.
“It’s a key vital national Interest to make sure we can facilitate a trading environment that can be retained [as it currently is post-Brexit].”
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