‘Food production key to all land use’

THE primary role of agriculture is and always will be, food production, a conference on land use, organised by the RDS, was told in Dublin, yesterday.

Food Minister Brendan Smith, who officially opened the two-day event, said that without food, all other land uses pale into insignificance.

He said the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was introduced to ensure food security after World War II. But the European landscape has changed drastically in the past 60 years.