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Making life better for people by inspiring solutions to environmental problems

DARD farm blueprint: still 'vision impaired' but slowly coming into focus

Responding to the publication this morning of the Department of Agriculture's Vision Action Plan, Friends of the Earth's Food and Farming Campaigner Lisa Fagan said:

"We detect a welcome change of tone in the Action Plan, compared with the Vision document to which it relates. Last year's Vision document obsessed endlessly about the need to drive food prices down and the need to drive small farmers out of business, in order to compete in the global food economy. But today's response by the Department of Agriculture appears to row back from this aggressive position, creating space for a modern, sustainable system of food production.''

"But the Action Plan has nothing to say about the potential to boost farm incomes by growing the local food sector, the competitive advantage to be gained by designating Northern Ireland a GM-free region, or the need to regulate the supermarkets whose bully-boy tactics are driving farmers to the wall".