Farm groups worry Russian ban could see Irish food exports displaced elsewhere

Farm groups and the food and drink industry have expressed concern about the Russian ban on food imports from Europe and said they were worried it could displace Irish exports elsewhere.

ICMSA president John Comer said he hoped the normalisation of relationships with Russia would come sooner rather than later. "At that stage we would be confident that the excellence of our food exports and the professionalism of our marketing would ensure that we would regain our Russian market share and begin to grow it accordingly," he said.

Ibec's Food and Drink Industry Ireland said the development was "a cause for serious concern for Irish agrifood industries". Spokesman Cormac Healy said there would be significant volumes of displaced products forced on to the EU and international markets that otherwise would have gone to Russia.

“This is happening at a time when international markets are already faced with strong supply, this is particularly the case for dairy products, and this is expected to affect prices.”

Dutch cheese

This was echoed by

IFA

president

Eddie Downey

. “It’s not the volume of product that we produce here and export. It’s about what’s going to happen to the Dutch cheese that normally went there? What’s going to happen to the other product that normally went there and where will that go? You’ll have to wonder where it’s going to end up. If that goes to a market we already export to, there will be effects.”

He said Russia was a major purchaser of food and it would have to source food from somewhere. "If they source grain from Ukraine in major volumes. . . and buy that forward now, we could see an effect on a very depressed grain market," he said. "We need to tread very, very carefully and the political system needs to be very careful as it manages this process."

He was speaking at the Dublin Horse Show where the farm organisation announced a new plan to encourage the timely transfer of farms from parents to the next generation.

Work together

The “phased transfer partnership” would allow parents and children to work together for a defined time with parents gradually easing out as assets are transferred.

The IFA has called on Minister for Finance Michael Noonan to give tax relief to the farm holder on a portion of their farm income, up to an agreed ceiling, as an incentive to take part. Mr Downey said this would "address many of the concerns for both parent and child, which are delaying the transfer of the family farm".