Minister Heydon announces strengthened agricultural co-operation between Ireland and Germany

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine, with special responsibility for research and innovation, Martin Heydon T.D. has announced an agreement for strengthened co-operation on agriculture between Ireland and Germany.

Following a productive bi-lateral meeting in Berlin on Friday between Minister Heydon and Parliamentary State Secretary in the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Dr Ophelia Nick, the Ministries agreed an updated agricultural chapter for the third iteration of the Ireland Germany Joint Plan of Action.

Minister Heydon said;

"Agricultural issues featured heavily as part of my St. Patrick's Day programme to Germany. The relationship between Ireland and Germany is strong and as Germany is Ireland's largest trading partner in the European Union, it is a very important one. This is particularly true in the case of agri-food trade, where Irish exports to Germany almost doubled in value between the years 2012 and 2022, from €571 million in 2012 to approximately €1.1 billion in 2022. Given the many areas of similar interests, I am pleased to see the increased ambition in cooperation between Germany and Ireland in this agreement. From six agricultural projects in the second iteration of the Plan, to eleven projects in the third iteration, cooperation between our two countries is going from strength to strength."

The first Joint Plan of Action (JPOA) between Ireland and Germany was agreed in November 2018 and has deepened the collaboration between the two countries across a number of areas since then.

In the agricultural sector, the joint plan has included joint research on livestock production with a focus on animal welfare, as well as cooperation on plant health and forestry. The third iteration of the plan progresses and builds upon this collaboration and includes further co-operation on joint research projects on improved animal welfare for dairy cows, strengthening collaborative research in Europe between German and Irish Institutions, co-operation in the field of plant health and forest health, and co-operation in relation to peatlands. The countries will also explore the potential for cooperation on opportunities for development of the horticulture sector, for bioenergy, and in relation to organic farming.

ENDS

Notes for Editors:

The Joint Plan of Action between Germany and Ireland is a whole of government plan that was initially agreed between both Governments in November 2018, and was renewed for a second iteration in January 2021. A third iteration is currently being agreed across several areas of government, and is expected to be finalised later this year. It is the agriculture chapter that has now been agreed.

One particular success of the agriculture chapter in the second iteration of the Joint Plan was the three-year MEDICow animal welfare project. It was equally joint funded by Teagasc and the Federal Ministry for Food & Agriculture (BMEL)/the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE) in Germany, to a total of €1 million funding. "MEDICow" is a two-pillar research project that aims to develop an improved mastitis risk assessment model for dairy cows by using an innovative multisensory approach, digitalization and artificial intelligence. The project will continue in 2024 under the third iteration of the Plan.