Two of the most hotly contested public debates of recent weeks have seen Irish agriculture relegated to almost the ‘forgotten sector’ – within the grand scheme of things.

Meanwhile, politicians and consumer groups dictate the entire tenor of the public debate.  

I am, of course, referring to the recent furore over food inflation and ongoing public spat between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil regarding the outcome of Budget 2024.

Debate on agriculture and prices

A recent edition of Brendan O’Connor’s Sunday morning programme on RTÉ summed up the great food inflation debate perfectly for me.

The thrust of the conversation saw all those involved calling for the government to step in and commit to bringing retail food prices down.

Meanwhile, not one member of the panel mentioned the need to deliver fair prices for farmers. Nor was anyone from the farming industry on hand to make that point.

In my mind, the jury is still out as to whether there is an anti-farming bias within the national broadcaster or was it a case of the farming organisations not being at their game in terms of getting core policies.

Either way the end result was the same – the farming voice was not heard within a very important discussion.

The reality is that food prices have remained at historically low levels for the past 40 years. This is a direct result of the cheap food policies pushed forward by the European Union for all of that time.

This is also a message that Irish consumers must be made fully aware of. And, for the record, it’s a message that our agriculture minister, Charlie McConalogue, should be to the fore in communicating.

Budget 2024

The posturing of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil politicians over who decides what in the run-up to the 2024 Budget would be laughable, if it wasn’t such a serious subject.

For me, the main point to come out of all this is the fact that Ireland is looking at the prospect of a €56 billion budget surplus for 2023. And this figure could be considerably larger if the EU ‘puts the squeeze’ on Google.

Methinks, here’s an opportunity for the farming industry to join the Budget debate right now. There is a host of fundamental funding issues that need to be addressed on behalf of farmers. And the clock is ticking.  

A case in point is the plight of the crops sector. The dogs in the street know that tillage farmers will need some help in the upcoming Budget to allow them lease land on equal terms with their dairy farming neighbours.

No doubt this was a key talking point at this week’s meeting of the Food Vision Tillage Group. In my opinion, the time to bring this point into the public domain is now.

So, let’s see what happens.