The current shortage of flour in Ireland is a “direct result of years of under-investment in the tillage industry”, according to the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA).
Gavin Carberry, the association’s tillage chairperson, said that this has “laid bare” Ireland’s over-reliance on the UK for supplies.
“It took a pandemic to expose just how dependent we are on flour from the UK and elsewhere, and with the UK now experiencing shortages of its own, it has left us in a very precarious position,” Carberry said.
While the shortage is having a direct impact on the consumer for the purpose of home baking, things could get far worse if the lockdown continues and our main bakeries are unable to source adequate supplies of flour to keep bread plentiful on our supermarket shelves.
“Ireland produces some of the best wheat in the world, with our moist, damp climate providing ideal growing conditions,” the ICSA tillage chair pointed out.
“It’s time for all the cogs in the wheel of the tillage industry to come together to ensure this native product can be manufactured here at home and ensure a supply of flour for the domestic market, Carberry argued.
“Given the difficulties we currently face, and with the potential impact Brexit will bring to the sector, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine must re-establish the Tillage Forum. Now is the time for robust planning and for the true potential of the sector to be harnessed,” he concluded.
Criticism of EU
In other ICSA related news, over the weekend the association’s president Edmond Phelan said that the EU’s prevarication on the impact of Covid-19 on farming is “utterly unacceptable”.
“This is not a minor crisis that can be solved by tinkering around the edges of the Common Agricultural Policy [CAP] Rural Development Fund,” he stressed.
“It is clear that the Taoiseach [Leo Varadkar] and other EU heads of state must immediately grasp this problem and push for an extraordinary agricultural programme, which needs to be funded outside of the CAP framework,” Phelan added.