Preserving farming critical for Ireland’s future, says President

Preserving the family farm model is of critical importance to the future of this country, President Michael D Higgins has said.

Mr Higgins said the family farm was vital in ensuring no portion of the national territory was left neglected, economically, socially or environmentally.

“It is a vital necessity if we want an Ireland of thriving local communities, not just people who are attached to an economy only. And it is a vital necessity if we want to continue to eat good food, and sustain a loving and rich relationship with our natural environment,” he said.

Mr Higgins was speaking at the international family farming conference organised by the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) and Teagasc in Dublin.

He said it was time to forcefully challenge “a flawed assumption - the idea that modernisation and socio-economic progress require urbanisation”.

“I believe, conversely, that sustainable rural development offers a viable alternative to massive rural flight.”

This flight from the land too often fed the mushrooming of shanty towns on the edge of cities, he said.

IFA president Eddie Downey said a combination of factors was sapping income and profitability out of family farming. He said family farms were affected by extreme price volatility, escalating input costs, reduced EU support, inequity in a food supply chain and costly political and societal bureaucratic interference.

He said the EU farm family model must be protected as it was the most effective way of delivering food security for Europe’s 500 million citizens and the rapidly growing populations across the globe.

“The simple fact is that many hard- working Irish and EU farm families are no longer getting a fair reward for the vital job they do for all of society,” Mr Downey said.