The inaugural meeting of the new Pig Roundtable was chaired today (Wednesday, April 28) by Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon.
Key stakeholders participated in the meeting, including representatives from the farming and processing sectors, Teagasc, Bord Bia, and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
Coming from a base of €330 million export value in 2010, the pig sector has shown “exceptional value growth”, according to the Department of Agriculture.
Notwithstanding the problems caused by Covid-19 in the first half of 2020, the sector saw export values up 0.2% year-on-year, coming in at just over €893 million – an increase of 270% in value over the past decade.
The industry is the third largest agri-food sector after dairy and beef.
Commenting, Minister Heydon said:
“I look forward to the Pig Roundtable serving as a vehicle for constructive discussion with all stakeholders in driving forward the development of the sector as well as taking a high level approach to guiding the actions set out for the sector in the Programme for Government.”
According to the Department of Agriculture, following on from the work of the Pig Industry Stakeholder Group (PISG) over recent years this new roundtable will “focus its work on the key strategic developments in this very important sector to the Irish agri-food industry”.
Acknowledging the work of Dr Seán Brady, who served as chair of the PISG, Minister Heydon said:
“I want to thank Dr Brady for his personal commitment and hard work in leading a collaborative effort to progress the implementation of the actions set out in the 2016 Pig Industry Stakeholder Report.”
Minister Heydon stated his ambition for this roundtable is to work in tandem with industry and farming partners in delivering on both the opportunities and challenges faced by the sector.
The work of the Pig Roundtable will be determined primarily by the key high-level strategic drivers related to the sector including the Programme for Government and the new Agri Food 2030 Strategy, when finalised, the department notes.
Minister Heydon also noted the recent launch of the public consultation on the new Agri Food 2030 Strategy.
On this, he encouraged all present to examine the consultation documents published on the gov.ie website and make submissions to the consultation before the closing date of June 15.
The minister set out the proposed schedule for future meetings of the roundtable which will come together on a quarterly basis over the next 12 months.
Agreement was reached with members of the group that a particular focus on animal health, animal welfare, environmental issues and trade issues will take place over that period.