It’s great to be here in Portlaoise today to discuss the future of the Irish dairy industry. I’m really looking forward to hearing the insights of some really excellent speakers and panellists on the new technological advances that can drive the sustainability of the industry.
There is no doubt our dairy industry is world class, and it should be a source of national pride. Its global standing is built on a history of innovation and new ideas entwined in a generational, family farm model. But like many sectors, there are challenges.
Innovation and sharing of ideas have got us to where we are today, and they’ll continue to be critical to our position as a world leader. And events like today are a big part of that discussion and that sharing of ideas within the industry.
In Government we are fully committed to building a stronger, more resilient and more sustainable future for farmers, both this generation of farmers and those to come.
When we talk about that resilience and sustainability, we are talking about an industry that is both financially and environmentally resilient and sustainable: those ideas go hand in hand. If we don’t get both of them right, in the long run we won’t have either.
And Government policy is geared towards supporting a sustainable model of food production, one that protects the vital resource that is our natural environment. Because without it – we have nothing.
We are entirely reliant on our natural environment to grow the grass to feed the cows that produce the milk we process and sell across the globe.
And protecting and enhancing that natural environment means maintaining and delivering improved water quality, restoring biodiversity, and meeting our Climate Action obligations.
The Government fully recognises the very significant contribution derogation farmers make to the Irish economy.
We also recognise the positive environmental practices on derogation farms, who are held to higher environmental standards and should be recognised for that.
The Taoiseach and the Minister for Agriculture have reiterated their full commitment to the retention of the derogation. Ultimately the best chance, and perhaps the only chance of retaining the derogation is to be able to show improvements in water quality; and to do this we need everyone across industry to play their part.
I do believe we’re now seeing this engagement right across the agri-food sector.
There is a pressing need to reduce agriculture’s impact on water by reducing the loss of nitrate, phosphorous, sediment, and in cases pesticides to water. We all need to reflect on what we can do and are doing to assist farmers to reduce the loss of nutrients to water.
There’s a lot of exciting work ongoing: the €60 million Farming for Water EIP is up and running, building on the great work of LAWPRO and ASSAP to date.
The involvement of Dairy Industry Ireland is critical there too, as the processors have a huge role to play in driving on-farm resilience and sustainability.
Smaller projects such as the Duncannon Blue Flag Farming and Communities EIP have shown how well farms can work collectively with communities to improve water quality.
The AgNav platform, which came out of the Food Vision Dairy Group Report, is a great tool for individual farmers. It utilises Bord Bia, Teagasc and ICBF collective knowledge, data, support tools and other resources to allow individual farmers to act on their own carbon footprint and contribute to Climate Action Plan targets for the overall agri sector.
Driving down emissions through targeted breeding strategies is another key opportunity.
The data that will come out of the national genotyping programme will contribute to enhanced integration between the dairy and beef sectors, and to improving animal health and welfare.
On a related note, another of the very positive developments we have seen this year was the launch of the Dairy Calf to Beef Action Plan. And stakeholders will now work together to facilitate greater uptake of dairy calf to beef systems based on breeding, communications, knowledge transfer and promotion.
And innovation doesn’t always have to involve new technologies.
My own background as an organic farmer is no secret, and one of the most rewarding aspects of the job when I look back over the past four years that I’ve been a Minister of State in the Department of Agriculture is the rate at which innovative dairy farmers are incorporating multispecies swards and red clover into their systems to reduce their reliance on chemical fertiliser.
Red clover and multispecies swards aren’t new, but their incorporation into high performing dairy systems is an innovation, and it’s working very well.
But turning more to the ‘technology’ theme of today, technology is everywhere on modern dairy farms. It’s common place to see cows being milked using automated milking systems, and wearing electronic sensors and activity monitors.
The use of robotics, such as drones, is already widespread. Increasingly farmers are able to monitor the health of their fields with precise imagery of crops and fields to better help them to gauge which areas of their land need more attention and to monitor the health of their crops.
As a Sector, we need to prepare for the ways in which AI and other advanced technologies can transform agriculture and help to meet the need for safe, sustainably-produced food for a growing global population.
I know we will talk this morning about how the fourth agricultural revolution, or agriculture 4.0, could transform current agricultural practices around the world at pace, by making use of new sophisticated precision technologies.
And Ireland is well positioned to be at the forefront of this transformation. But it is absolutely critical that we proceed with the collaborative approach between farmers, industry, academia, state agencies and government that we have always deployed to good effect.
We cannot have a situation where novel innovation is exclusionary to the majority, and we should work tirelessly to ensure that we achieve innovation and change in a responsible and sustainable way, and in a way that works for individual farms, so that our proud tradition of the family farm continues for generations to come.
My starting point for today’s conference is that change can’t work if it only benefits large corporations: it has to work for farmers and landowners, farm workers, rural communities and the wider public.
I’m looking forward to our panel discussion at 10am but first I’ll pass you over to Billy Kelleher MEP. Congratulations Billy on your re-election to the European Parliament and on your appointment as Renew Europe’s 1st Vice President – I’m looking for a promotion of my own at the moment so hopefully I’ll have similar good fortune!
Thank You.