Last week’s confirmation of a €7 million, nationally funded aid package for the Irish pig sector should send out a number of very clear signals to all the other farming sectors.
I believe it sets a very welcome precedent, which will serve to remodel how support – in that general sense – can be made available to Irish agriculture.
In the first instance, the decision confirms that Dublin can step in and take support-related decisions on behalf of specific Irish farming sectors, without getting pre-approval from Brussels.
Back in the day, this would never have been allowed to happen. Previously, Brussels would have said that the operation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) takes precedent and that any decisions to deliver additional aid packages would have to come through the very rigid systems put in place by the European Union (EU).
Over the past decades there have been numerous examples of crises developing within many of our farming sectors and yes, the EU did eventually step up to the plate in almost all of these cases.
But by the time all the necessary bureaucratic boxes had been ticked, the actual support made available came too late for many of the farmers worst affected.
The other reality, of course is the fact that the overall level of support made available courtesy of the CAP has been falling in both real and actual terms over the past decade.
Irish agriculture needs greater levels of support
Meanwhile, farmers have been caught in what seems an unending squeeze of spiralling input costs and continuing pressure on their farmgate returns.
It doesn’t take Albert Einstein to work out that Irish agriculture needs greater levels of support, if it is to remain viable and sustainable.
‘Live, horse and you will get grass‘ is not the principle upon which this country’s greatest industry should be underpinned by.
Delivering a cohesive response to climate change is another challenge that will put severe pressure on our farming systems.
Personally, I thought the decision to commit the industry to a net-zero carbon target was fundamentally flawed.
Our totally justified reliance on livestock production was not fully recognised, at all within the climate change debate.
As Irish agriculture looks to the future, the need for transition is obvious – and it’s up to Dublin to ensure that this process is fully supported and funded.
The decision to aid the pig sector was the right one to make. Pig farmers have never been eligible for the support funding enjoyed by other livestock farmers.
National funding of Irish agriculture has now become a reality. What’s more, I sense that future Irish governments will be increasingly asked to step up to the mark in this regard.