Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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132. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the extent to which he continues to make preparations to capitalise on Brexit with particular reference to the opening up of new opportunities for Irish food production; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20289/19]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The pursuit and development of new markets for Irish agrifood exports is an ongoing and central component of the strategic development of the agrifood sector, as evidenced by its placement right at the centre of Food Wise 2025. It is of particular relevance given the need to diversify our markets and to reduce our exposure to traditional destinations such as the UK.

My Department continues to open new markets and deepen trade with existing markets for Irish food. The highlight of 2018 in this respect was the decision of the Chinese authorities to open their market to Irish beef imports. Other notable achievements during 2018 were agreements with Qatar and Kuwait which allowed for the importation of Irish beef, sheepmeat and poultry to their markets, and, most recently, in April 2019 we saw the opening of the Ukrainian market for Irish beef and pork.

Trade Missions play an important role in opening up new opportunities for Irish food production. I have led a number of such missions over the last two years in particular, and the first one of 2019 took place in March, when I led a mission to Turkey which was primarily focused on live trade. The remainder of 2019 will see missions to China next week, Japan and South Korea in June, and Algeria and Egypt in November. These destinations are in keeping with Bord Bia's recent market prioritisation exercise, which has identified the markets that provide the greatest potential for an increase in Irish agrifood exports.

Overall, agrifood exports to countries outside the EU have increased from around €2.7 billion to €3.6 billion in the period 2014 to 2018. This represents very rapid growth of 36% in that four-year timeframe. It remains the case, nonetheless, that exports to the UK comprise a very significant proportion of Irish agrifood exports.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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133. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans for the future development of the agrifood sector notwithstanding Brexit or other challenges; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20290/19]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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142. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the degree to which he expects agricultural exports to develop and grow in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20299/19]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 133 and 142 together.

Food Wise 2025 is the latest ten-year strategy agreed by a range of stakeholders, both public and private, and adopted by the Government as an overarching policy for the Irish agrifood sector. It underlines the agrifood sector’s unique and special position within the Irish economy and provides an enabling strategy that will allow the sector to develop.

Food Wise includes more than 400 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 that drew up the Food Wise 2025 Strategy believed that significant value growth projections are achievable by 2025, including increasing the value of agrifood exports by 85% to €19 billion.

In July 2018, I launched the third annual progress report of Food Wise 2025: Steps to Success 2018. This showed that by 2017 exports had increased by 15.9% compared to the baseline.

As of Q4 2018, of the 375 detailed actions in Food Wise which were due to commence by 2018 or are on-going actions; 79% have been achieved or substantial action has been undertaken and a further 21% have commenced and are progressing well. This represents a 6% increase in target achieved over Q3 2018.

Market Development was identified as one of the key five cross-cutting themes in Food Wise 2025. It highlights the need to ensure that Irish products are targeted at the right markets and the right segments within these markets. The global evolving market environment presents enormous potential opportunities for the agrifood sector.

As part of the Department’s Action Plan on intensifying international market access, a new online international market access tool was developed. This portal provides information across some of the major export sectors of dairy, meat, seafood and live animals.

I have also led a series of agrifood trade missions to key existing and emerging markets; my Department's agricultural attaché network in key Embassies has been increased and I have provided significant additional resources to Bord Bia's marketing and promotion efforts.

Preparations for a new agrifood strategy to 2030 are underway. Its development will involve an analysis of a range of cross-cutting themes and the various sub-sectors of the agrifood industry, a formal public consultation and the establishment of a committee to develop the strategy.

Without pre-empting the work of the new committee and the eventual content of the 2030 strategy, it is clear that the cross-cutting themes contained in Food Wise (environmental sustainability, market development, competitiveness, innovation, and human capital) will continue to be highly relevant. It is likely that environmental sustainability, and in particular, the contribution that agriculture can make to climate action, will need significant consideration and prominence.

In this regard, my Department is currently developing a climate roadmap for the agrifood sector to ensure that the future development of the agriculture and land-use sector, including forestry, will be built upon and contribute fairly to Ireland’s climate targets. This will form a key element of the 2030 strategy. In parallel, my Department is also working on the development of Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan, which in line with the EU Commission’s proposals, will recognise that greater environmental and climate ambition is required. These important strategic and policy developments at national and European levels, as well as others in areas such as international trade and the bioeconomy, will inform the 2030 strategy.