Brendan Smith: Defends Farming's Role in Climate Policy and Funding
Brendan Smith spoke on 30 June 2021 about the central role of farming and the agri-food sector in government decision-making, urging that national co-financing commitments be honoured and that the 1.5 billion from the carbon tax fund be allocated to farming. He defended farmers' progress on emissions and sustainable food production, warned against displacement of European production by imports linked to deforestation, and pledged continued social dialogue with the sector.
Government commitments
He welcomed confirmation that farming and the agri-food sector are at the heart of cabinet and sub-committee deliberations and told the Taoiseach the farming community wants a clear message that national co-financing commitments will be honoured. He also pressed for the 1.5 billion from the carbon tax fund to be allocated to supports for farmers alongside CAP-backed schemes.
CAP and EU funding
He reviewed recent CAP reform and criticised the 2014 decision by the European Parliament, Council and Commission to reduce the CAP budget as a bad decision. He noted that one third of the EU budget to 2027 will go to CAP within a total of 387 billion euro, underlining the policy's continuing importance for food security and income support.
Climate, sustainability and emissions
He argued farmers have adapted and modernised and that Irish food production systems are sustainable, while accepting the sector must do more on climate change. He warned against displacing European sustainable production with imports from regions where forests are felled, and highlighted that Irish farming — including dairy and beef — has been among the more progressive systems in reducing emissions.
Rural economy and social dialogue
He said CAP provides income support and continuity of production and is vital for maintaining people and employment in rural Ireland. He stressed the need for additional national co-financing and use of the carbon fund to support environmental schemes, and welcomed the re-establishment of social dialogue as a permanent channel to engage the farming sector and protect rural employment.
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Thank you very much, I welcome to teach the confirmation that farming and agri-food sector are at the heart of all government deliberations, at cabinet level and at sub-committee level as well, and that is very important in the context of 175,000 people being employed in this sector, and a sector that is also responsible for 10% of Irish export. It has faced particular challenges over the past number of years, CAP reform, and unfortunately in 2014, when the European Parliament, European Council, European Commission, effectively reduced the budget for CAP at that time, that was a bad decision. And still at the same time now, one third of the EU budget going forward to 2027 will go to CAP in the total of 387 billion euro. In Taoiseach, the farming community wants a clear message that the national co-financing commitments that were made, that they will be honoured over the next number of years, and that also the 1.5 billion from the carbon tax fund, that that will be allocated to the farming sector. Oftentimes there's a lazy narrative, and ill-informed narrative in regard to farming and climate change. Farmers have adapted, they have modernised their systems, our food production systems are sustainable, and we want to ensure that in the climate debate, and we all know that we have to do, we know that there has to be improvements from every sector in that regard, we must ensure that food, sustainable food production systems in Europe, are not displaced by food being imported from areas in South America and elsewhere, where forests are being felled to make land arable, so that the common agriculture policy was established to ensure a secure supply of safe food for the citizens of Europe, it provides income support to farmers, but it also ensures that there's continuity of sustainable production of food. food, which is very important, which is very important, and it plays a key role in the environment, and ensuring that we have people living in rural Ireland, so our commitment must be absolute to ensuring that additional financial support is provided alongside the CAP supported schemes from national co-financing as well, because we all know that if we are to have a vibrant rural Ireland, our farming and agri-food sectors have to be the lead economic drivers in that regard. Thank you, and indeed Deputy Brendan Smith, when he was Minister of Agriculture, did an enormous amount, particularly in terms of food production and sustainable food production, and it's been an honourable tradition. Deputy Strad .. действительно, a dept. Smiti Smith's point, he determined that we will be proud for the national co financing policy in financial co-financing and the commitments made, people always follow through on, and also the UPS FС… And also the 1.5 billion carbon fund, which many parties in this house objected to and opposed, yet it does give us the resources to help and support farmers in respect of a range of environmental schemes, separate from the environmental schemes that are being provided under the aegis of the common agricultural project. And I do accept the Deputy's point that Irish farming has been one of the more progressive food production systems in terms of reducing emissions in comparison with many other food production systems across Europe, but certainly across the world. And our dairy industry and our beef industry are one of the top performers in terms of their capacity to reduce emissions. That said, the challenges of climate change means we have to do more and we want to work with the industry. We want to support the industry and give greater supports to the industry to enable that to happen. And the carbon fund does give us the room to allocate additional funding in that regard, as does the national co-financing mechanisms. And we will continue to engage with the farming pillar through the social dialogue mechanism, which I think it's welcome that we've re-established that, and I intend that to be a consistent part of our engagement with the industry and with the sector to make sure that we can progress employment and maintain what is a vital industry across Ireland and across rural Ireland in particular. So vital to many, many towns and many, many communities in terms of the employment it provides. We want to sustain that employment and we want to support farming in making the advances that it continues to make in terms of efficiency, carbon efficiency, but also production efficiencies and providing employment to people.
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