THE NATIONAL ploughing championships are about much more than ploughing. They are a celebration of the quality of life, skills and values that infuse farming and the occasion provides an opportunity to meet far-flung friends. At this time of economic difficulty, the three-day event has also offered reassurance that hard work and perseverance pay off. Three years ago, farmers were in trouble because of a collapse in world food prices; today they bask in the glow of record returns, higher yields and a booming export market.
President McAleese correctly identified agriculture as “the star of our economy in these particularly tough times” and looked to the agrifood sector to set an example for other companies in an export-led recovery. Celebrating its 80th birthday and now the largest outdoor agricultural show in Europe, the ploughing event has stayed rooted in community values and depends for its success on the spirit of meitheal and volunteerism. People go there to enjoy old skills, consider new approaches, examine equipment and have a good time. It is, after all, that time of year in the farming calendar.
Celebrating success is a great experience. All the indicators, in terms of growing international demand for our main production lines, are positive. Added value is being created in the food chain through innovation and new products. The change that has taken place within two years is quite amazing. Back then, in a slump, the government published “Food Harvest 2020”, an ambitious development plan that envisaged agrifood exports reaching €12 billion by 2020. That amounted to a 42 per cent increase on 2007/09. Now, partly due to rising world prices, the sector is more than half way to that ten-year target. It has increased exports by 25 per cent to record levels.
Those figures bring both satisfaction and a warning: satisfaction at the progress already achieved and a warning that the situation could change. Agriculture remains a cyclical business. World population, living standards and a demand for high protein are all increasing. But commodity markets are extremely volatile in an unsettled world. In the past, Irish farmers found to their cost that borrowing heavily and expanding output too rapidly carried risks. Sustainable expansion is the way to go.
Details of a review of the Common Agricultural Policy by the European Commission are due to be published next month. Those draft proposals should provide farmers with some certainty of what the future holds. It has been suggested that 30 per cent of payments may go to farms that operate in an environmentally sensitive way. Ireland’s grass-based production system will benefit in that regard, provided an increase in output does not cause a slippage in water quality. Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney was upbeat about the future of farming when he attended the show. He acknowledged that change was coming through Cap reforms but noted that Ireland will hold the EU presidency when final decisions are taken in 2013. That is a strong position to be in.