Congratulations to Martin Heydon on his appointment as Ireland’s new Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine.
Given that he is no stranger to the corridors of Agriculture House, the new appointee should be in a position to hit the ground running.
His overarching challenge, in my opinion, will be that of delivering a clear message to both farmers and consumers that Irish agriculture can look forward to an extremely sustainable future.
And driving all of this will be a food primary production sector that is fit for purpose.
The coming years will see the world’s population continuing to grow. This development will bring with it a commensurate increase in the demand for food.
And Ireland must be part of this response. Making it happen will require an immense investment commitment on the part of farmers to invest in new technologies; new science that will allow Irish agriculture to produce more food in ways that are environmentally sustainable.
New minister and government
All of this can be achieved. It just takes the required commitment on the part of the Irish government to make it happen.
And, in truth, none of this is rocket science. There will be plenty of milestones along the way, which Martin Heydon can use to deliver government policies that recognise the importance of agriculture to the Irish economy and society as a whole.
One of the most obvious of these will be the upcoming review of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Martin Heydon’s job here will be to twofold in nature. One aspect will be to help shape Europe’s farm support policies in an overarching manner.
But the second aspect to the upcoming CAP negotiations that will define Martin Heydon’s term as minister will be that of securing sufficient national flexibility to deliver support policies that meet the bespoke needs of Irish agriculture.
Priorities
So much for the future; in the here and now, Martin Heydon has a pretty full inbox to be dealing with.
One of the most pressing issues in this context will be the long overdue response from government to the report of the Food Vision Tillage Group.
This publication has been kicking around the corridors of Agriculture House for the last six months and more.
Prior to the 2024 General Election, both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael committed to deliver €60 million per year of additional support to the tillage sector throughout the lifetime of the current Dáil.
It would be appropriate for Martin Heydon to tell us how this money will be spent. And that clock is already ticking.