Let’s not get carried away with agri-food hype

At the weekend I addressed the annual Macra na Feirme rally in Waterford.

It was a pleasure to meet and address hundreds of young farmers who are full of enthusiasm and hope. It struck me very forcibly that most possessed a strong sense of pride about what they are doing, and this does represent a change.

Having enjoyed a position of prominence and respect in the economy and within Irish society for decades, farmers very much became the poor relations during the Celtic Tiger Mark I and II periods. In those years, foreign multinationals, financial services, retail, and construction became the ‘sexy’ parts of the economy and farming survived despite rather than because of the environment that policy makers created.