Summary of ideas submitted in the Agriculture and Food category…

• Aim for high value safe food production for export.
• Give grants to farmers to let their land lie fallow until it is deemed that they have reached organic status. Then plug Ireland as the organic island.
• Introduce and distribute Tayto crisps to such American supermarkets like Wal-Mart.
• Cut our farmers’ reliance on Euro subsidies - freeing us to differentiate ourselves and use our land to pump up the value of our food exports.
• Allocating unused agricultural land to create co-operative allotments. (There are approximately 18 similar ideas to this submitted.)
• The regulatory framework which currently does not realistically permit the small-scale making of cider on farms could be amended to allow this.
• Diary farmers should go back to the old co-op model, a few getting together to pasteurise their own milk and sell it directly to the consumer at farmer’s markets.
• Flour-based confectionary.
• Food symbol that could be used to promote food products that have been completely made in Ireland.
• Support the promotion of further organic food production. Give incentives/ subsidies to favour this over non organic production, farmers would switch. The reason they have not is because of higher costs and lower yields.
• If the government were to make it easier for food vendors to establish businesses( food has to bona fide nutritious).
• Develop the fishing industry and not just for export.
• Cut the red tape associated with afforestation; reduce oil import by using timber.
• Increase sales to Switzerland. Swiss people love sea food, dairy and high quality meats.
• Produce all products organically form an alliance with the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture
• Export more dairy products to the US, develop artisan breweries and cider producers, develop bee industry and finally Ireland should be GM free and should be marketed worldwide as this, possibly organic.
• Convert large areas of land into biofuel producing areas.
• Use Anglo Irish Bank land which has no short to medium term of sale or return on the investment to plant vegetables and crops using sub contractors.
• National roll-out of allotments in every town, city and village.
• People with large gardens allow an unemployed person to grow their own vegetables/flowers.
• The Dail bar should be taxed the same as any other pub.
• Specialist potato foods, in South America over 300 varieties we could grow some of these varieties for restaurants etc
• Produce a greater selection of fruit/vegetables /flowers for our economy and the UK economy.
• Farmer offering allotments for free.
• Kerry and Glanbia are global brands and we should get behind them.
• Go to the EU and reclaim our sea, re-establishing limits and restock over the next five years.
• Provide incentives for scallop production.
• Give foreign aid in Irish-produced goods e.g. high-protein biscuits, carbohydrates, water-filters.
• Stop advertising unhealthy products.
• “Innovation in the Countryside - 101 Ideas”, a new pocket book with a range of potential business ideas for rural Ireland has been published by Teagasc.
• Polytunnels - local councils could give up waste ground for these, to sell local produce at farmers’ markets.
• Government should give grants to farmers to grow crops such as rape seed or other vegetables that produce oil, because it’s only a matter of time before the oil runs out in Iran, Iraq or the other countries.
• EU law prevent using a “Buy Irish” campaign to promote purchasing at home or home goods and services. Using the Irish language on produce however is not prohibited.
• Start community gardens in towns and villages for producing vegetables etc.
• Start a business growing vegetables for Chinese markets.