AN ACTION group to oversee the implementation of a report on the horticulture sector has been established by the Government.
The Food Harvest 2020 report, which was launched in July, aims to grow food and beverage exports by more than 40 per cent to €12 billion annually and to increase the value of primary production of farmers and fishermen by €1.5 billion by 2020.
The group will report back to the high-level implementation group, which has been set up under the overall chairmanship of Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith, he said. The group consists of Kieran Dunne, nursery stock producer; Caroline Keeling, wholesaler and protected crop producer; John Hogan, field vegetable producer; Lavinia Walsh, mushroom producer; Maurice Whelton, potato producer; Mike Neary, An Bord Bia; Jim O’Mahony, Teagasc; and Gabriel Roe, of the Department of Agriculture. The group held its first meeting on December 2nd