TIME was that having a Green Card allowing you to live and work in the United States was regarded as something of a big lottery win.

How times have changed and this was hammered home this week with the shocking reports on the US economy with over 45 million Americans now unemployed as coronavirus continues to swing its wrecking ball through even the most robust world economies.

Take a look at our own small open economy – we are on course to be €30 billion in the red from coronavirus and it’s looking likely that many thousands of small businesses and jobs will not return.

We are at a critical juncture, economically, politically, environmentally, in Ireland today.

Let’s all hope that the card-carrying members of the Green Party truly play their part in helping to get our country back on track; politicians with their feet firmly planted on the ground is what Ireland needs now.

This is and always was a ‘green’ country and the farming and horse sectors, traditional custodians of the land, are naturally placed to be at the forefront of the new energy and ultimately cost-saving technologies coming down the track.

However, none of these new technologies can be rolled into place overnight; getting it right takes time, grant schemes and real commitment from all sides.

Every farmer knows you reap what you sow.