The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue raised the difficulties that Ireland faces when exporting beef to America with US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack today (April 27).
Minister McConalogue met with his US counterpart in person for the first time, at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) headquarters in Washington DC. Speaking about the discussion, Minister McConalogue said:
“I raised with Secretary Vilsack the difficulties arising for Irish beef exports to the US, which enter under the ‘other country’ beef quota, with the 2022 quota already fully filled.
“Irish beef exports to the US which are valued at €36 million for 7,000t, are an important market diversification opportunity, and highly valued by discerning US trade customers.”
Minister McConalogue expressed to the secretary that he hopes it will be possible to find a solution that would allow quality Irish beef exports to the US to continue, without those exporting the produce facing very high tariff barriers.
Following the meeting, Minister McConalogue said although he had met with the secretary before in a virtual capacity, he was delighted to visit him in person this time.
“I thanked him for the positive working relationship between our two departments and our two countries. This is most evident in the recently announced agreement on a veterinary health cert, which will allow sheepmeat exports from Ireland to the US,” he said.
The meeting came as the minister visits a number of US states during a wider trade mission to identify new markets and promote Irish food and drink.
Minister of State Martin Heydon is leading a similar mission in Mexico where there will be a focus on identifying opportunities for the Irish pig sector.
Wide ranging discussion
Minister McConalogue also spoke to the US secretary about Ireland’s Food Vision 2030 strategies for the coming decade and outlined the country’s environmental, social and economic sustainability focusses.
The counterparts also discussed the AIM4Climate initiative of which Ireland is a member. The initiative sets an ambition to double global investment in climate research for agriculture from €4 billion to €8 billion, by the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in November of this year.
The minister commended the USDA’s involvement in the initiative and said: “I hope that Ireland’s strength in agri-research will contribute to finding solutions to our shared challenge of further driving down the total emissions associated with food production.”
Minister McConalogue will conclude the Washington DC leg of the trade mission tomorrow (April 28), opening a seminar co-hosted with the World Bank on the theme: ‘Sustainable Food Systems: Nourishing the global population, meeting climate targets, and responding to the new context arising from the Ukraine crisis’.