Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed has laid out the four main challenges that Irish agriculture is currently facing – Brexit, CAP post 2020, globalisation and climate change.

Speaking at Carrigaline Macra’s talk ‘‘Irish Agriculture – at a Crossroads’’ on Monday night, Creed said “the future of the CAP post 2020 is something we need to begin to get our heads around. Maintaining the size of the budget is one of many challenges facing the EU, and we need to be prepared to defend it. The founding principals of CAP are as relevant now as they ever have been.”

Creed compared the Brexit challenge to what we faced in the last banking crash. His sentiments were echoed by outgoing Bord Bia CEO Aidan Cotter, who sees an unstable time ahead.

“We must stick to the plan to achieve growth in exports from €11bn to €19bn by 2025,” said Cotter. “This will require a shift away from UK to international markets and we will have to learn to live with turbulence.”

Positive signs

Most questions from a strong dairy audience in the Rochestown Park Hotel in Cork unsurprisingly went to Jean Kelly of Ornua.

She said that there are continuing positive market signs for the first half of 2017, adding that the test will be when prices increase, as the current price rise is supply-driven instead of demand-driven.

'If we want to achieve our growth in exports we must stick to the plan' - Cotter

The four farming challenges

Speaking at Carrigaline Macra's ag talk on Monday night, Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed outlined the four challenges he sees for Irish agriculture.