Action plan has very little vision for sector’s future

THE Agri-vision Action Plan is long on aspirations for farming, but falls short on the detail for delivery in this difficult and complex sector, where state and commercial interests merge, but frequently are not co-ordinated.

Compliance with state regulations is adding considerably to costs in farming. And higher costs erode income. But there is very little in the Plan to convince any farmer that the efficiency of state administration of farming will improve.

The necessity for closer working liaison between cattle farmers and beef processors is highlighted. Every farmer and most of the processors agree, provided they don’t have to bear the consequences, when the market trend puts contracts under pressure. The task for Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan, in preparing the plan was an unenviable one. Farming and the agri-food sector have always been, and still remain, among the most difficult sectors for which to draft a blueprint.