Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

One of the things we know is that farmers are really struggling at the moment to get a fair price for their products. Equally, households are really struggling with the prices they are paying at the supermarkets. My understanding of this is that sustainability agreements are one way to try to get around those large supermarkets that are setting the price and getting a premium, so that if a farmer wants to go a bit further with animal welfare or sustainability, they can then agree a price. My understanding is that this is a positive for both farmers and consumers who want to buy products that they know are being made with the highest sustainability or animal welfare practices.

One concern I have is how binding this is. It sounds great on paper but are there actually teeth to this agreement such that it is legally binding when somebody goes into it? Will human rights or environmental impact assessments be done on trade agreements or are trade agreements separate from this? Is this purely within the European Union and agreements between farmers and shops or suppliers, or will it also be wider than the European Union, with sustainability agreements in future trade agreements? That first question is about how binding it is.

My second question is on the public consultation that the Commission carried out. How much outreach has the EU done with regard to reaching out to the non-agriculture industry and non-corporate stakeholders? From the public consultation, it looks like many of the very big players made submissions to it. Was effort put in to try to reach out to the ones who I assume are trying to help with this type of process, who are not the big players but the small players, the farmers and consumers?