Stronger incentives are needed to boost fruit and vegetable production in Ireland, according to a Green Party senator.

Senator Malcolm Noonan highlighed the need to protect Ireland's food security in response to the latest Climate Change Advisory Council’s (CCAC) report on agriculture.

According to the CCAC farmers are increasingly having to manage very different risks throughout the year due to extreme conditions including excessive rainfall, heatwaves and drought.

Rather than reacting to individual weather crises as they occur, the council said farmers should be better equipped to understand the long-term risks facing their land and businesses in a climate that is becoming increasingly extreme.

Report

Senator Noonan, who is the Green Party spokesperson for Agriculture and Nature, said: “Diversification should include worthwhile incentives towards fruit and vegetable growing to buffer Irish consumers from international food supply shocks."

He believes that disruptions to the supply chain will disproportionately impact on low-income households in Ireland and as a result "supporting growers to produce the food we need will help keep prices down".

The senator added that the Green Party has proposed extending the Basic Income Scheme for the Arts to "small scale horticultural producers".

Response needed

According to Senator Noonan the latest report CCAC should not be ignored by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon.

He said: “They must act and act decisively to protect farm family incomes, our rural way of life and our land and our water.

"He must do so at European level as well and lead on shaping a CAP that works with nature, restores our river systems and ensures that farmers have options to diversify and receive long term supports for carbon, water and nature on farm actions.”

Senator Noonan also claimed that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine maintains a “business-as-usual mindset” while farmers continue to see the effect of climate change on their land.

According to the Green Party senator the report "coincides perfectly" with current Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget negotiations.

He has urged Minister Heydon to “use the opportunity of the Irish Presidency to not just argue for an increase [in] budget but one that is tailored towards the new reality of a changed world for farming.”

“Existing farming industrial farming systems have proven themselves to lack resilience in the face of weather extremes,” he stated.