Farming and agri-food ‘not sunset industries’

FARMING and agri-food is not the sunset industry some people had claimed it to be in the past, a forum on the sector was told in Dublin yesterday.

Irish Farmers Association president Padraig Walshe said the current downturn had demonstrated the fragile nature of the recent drivers of economic growth — a construction boom, unchecked consumer spending and an unregulated and now bankrupt financial sector.

“One thing we know for sure is that economic recovery will not be found from within these sectors.