Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 November 2020
418. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if it is planned that the new agrifood strategy to 2030, which has recently been the subject of public consultation, will replace the current Food Wise 2025 strategy; if so, the reason the Food Wise 2025 strategy is being withdrawn five years early; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39448/20]
View answerThe agri-food sector has been well served over the last 20 years by having a series of stakeholder strategies to guide its development. The first of these strategies was published in 2000. All of the strategies have had a ten-year horizon, revisited every five years:
- Agri Food 2010 was published in 2000
- Agri Vision 2015 was published in 2005
- Food Harvest 2020 was published in 2010
- Food Wise 2025 was published in 2015.
Food Wise 2025 is the current 10 year strategy for the Irish agri-food sector. Agreed by stakeholders and adopted by the Government, it underlines the sector’s unique and special position within the Irish economy and illustrates the potential for further development. The targets and actions in the Food Wise Report are monitored and reviewed on an ongoing basis. The Food Wise High Level Implementation Committee, chaired by myself, meets regularly to review and monitor these actions and ongoing developments in the sector.
Preparations are underway for the next strategy for the agri-food sector to 2030. A public consultation was launched in July 2019 to ascertain the views on the direction of the sector to 2030 and a national stakeholder consultation event was held in October 2019. A stakeholder committee was established in November 2019, tasked with incorporating the outcomes of these consultations in developing the next agri-food strategy to 2030.
The Committee's terms of reference are to outline the vision and key objectives, with associated actions, required to ensure the economic, environmental and social sustainability of the agri-food sector in the decade ahead. While there has been some delay in the process arising from the pandemic, the Committee are scheduled to finish their deliberations shortly.
