The agri-food industry is “charging ahead” despite the recession, and there is no limit to its current potential, Minister for Agriculture, Marine and Food Simon Coveney told the MacGill Summer School today.
The value of the sector was not widely appreciated, particularly within “the Pale” and in the national news media, he said.
The growth of the agri-food sector was a “good news” story.
“Let’s talk about it,” the Minister added. “I deliberately refer to my ministry whenever I can as the ministry for food primarily."
The industry was the most important in the country “in terms of the employment that it provides and the indigenous opportunity for growth and expansion of Irish companies”. He said the sector extended beyond farming and fishing.
“It is big, big business," he said. “In the midst of the deepest recession that any of us can remember, the agri-food sector is actually charging ahead.”
Citing Patrick MacGill's poem, Before the Dawn, about waiting for the dawn prior to the Battle of Loos in 1915, Mr Coveney said: "Our dawn has come; in agriculture we have in many ways been a sleeping giant within the Irish economy for the last 20 years."
World demand for food would continue to grow indefinitely, he said. “Back in 1960 there were three billion people on this planet; by 1990 that figure had doubled, and we are now just under seven billion people.”
The issue of food security and ensuring that Europe could feed itself as well as helping feed other parts of the world “now must be a major feature of the Common Agriculture Policy”.
Chief economist of the Irish Farmers’ Association, Rowena Dwyer said the relatively small size of farms, lack of land mobility and unfavourable age structure must be addressed to achieve the growth potential of agriculture.
“With over 25 per cent of our farmers aged over 65, we need to encourage farmers to transfer their farm within their lifetime, and not financially penalise the person taking over,” she said.
The reduction of stamp duty rates for farmland, introduction of Capital Gains Tax Relief for farm consolidation, retention of existing agricultural relief and the better promotion of positive schemes such as the Land Leasing Tax Exemption scheme would all improve efficiency and increase output, she told the summer school.
“At farm level, continuous professional development to improve management capability, understand costs and empower farmers is vital,” Ms Dwyer added.
Director of agriculture and food development authority Teagasc Prof Gerry Boyle said Ireland was now a major exporter of food, valued at over €8 billion in 2010.
“The agri-food sector makes a much more significant contribution to the net inflow of funds to the Irish economy than its share in the official statistics suggests," he said.
Despite this, it has been relegated to a “sunset industry” in policy-making and public debate, although there was “a resurgence in our consciousness” in recent times, he said.
“For many of us directly involved in the sector, this sudden rediscovery of its importance hardly comes as a surprise,” Prof Boyle said.
For the last decade or so the global markets for food had been undergoing extraordinary change and global food markets had experienced unprecedented price spikes, said, adding: "From the perspective of a food-exporting nation we are therefore presented with real opportunities to grow our exports to new and expanding markets."