Coronavirus: New measures aim to safeguard food production, help farmers

The Department of Agriculture has introduced new measures to ensure food production, especially of fresh produce, is not interrupted by coronavirus – and to ensure farmers can continue to operate.

Farmers are entering their busiest time of the year, with hundreds of thousands of calves and lambs being produced over coming weeks and very large numbers of cattle movements for sales and export purposes.

Already Irish fresh food processors have been inundated with orders since Covid-19 restrictions were scaled up by the Government on Thursday with fresh food – meat, liquid milk and vegetables – orders up by more than 60 per cent.

But the department has moved to ensure all agrifood production can continue as close to normal over coming weeks.

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Marts, which are critical to beef and lamb supply chains, will continue to operate but with restrictions to gatherings of less than 100 people, especially in sales rings.

Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed said his department was taking the necessary steps to ensure producers and processors “can continue to operate effectively and keep supply lines open”.

In particular, the department was ensuring animal-related matters can continue to enable the business of farming to operate by “prioritising the delivery of essential services to farmers, fishermen and the food and forestry sectors”.

That includes payment processing; TB testing, animal welfare inspections, animal identification and passport issuing, testing for the infectious disease BVD, controls at livestock marts and animal export certification.

The department is also taking necessary steps so it can operate as effectively as possible during the current pandemic, he said.

“Keeping food and other processing facilities operational, ensuring that payments and commercial activities that are necessary to protect farm incomes can continue and that fishermen can continue to land fish and place them on the market, are among the critical priorities for the department,” it said in a statement.

In many instances these activities depend on the department’s ability to carry out its regulatory and inspection functions.

On agri-businesses – which depend on departmental supervision, inspection, control and certification to operate – the department said it was committed to providing the necessary services, notably in meat and milk plants, marts, breeding establishments, feed manufacturers and suppliers, egg suppliers, suppliers of animal medicines and other agri-products – and in fisheries harbours.

There is no reason for consumers to be concerned about continuity of supply of Irish food and drinks, it added. Senior department officials met Food Drink Ireland in recent days to discuss contingency planning for the food processing sector.

Food processors are implementing business continuity plans to deal with possible disruption. “There are no food safety implications arising from Covid-19, and there is no evidence that the virus can be spread through food products,” it added.

In the longer term, however, there may be significant economic impacts for Irish business, including the agri-food sector, arising from reduced demand in key markets around the world, it noted.

Minister Creed has written to EU agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski, following the announcement of a major EU economic package to respond to the crisis, seeking to ensure the full range of market supports available under the Common Market Organisation Regulation are available for deployment in response to any emerging market disturbance in the agriculture sector.

''I am deeply conscious of the impact of the Government's necessary response to Covid-19. The measures announced are essential, and we need all citizens to assist in containing the threat and spread of the virus . . . it is critically important that the Government response is co-ordinated through the Department of Health and the HSE," he added.

The department’s public offices will remain open for the present. However, it is underlining a range of online facilities and information available to farmers via phone or email.

“As always, farmers should remember to observe basic biosecurity protocols and safety rules when working on the farm,” it stressed.