Need to promote family farming is crucial
“It is a vital necessity if we want to ensure that no portion of our national territory is left neglected – economically, socially or environmentally. It is a vital necessity if we want an Ireland of thriving local communities.
“And it is a vital necessity if we want to continue to eat good food, and sustain a living and rich relationship with our natural environment,” he said.
President Higgins, who was addressing the IFA and Teagasc organised-International Year of Family Farming conference in Dublin, said land mobility, and in particular, the need to enable young farmers to access the land they require to make a living in agriculture is perhaps the most pressing challenge for the future of family farming.
The current age structure of Ireland’s farming population, the fact that very little farmland – less than 0.5% per annum – is transferred in our country in any given year, and the insufficient harnessing of the potential of collaborative farming are issues that need to be tackled head-on,” he said.
President Higgins said family farming fulfils fundamental social, economic, and cultural functions. Importantly, Ireland’s agri-food sector supports 300,000 people in employment nationally. But the social benefits of farming go beyond that: farming families are embedded in territorial networks; they spend their incomes mostly within local and regional markets, generating many jobs.
