As Ireland’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Strategic Plan awaits adjudication by the European Commission, this week’s episode of Farmland, which is now live on the Agriland platform, features a sit-down interview with MEP Colm Markey.
It is the first episode of the programme to be broadcast since the government introduced restrictions in 2020 to curb the spread of Covid-19.
The fortnightly programme will feature in-studio interviews with the major players in Irish agriculture, as well as exploring agri-business, research, farm politics and global insights.
Farmland today
In this episode, MEP for the Midlands North West, Colm Markey, who is a dairy farmer himself, gives the European perspective on Ireland’s slice of CAP funding.
He discusses who wins and who, potentially, loses out in the CAP spend, and why carbon sequestration must be key to the future of on-farm environmental measures.
Recently, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, led a Bord Bia trade mission to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to develop new markets for Irish agri-food exports.
Part of the itinerary included a trip to a dairy farm based in the Dubai desert, home to 17,500 cattle, which also features on this Farmland episode.
The issue of input costs, particularly fertiliser, is also discussed on this week’s Farmland with agricultural economist, Ciarán Fitzgerald and journalist, Richard Halleron.
Ciaran explains how the lack of any real inflation in terms of food prices over the past 20 years is poor policy by the government and he explains the impact in terms of farmgate prices.
Speaking on the programme, Richard Halleron explains that farmers won’t tolerate any potential bid to reduce agricultural production in this country.
Farmland can be viewed by clicking the following link.