The Irish Grain Growers Group (IGGG) has called on the Government to take action and “consider an embargo on Brazilian grains”.

The IGGG has outlined that grains such as palm, soya and maize are “in all probability Genetically Modified (GM) grains”.

A statement from the group noted: “While we all watch images of the Amazon burning; our Government says it is monitoring the situation in relation to the Mercosur deal which is a few years off in implementing.”

Continuing, the statement added: “We must remind our Government that grain is arriving from all over the world including the Mercosur countries and action must be considered now if they are to follow up on their Climate Emergency declaration.”

IGGG has also called on other farm lobby groups to back its call to “consider an embargo and to insist on feed with full traceability and make available to them the country in which the grain was grown”.

Finally, the group has called on consumers who buy Irish products to “educate themselves more on the origin and the process involved in the food that they buy”.

“It’s time they make more conscious decisions spending their hard-earned money when choosing what they put in their shopping baskets,” the statement concluded.