From Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
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The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, participated in the Agricultural Ministers Conference as part of the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture. The Global Forum is a week-long annual conference, held virtually this year, on international agricultural and food policies and took place as part of Berlin’s International Green Week.
The theme of this year’s event was sustainable land use, with a focus on food security and the soil. During the conference delegates from over 70 Agricultural Ministries and international organisations agreed a jointly adopted communiqué relating to soil protection.
Speaking after the event, Minister McConalogue stated
“I am delighted to have been able to participate in this conference with Ministerial colleagues across the world. Soil health is essential for our future. For Ireland’s agricultural sector, the value of nutrient cycling by soil organisms alone is estimated to be worth €1 billion a year. Working together to protect the health of our soils will result in benefits to global ecosystem health”.
The overall aim was to focus on making agriculture more sustainable and provide a global platform for discussion.
The Minister added
“Around 25% of the world’s Biodiversity exists within in the soil, this is often overlooked; however, it has never been more important to protect our soils.”
Minister McConalogue commented “Gathering information about our soils will provide opportunities for environmental and climate balance. It will form the foundation for agricultural systems to achieve both economic and environmental sustainability”.
Ireland is investing heavily in better understanding our soils, such as through the National Soil Carbon observatory, our national Soil Sampling scheme while supporting positive actions by farmers such as straw incorporation and development of multi-species swards.
Note for Editors:
Briefing
The Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) is an international conference on central issues of vital importance for global agricultural and food policies. It is held annually in Berlin, Germany by the German Federal Ministry for Food and Agriculture and is linked to the International Green Week trade fair.
The Berlin Agriculture Ministers’ Conference, on 28 January 2022 is the political highlight of the GFFA. The results of the conference will feed into the further international discourse on agricultural policy.
Ireland’s Programme for Government recognises the potential of managing soils on Irish farms in ways that will allow us to deliver on our environmental objectives of the EU Green Deal and our own agri-food strategy, Food Vision 2030.
In recent years the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has invested heavily in research and innovation to address knowledge gaps regarding our soils and to pass this new knowledge onto our farmers and landowners.
One of the most significant investments has been establishment of a National Agricultural Soil Carbon Observatory infrastructure which involves placing carbon flux towers for the measurement of a range of greenhouse gases on a variety of soil types across the country.
This initiative, along with our Pilot Soil Sampling and Analysis Programme launched last Autumn, will inform government decisions for future land use options and provide accurate data on how management practices by our farmers impact on our soil resource.
In addition, the Pilot Soil Sampling and Analysis Programme, marks the beginning of a process to establish a comprehensive national baseline on the status and health of our soils across all Irish farming systems.
ENDS