Agricultural policy should be sharply focused on improving the sector's capacity to meet increased competition from within and outside the EU, the NESC report said. Proposing structural changes to facilitate the entry of trained young entrants into the industry, the council said food exports should be increasingly redirected to the EU consumer market. "This offers the only long-term prospect of closing the price gap between Irish and EU producer prices."
The council also urged the Government to ensure that the EU achieved full accommodation for the European agricultural model in the forthcoming World Trade Organisation negotiation. Based on the family farm structure, the report said, this model underpinned sustainable development.
