THERE MAY be a lot of doom and gloom surrounding the future of agriculture but there was not a sign of it yesterday when up to 30,000 farmers and their families visited the Mellows Campus in Athenry for the Teagasc Farmfest ’08.
“It’s like a day at the ploughing championships without a plough to be seen,” said west Cork visitor Donal Murphy, who had travelled to the event specifically to get information on how to grow energy crops. He was not disappointed as Teagasc, the agriculture and food development authority, had a full range of miscanthus, willow and oil seed rape displays.
The most serious business of the day was in the tented area where 70 food companies representing small producers of specialist foods had their wares on display. Both Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith and Cabinet colleague, Éamon Ó Cuív, who has the responsibility for rural development, referred to the importance of this sector and the input from Teagasc, which has recruited two new artisan food technologists to support emerging food companies.