Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The value of agricultural output rose by 8% to €12.2 billion in 2024. This was driven mainly by a 17% increase in milk prices as milk accounts for one third of the value of agricultural output overall. These trends can change, however. As we know, there is considerable volatility in the sector and this presents a really big challenge for our farmers and food industry. My Department closely monitors the trends, reflecting the volatile nature of input and output prices in the agrifood sector.

The overall strategy, Food Vision 2030, has four interlinked missions at its core, one of which is ensuring the resilience of primary producers. A number of actions have already been taken to improve the position of farmers in the supply chain in recent years: increased market transparency reporting, including the reporting of the weekly selling price for drinking milk; the introduction of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain (Unfair Trading) Regulations 2023; and, obviously, the establishment of the Agri-Food Regulator, which is another key element in bringing transparency to the system and ensuring fairness in the relationship between the primary producer, processor and retailer.

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