Rachel Martin: How secure is Ireland’s food supply?

With input costs spiralling, farmers and producers face difficult choices and Ireland’s food supply suddenly seems less secure, writes Farming Editor Rachel Martin

Picture Denis Minihane.

How secure is Ireland’s food supply? Government policy can be a funny thing, and after successive months of heated discussions over scaling back agricultural output and potential reductions to the national herd, we are now having very real conversations about food security, not only in Ireland but overseas.

In case you’ve missed the urgency, in the space of the past week, a National Fodder and Food Security Task Force have been established and Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue has called on farmers to grow whatever crops they can to ensure they will have enough feed to get their stock through the winter.