The Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan, has said that farming “has to change” in Ireland because there has been “a loss of nature in the last 50 years that has to be reversed”.

“We’ve gone from having 500 pristine water systems down to 20. That has to change, it’s not just farming, we have to change how we do forestry."

“We have to change how we manage the rivers, we have to change how we manage our sewage systems, wastewater systems – so it’s not just farming, but it needs to change,” Minister Ryan told Agriland.

She is the undisputed queen of the ploughing in Ireland and this year Anna May McHugh celebrates 50 years as managing director of the National Ploughing Association (NPA).

In the latest edition of On the Record with Agriland she shares the secrets of her success – “be nice to people” is the motto by which she lives and why her determination has got her where she is today.

According to Anna May McHugh, despite more than 70 years with the NPA, she does not believes she “will ever give it up” and cannot wait for the 2023 National Ploughing Championships.

Sinn Féin TD, Claire Kerrane has said that the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was set up to ensure food production but now seems to be “going in a different direction”.

In the latest interview in Agriland’s On the Record series, the Roscommon-Galway TD said that climate is a big focus of CAP now but that it should be a different pillar, with food production remaining the sole focus of the overall CAP.

“CAP was set up to support food production. It’s now going in a lot of other ways, particularly around environmental, whereas I really think we need to see a separate pillar in relation to that,” she told Agriland.