It would have been hard to live anywhere in Ireland this past week and not know that the National Ploughing Championships were taking place in Athy, Co Kildare. Several radio stations even moved their entire broadcasting base to Athy for the three days. Going to the ploughing is a bit like going to the oyster festival for many people, ie, the main attraction is no longer the centre of attention. Many people I met there this week had absolutely no intention of looking at any ploughing; most were there for a ‘day out’ with no agenda.
The big headline story of the ploughing was that our President, Mary McAleese, stated that farming is the new champion of our economy, bringing the whole food production section firmly centre stage, and why not? We do not have to attract any foreign investors and they do not shut shop and move to India, for example. So why have we not realised this before? Perhaps it was that our psyche said to us that food is something you eat to stay alive, not something to celebrate. But all this is changing, and changing rapidly. One caller to the radio station, Newstalk, at the ploughing said that he was at the launch of a new Ferrari in Italy (wow, someone out there still has loads of loot ), and the gala dinner for 600 guests had Irish beef as the main course.
There is a two-star Michelin restaurant in France that attributes its continued success to the fact that it has been sourcing some of our best Irish lamb for many years. Many of the great Michelin chefs in Europe source Irish beef and lamb for its taste, and above all for its consistency. Why is that? Well, a large part of the answer is the grass that the animals eat. Many countries feed their livestock a lot of animal feed, as they do not have the luxury of the best grass in Europe. This is the kind of fact that we take for granted every day of the week, but for many countries we are a source of great envy.
Our beef exports total are a staggering €7.9 billion, up 11 per cent year on year. Our dairy exports are up 17 per cent, and our total food exports are up 10 per cent year on year. There are new markets opening up all the time, this year Turkey has opened up to us and as they have 79 million mouths to feed — that is a pretty big set of opportunities for someone with the drive to go and make the right connections. Our food exports to China are up 20 per cent, and with 1.3 billion Chinese living in cities with a desire to eat more and more Western foods that too is a serious opportunity. Did you know that Ireland owns 20 per cent of the entire world’s infant formula market? Another great news story that we do not boast about.
Did you know that our third level agri type courses are wildly oversubscribed?
Many of the younger people who were interviewed at the ploughing championships now see farming as a career of choice, rather than something you did out of necessity. There was even a soundbite about fashion on the farm where I learned that you can now buy wellingtons with a 2” wedge heel – high heeled wellies, what would your granny or grandad have said?
Do you know that the quota system for milk will be abolished in 2015? This will allow our fantastic milk producers to expand, instead of the situation that exists at the moment where some dairy farmers find themselves being charged a penalty for every over quota litre of milk they produce.
Finally, a few figures that might amaze you, and my hope for the future.
We have 128,200 family farms in Ireland.
Our food exports account for 25 per cent of total Irish exports.
There is no reason why in the Ireland of the future we should not be seen as the world’s top destination for food holidays. If we maximise what we have we will be the envy of the world. For example, luxury farmhouse holidays, artisan food producer trails, restaurant serving dishes made from only the very best Irish ingredients, and lots of great cookery schools.
We have successful examples of all of these right now, we just need lots more of them, plus a serious marketing budget to let the world know what we can do.
