Concerns have been raised regarding the focus of the Food Vision Dairy Group. The group has been tasked with finding ways for the dairy sector to help achieve targets for agriculture and land use in the Climate Action Plan 2021. According to Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association’s (ICMSA) Dairy Committee Chair Noel Murphy, it is narrowly focused on dairying, which he adds is not good enough. He says that the group should be expanded to reflect current food security concerns.
“Its remit has to get broader. It has to talk about the food security issue, the cost of production and the price we get for our produce,” he says. Speaking about the involvement of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), Murphy claims that there appears to be a disconnect between DAFM and civil servants. This, as there were mixed reports from the group in relation to future dairy production. The result of this concerned dairy farmers in the sector and created uncertainty in this regard.
As farmers are grappling with the increase of input costs across the board, Murphy says that farmers are very frustrated on the ground about all these issues only to be told they should be changing again when it has been practically government policy for the last five or six years to increase milk production. The Kerry-based dairy farmer explained that the ICMSA has always said that any reduction in production should be voluntary.
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