At the recent Euragri Conference held in Teagasc’s Ashtown facility in Dublin, there were some interesting speakers and discussions.
For example, Ciaran Mangan, director general for research and innovation with the European Commission explained how EU research programmes can assist in meeting the challenges facing agriculture.
“The socio-economic importance of our food and nutrition systems can hardly be underestimated,” he said. “They are central to the EU’s economy with 48 million people employed from farm to fork or one fifth of the workforce, generating 6 per cent of GDP and 7 per cent of external EU trade.”
