The revenue generated by Irish food and drink exports could easily increase by 50 per cent over the next 10 years if the industry plans its expansion in a sound, sustainable manner, Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney stated yesterday.
Announcing plans which will, one hopes, successfully steer the development of the agri-food sector up to 2025, Coveney said he believes the sector could be exporting €15 billion worth of food and drink by that date – an increase of €5 billion on last year’s exports.
He said "I don’t see any reason why that’s not achievable. I think that would be conservative. We could go well beyond that.
"We want to build on that ambition to do more, to get better, to increase Ireland’s reputation as the most impressive food producer on the planet, on measurements like sustainability, quality [and] safety."
