This article is from page 17 of the 2012-02-21 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 17 JPG
IT WAS a case of 40 minutes of fame for farmer James Lynch and his family on Sunday as they were the toast of Chinese vice-president Xi Jingping during his short stopover on their 215-acre holding in Cappagh, Sixmilebridge.
“He’s a pure gentleman,” said Lynch after giving Mr Xi a guided tour of his farm, the crowning glory of which was when he was shown a new-born Friesian heifer calf named after him.
“It arrived just in the nick of time,” said Mr Lynch to his host. “He was very knowledgeable and very interested in learning more about the quality of the grass and how Ireland produces high quality milk and beef. He even went to see the silage and wanted to know when it grew and when it was cut.
“He was very much at ease with us, chatting with my mother and he even drank an Irish coffee. He came across as a very friendly and modest man and an extremely courteous one,” he added.
As vice-chairman of Dairygold Coop, last November Mr Lynch went to Chinia as part of an Irish agricultural trade mission, travelling to the city of Hothot in inner Mongolia and its dairying hinterland.
During the Mr Xi’s visit to Sixmilebridge, he also visited the Lynch homestead, chatting with James, his wife Maura and his mother, Ann, and met the couple’s three children, fiveyear-old James, three-year-old Olive and nine-month-old Ronan.
They were accompanied by Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney and a host of Chinese civil servants, television camera operators, photographers and representatives from the agrifood business.
“Having the opportunity to bring the Chinese vice-president to a family farm in Ireland will leave a lasting and positive impression of the natural source of Irish agrifood products,” said Minister Coveney.
“Ireland is renowned for its high quality and safe food production and was strategically placed to provide increasing volumes of quality food to China given the higher levels of increased production of dairy products, meats, sea-food and beverages that will take place over the coming years in Ireland. The Chinese associate Ireland with high quality and safe food.
“This visit will help with expanding dairy production in the next few years as EU quotas are abolished. We plan for an increase in dairy production of 45 per cent between now and 2019,” he added.
These words were echoed by the president of the Irish Farmers Association, John Bryan. “Mr Xi sees Ireland as a good source of food imports for China. His visit here is hugely significant,” he said.