With the recent failure of the WTO talks, farmers in Carlow and Kilkenny, and indeed across the country, can now say cheerio to Peter Mandelson, who seems certain to be replaced as EU Commissioner after the European elections next year.
He tried so hard to forge a trade agreement with proposals that had gone so far beyond the original agenda and it was widely known that these proposals had the potential to ruin both European and Irish agriculture.
The recent WTO talks was Mandelson’s last throw of the dice, as he pursued the age-old British cheap food policy, which over the years has kept many a UK government in power.
He will now, more than likely, await replacement next year and where he will go then is anyone’s guess. He has had a rather chequered career in the public service as he was sacked on two occasions by former British prime minister Tony Blair, before he was banished to Europe where he could no longer cause political embarrasment at home.
In Europe, Mandelson went altogether too far with his proposals. He seemed to forget, whether intentional or not we will never know, that the world food situation has changed dramatically over the past few years.
In fact it bears no resemblance whatsoever to the situation that prevailed worldwide five or six years ago when he embarked on his original crusade.
It would seem now that the WTO talks are dead with both the IFA and the ICMSA saying that there can be no going back to the Mandelson proposals that were on the table and were rejected last week in Geneva.
Perhaps some in Europe will soon come to the view that it will be very important for Europe as well as Ireland to remain a large food producer well into the future because the demand for food is increasing with each passing day.
It is a well kown fact that if the WTO talks had resulted in an agreement food production across Europe would decrease by a significant percentage.
We must remember that not too long ago both Ireland and Europe lost the sugar industry with the stroke of a pen. And to make matters worse nobody seemed to care when a valuable cash-crop was lost to tillage farmers in Carlow and Kilkenny and throughout the sugar beet growing regions in Ireland.
It was said that there was no problem and that we could import sugar at a better price, but when a euro leaves the country that same euro can never return.
Many farmers are now of the opinion that the Irish sheep industry is slowly but surely dying a death as we speak. The hill sheep farmer appears to be on the way out. And indeed the future of the entire Irish industry could well depend on if and when the recommendations of Liam Aylward’s excellent sheep report are implemented.
It is indeed a sad state of affairs when troublesome weeds and briars as well as other undesirable foliage is at present taking over upland that had been thickly populated with sheep just a few short years ago. The sheep that managed to balance the ecological environment are now sadly missing, and we wonder where is it all going to end?
Now with the WTO talks a thing of the past, Irish farmers can continue to produce top quality food in the knowledge that the country will not be flooded with the importation of cheap, sub-standard food from across the world.
Ah yes, farming in Ireland would now seem to have a bright future now that Mandelson has become yesterday’s man.
