The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, participated in the Agricultural Ministers Conference as part of the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture. The Global Forum is a week-long annual conference, held virtually this year, on international agricultural and food policies and took place as part of Berlin’s International Green Week.
The theme of this year’s event was sustainable land use, with a focus on food security and the soil. During the conference delegates from over 70 Agricultural Ministries and international organisations agreed a jointly adopted communiqué relating to soil protection.
Speaking after the event, Minister McConalogue stated “I am delighted to have been able to participate in this conference with Ministerial colleagues across the world. Soil health is essential for our future. For Ireland’s agricultural sector, the value of nutrient cycling by soil organisms alone is estimated to be worth €1 billion a year. Working together to protect the health of our soils will result in benefits to global ecosystem health”.
The overall aim was to focus on making agriculture more sustainable and provide a global platform for discussion.
The Minister added “Around 25% of the world’s Biodiversity exists within in the soil, this is often overlooked; however, it has never been more important to protect our soils.”
Minister McConalogue commented “Gathering information about our soils will provide opportunities for environmental and climate balance. It will form the foundation for agricultural systems to achieve both economic and environmental sustainability”.
Ireland is investing heavily in better understanding our soils, such as through the National Soil Carbon observatory, our national Soil Sampling scheme while supporting positive actions by farmers such as straw incorporation and development of multi-species swards.
