Crop-Planting Scheme Must be Voluntary
Responding to the media reports today (Sunday, March 6) that the government will introduce a crop-planting scheme for all farmers for fears over food security, the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) has argued that any such scheme must be voluntary.
The Business Post reported this morning that farmers would be asked to plant some of their land with crops as a way of addressing food security concerns in the wake of Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Subsequently, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue confirmed this when speaking with RTÉ.
The ICMSA has said that farmers “had been given no warning that any such move was being considered”; however, the farm organisation also said that farmers “will understand that the situation was fluid and that all options had to be on the table”.
Pat McCormack, the association’s president, said the ICMSA “will be ready to look at anything that the minister puts in front of them” when it and other farm organisations meet the minister on Tuesday (March 8).
“Any proposals should be voluntary and should be worked out, specifically in terms of environmental regulations around nitrates,” McCormack argued.
He added: “I hope that a wider segment of the population now understands finally what myself and others mean by the need for food security.
The absolutely paramount consideration has to be retaining the ability to feed ourselves and our neighbours.
“The EU has ignored this principle on energy and are now in a position where, almost literally, Putin’s Russia has the whole continent over a barrel,” the ICMSA president claimed.
“That must not happen on food and that principle has to be at least as important as any consideration of emissions or climate,” McCormack concluded.
His comments echo those of his counterpart in the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), Tim Cullinan.
Earlier today, Cullican for the government to make any decisions on how to protect food security without engaging with farmers.
Cullinan said this morning that there has been “no discussion with farmers regarding media reports that they may be required to grow crops in 2022”.
“We are in very challenging times and farmers will certainly play our part in any national or European effort. However, it is far from certain that asking all farmers to plant crops is the best use of the resources that are likely to be available to us,” the IFA president warned.
Yesterday, Minister McConalogue announced that he would meet with farm organisations this coming Tuesday to discuss this issue.
The meeting takes place in the evening after a scheduled cabinet meeting.
It is understood that farm organisations will be officially briefed on this scheme then.
Source: Agriland
