Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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37. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the extent to which he remains satisfied regarding the attainment of the objectives set out in Food Harvest 2020; he expects the prospects to remain good for the dairy, beef, pig meat, lamb, poultry, and fishing sectors in the next five years; if he has identified particular or specific likely requirements during this period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34189/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The main targets set out in the Food Harvest report published in 2010 were, by 2020, to increase the value of:

- Primary output in the agriculture, fisheries and forestry sector by 33% (from a 2007-09 average baseline),

- Agriculture, food (including seafood) and drink exports by 42% (from a 2007-09 average baseline),

- Value added production by 40% (from a 2008 baseline).

In addition to these value increases, the dairy industry targeted a 50% increase in milk production by 2020, to be progressed once the cap on milk production was lifted in April 2015.

Progress on these targets is monitored and reviewed on an ongoing basis. The fourth annual report "Milestones for Success 2014" published September 2014, showed that the sector had achieved very significant progress on these targets and illustrated the manner in which the Food Harvest 2020 vision of ‘smart, green, growth’ is being attained.

Food Wise 2025, the new ten year strategy for the agri-food sector published in July this year, builds on the successful vision of Food Harvest 2020. It identifies the opportunities and challenges facing the sector and provides an enabling strategy that will allow the sector to grow and prosper. Food Wise includes more than 380 specific recommendations, spread across the cross-cutting themes of sustainability, innovation, human capital, market development and competitiveness; as well as specific sectorial recommendations.

If these recommendations are implemented, the expert committee which drew up the Food Wise strategy believes that the following growth projections are achievable by 2025:

- Increasing the value of agri-food exports by 85% to €19 billion;

- Increasing the value added in the agri-food, fisheries and wood products sector by 70% to in excess of €13 billion;

- Increasing the value of primary production by 65% to almost €10 billion;

- The creation of an additional 23,000 direct jobs in the agri-food sector all along the supply chain from primary production to high value added product development.

Realising these growth projections will be challenging, but I am confident that they can be achieved. Last week I chaired the first meeting of the High Level Implementation Committee for Food Wise 2025, including senior executives from relevant state agencies and Government Departments. I am committed to putting in place a robust implementation process, which will be influenced by the final Environmental Report on the strategy. As the Food Wise report states, "environmental protection and economic competitiveness are equal and complementary: one cannot be achieved at the expense of the other". Therefore sustainability will be at the core of the strategy’s implementation.