The Draft Agri-Food Strategy to 2030, which will replace the current FoodWise 2025 strategy, was open for public consultation in the spring of 2021. An Taisce has been involved with the Agri-Food 2030 process from the outset as a member of the Environmental Pillar. The Environmental Pillar withdrew from the Agri-Food 2030 Committee after its inputs were consistently not reflected in the drafting of the strategy, and the members felt that they could not stand over the plan as drafted given the fundamental failure to address our climate and biodiversity emergency in any substantive way.  It is our opinion that the recommendations and concerns about the Draft Strategy that the Environmental Pillar expressed throughout the process remain outstanding in this Agri-Food Strategy document. 

In addition, having now reviewed the environmental documentation which accompanies the Agri-Food Strategy we have serious concerns regarding the standard of assessment for both the Strategic Environmental Assessment and the Appropriate Assessment, and believe they are not sufficiently robust to comply with the relevant European laws.

Read the full submission here.