IFA PRESIDENT Pádraig Walshe has become the first Irishman to be elected leader of the European farmers union, Copa.
Irish farm leaders in the past have held the vice-presidency of the umbrella body of 60 farm bodies of the European Union and 36 partner organisations, but he is the first Irishman to be president of the body.
Mr Walshe said his election was a great honour for his family and the Irish Farmers Association and he pledged to give his full commitment to serving the interests of all farmers in Europe.
In his acceptance address in Brussels, he said a strong Common Agricultural Policy was critical to European farmers and consumers.
Further globalisation of food trade through WTO agreements, coupled with the unregulated dominance of the retail multiples in the food supply chain, was putting the future of millions of European farm families at risk.
This also threatened to destabilise the supply of high quality, safe food for Europe’s 500 million consumers which could only be guaranteed through promoting policies that secured sustainable, high-quality food produced in Europe, for European consumers.
Defending the Cap, Mr Walshe said that for a cost of approximately €100 a citizen a year, farmers provided EU citizens with a plentiful supply of high quality food in an environmentally and animal welfare sustainable way. He said a WTO agreement would create a free-for-all policy to drive food production to the lowest cost centres and would jeopardise the security and quality of food. He also called for EU wide controls on the retail sector’s sale of below cost food.
Mr Walshe steps down as IFA leader in January next. The Copa term runs for two years.