It has been outlined that it is critical that the supply-base in the agri-food sector will only be maintained “by ensuring that those involved in primary production are getting a just shakeout”.
Speaking in Seanad Éireann this morning, Thursday, September 26, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, acknowledged that to do this can be “challenging”.
The minister was commenting on the work Government has been doing on finding new markets for Irish agri-food produce and said: “One interesting statistic – which in a way summarises the distance we’ve travelled in 2010 – is the value of Irish agri-food exports outside of the EU which was €1.8 billion. In 2018, the value was closer to €3.5 billion.”
However, the minister acknowledged: “Sometimes the question is rightly asked by the primary producer: ‘Where do we gain in all this?’
It is critical that we maintain the supply base and we will only do that by ensuring that those involved in primary production are getting a just shakeout, and that is challenging.
“We’ve had the issues in recent weeks on issues in the beef sector and I would like to think that was a watershed moment,” the minister acknowledged.
Concluding, he outlined: “Business as usual will not cut it in that context and we need to be very conscious that we create a new framework for a partnership approach that’s very different to what we’ve had up to now.”