Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 7 October 2015
21. Deputy Mick Wallace asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine following the announcement of Food Wise 2025, the report of the 2025 agrifood strategy committee, the steps taken to ensure the targets set for agriculture production and exports fully take into account the accelerating challenge of climate change; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34210/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraFood Wise 2025 sets out a cohesive, strategic plan for the sustainable development of agrifood sector over the next decade. As part of the initial ground work to Food Wise 2025, a public consultation took place which involved 15 background papers and a questionnaire. These included a particular focus on climate change and sustainability.
Sustainability was the brief for one of the five core subgroups of the Food Wise 2025 committee. The projections in the report focus on the value of exports and production, rather than simply production increases and were developed giving full recognition that there is increasing pressure on global agricultural resources, and the environment.
Food Wise 2025 includes clear and comprehensive commitments to managing the projected growth in the sector in a sustainable way. There are sixty individual actions related to sustainability which aim to allow the sector reach its growth potential, while protecting and improving the environment, by managing finite resources in the most efficient and effective manner.
There is a strong commitment in the report to measurement and monitoring the sustainability credentials of the sector. As part of the implementation phase of Food Wise, a Sustainability working group will be established. My Department will work closely with relevant actors to ensure appropriate monitoring across all sectors of the agrifood industry on the environmental impacts of the strategy including possible impacts at regional level. This implementation process will include evaluation and assessment of the delivery of sustainability and mitigation actions.
In order to ensure that environmental considerations were at the heart of Food Wise 2025 an Environmental Analysis (which represented both a Strategic Environmental Assessment and an Appropriate Assessment) was conducted in tandem with the development of the Food Wise 2025 strategy. This analysis was carried out by an independent team of consultants and involved stakeholder and public consultation throughout the process. My Department chairs a Steering Group with representatives from Teagasc, the EPA and Bord Bia to oversee this process.
The submissions received in response to the eight week public consultation following publication of Food Wise 2025 and the draft Environmental Analysis report are currently being considered. These submissions will help to inform the final Environmental Analysis Report, which I expect to receive shortly.
