Ireland can’t enact the EU’s “Farm to Fork” plans without tackling the vexed question of third-country import standards, according to the Irish Grain Growers (IGG).

“Our toolbox of pesticides to use is continually being eroded away, yet we compete with imports like GMO grains from outside the EU which don’t have the same issue,” it says, calling for the EU to prove that it will have the backs of its farmers.

“By virtue of our isolated location, we have a natural advantage, yet we import millions of tonnes of grain.”

Research

Calling for more R&D for tillage, the IGG says that favouring min-till over ploughing systems of crop establishment would be like “telling dairy farmers they will be financially rewarded to use Friesian cows to milk rather than Jersey cows”. It quotes Teagasc as saying that non-inversion systems “may not necessarily be the most environmentally-friendly establishment system for Irish soils year in, year out”.

In a clear call to remove supports from “armchair farmers”, the IGG wants the “practising farmer” to be recognised as the guardian of the environment, whose financial sustainability critically underpins the sustainability of the whole food chain.