Minister welcomes progress in International Cooperation on Food Systems
- Published on: 23 December 2024
- Last updated on: 8 January 2025
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, today launched the new Sustainable Food Systems Ireland (SFSI) three-year strategy. SFSI is a Government of Ireland initiative which offers Ireland’s experience and expertise in transforming food and agriculture systems to partner countries. It was established in 2014 in response to requests from Ireland’s international partners for assistance with the safety, security and sustainability of their food systems.
In launching the Sustainable Food Systems Ireland Statement of Strategy 2024 to 2027, the Minister thanked the four agri-food State organisations - Teagasc, Bord Bia, Enterprise Ireland and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) which partner with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, through SFSI, to make this international cooperation work.
Minister McConalogue stated:
“Ireland is a world leader in its inclusive systems-based approach to developing and implementing strategies for the agri-food sector. In practical terms, Ireland’s expertise in areas like risk-based food safety, quality and traceability can be shared with our partners to strengthen their own food systems, leading to better outcomes globally.
"The principles and approaches, experience and skills we have learned, and are still learning on our own journey towards sustainability can be applied in different contexts. Through SFSI, we can build stronger relationships globally and address common problems."
The Minister acknowledged the twin challenges the world faces – to feed more than nine billion people and to slow global warming to 1.5 degrees above the pre-industrial period by 2050:
“Transformation of our food systems can deliver positive outcomes which are critically important in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, our 2050 targets and other environmental and biodiversity goals. I welcome the new SFSI Statement of Strategy for 2024 to 2027, which promises to build on SFSI’s achievements to date and sets out its ambition to contribute to the sustainability of Ireland’s and our global partners’ food systems.”
Notes
Sustainable Food Systems Ireland (SFSI) is a Government of Ireland initiative established to offer Ireland’s experience and expertise in transforming food and agriculture systems to partner countries.
SFSI was established 2014, as a collaboration between the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and four agri-food State organisations - Teagasc, Bord Bia, Enterprise Ireland and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI).
SFSI’s creation is a recognition that knowledge and skills sharing are important contributors to foreign and economic policy, and that engagement in global sharing of good practice brings benefits to Ireland as well as our partners.
SFSI undertakes capability-building projects in Africa, Middle East, EU Neighbourhood and Asia.