Ireland cannot continue with 'market-driven' agriculture system, says President
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Ireland is now paying a "very high ecological price" for systems of agriculture imposed by the EU, President Michael D Higgins has said.
We cannot continue with a "market-driven" system of agriculture that focuses on volume and instead farm families will have to be subsidised for using land in an ecologically responsible way, the President said.
President Higgins highlighted "contradictions" in the way Irish dairy farming is exporting formula milk to China and other countries.
"I was 25 years a TD, I was in the Senate, when I think back in many cases, we paid a very high ecological price for in fact relying on an American model of agriculture being imposed by the EU. We will not be able to sustain farming as a relationship to the land and so forth, without directly paying for people to be in farming," he said.
In a wide-ranging interview with the President Higgins:
- Admits he is "deeply, deeply" disappointed with President Joe Biden for the US stance on Gaza.
- Takes aim at the Israeli Ambassador for encouraging fear in the Jewish community in Ireland, claiming it is "deeply irresponsible" and simply a "PR exercise" by an administration guilty of breaching international law in Gaza.
- Admits being "overwhelmed" by the number of young people who contact and know him from the famous series of children's books.
- Hopes to be "back to shaking hands with football teams soon" after his recent stroke.
His comments on farming come after Taoiseach Simon Harris recently suggested there will be no cut in the national herd, despite agriculture being expected to make significant emissions reductions in the coming years.
President Higgins said: "Can in fact a market-driven [system] sustain any kind kind of ecologically responsible farming into the future? And the answer is no.
"I believe that you are going to have to sustain farm families, recognising the importance of what they are doing, recognising the increasing costs of what they are going to have to do to change, but you will not be able to do it by having volume production - for God's sake, look at what happened when they removed the quota in relation to milk production."
Highlighting the benefits of breastfeeding, he said: "There are contradictions in what we do, for example, in relation to the dairy sector. We have been fairly good at producing dairy products, but [you] can see the contradictions in our position where we are the largest supplier of baby formula to China."
However, he believes young farmers, when assisted, are "entirely open to adjusting what they are doing".