“Local food systems are the cornerstone of a sustainable global food system and they have the potential to address a number of local, national and global issues from soil health to public health, unemployment to social isolation, food waste to food poverty. We must value and protect our natural resources - from the soil in which grain is grown to the people that grow, mill and produce exceptional food with it. We can build on the skills and practices of our past by applying new and innovative ways of growing to provide nutritious, financially sustainable yields - and we must do so now.

Ireland continues to have a wholly unnecessary over reliance on imported food and our horticulture and agriculture sectors are decimated as a result yet consumers are led to believe that we are a Food Secure nation. Around 90% of our flour is imported, a similar percentage for our fruit and vegetables - an increasingly vulnerable value chain negatively impacted by the affects of climate change such as adverse weather conditions in Spain and Italy, wars such as the invasion of Ukraine and geo political changes like Brexit. It's time to re-define Food Security and to take back control over the food available to us, our families, our friends, our communities and our customers.

Historically Ireland had over 7000 active mills, today we have less than a dozen never mind a baker's dozen. Ireland's local food culture is on the verge of extinction and we are on a fast track to becoming totally reliant on food grown elsewhere that can easily be grown here and with better social, economic and environmental results not to mention taste.

The Irish Grain Network is an opportunity to bring together all the key stakeholders and through our collective influence we can create change - from the ground up. Together we are greater than the sum of our parts.”