Minister Attends The National Ploughing Championship

Minister Phil Hogan has attended the National Ploughing Championship in Laois and took the opportunity to highlight the relationship between agriculture and the environment.

"Economic development is a major concern of people everywhere including the farming community. Crucial to this is the requirement to sustain and improve good quality water supplies as an economic development objective rather than solely as an environmental requirement. I'm pleased to say that the farming community has not been found wanting where its commitment to the environment and water quality is concerned," he said.

In recent years, the income to farms from milk has increased as have the costs of production. The Irish farming and agri-business sectors are now working towards a 50 per cent increase in milk supply by 2020, arising from the lifting of EU milk production quotas.

This presents an enormous economic development opportunity for the farming and agri-business sectors and for all agricultural/rural counties. This is the most significant economic development opportunity for agricultural/rural counties in decades. It will also impact positively on rural towns and villages.

A study carried out for Glanbia in 2012 by Ernst and Young/UCC found that the economic value of milk expansion in the Glanbia catchment (mainly the south east and east) where a 60 per cent increase in milk supply is planned, would rise from €1.5 billion in 2011 to €2 billion in 2020. This would lead to an increase in employment from 5,500 to 7,500 full-time equivalents – an increase of some 2,000 jobs.

(CD/MH)