Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Two things have to follow as regards the climate change issue. We have to have hope. We need to be able to hope that we are on the right track, that what we are doing is sufficient and adequate to meet certain targets and that the targets are within reach, rather than planning for something far in excess of targets. I am amazed at some of the things happening, for example, with soil management. The practice now is that there must be more wetting of the soil. That is not true. Over-wetting of soil will bring about a situation we cannot handle. For instance, potatoes sold in supermarkets are being imported left, right and centre because the soil here was too wet. It was not that it was too dry - it was too wet to germinate properly. That can be proven scientifically. If we proceed in that fashion for long enough, we will damage the economy to an extent that our expectations will not be high in the future. There will be a suggestion that farmers will be compensated but that is not the answer. That was not the answer for the sugar beet industry either, as has been well proven since. We must recognise the need for soil management and the impact it can have on our economic capacity in the future and our ability to withstand being replaced by others in different situations.

Another issue is soil compacting, which is very serious. Nobody seems to admit to it. There was a time when the earth was ploughed prior to preparing a seedbed. That no longer happens in every case. There is a new system, called one pass, where a machine travels at speed over the terrain, plants crops all in one go and only aerates the top four inches of soil. As a result, the natural drainage that was previously relied upon no longer occurs. Once upon a time, in the sowing season in the subsequent year, the ploughman went deeper to aerate the soil to allow natural drainage when the rains came. There are shades of Louis Bromfield in that. They did and do that all the time. It is not true that this is unique and we never had rain like this before. I assure the committee that we did and I was out in a lot of it.

We need to be alert to things that can happen under our noses, inexorably but at such a slow rate that we do not notice. For instance, there is a theory that high-protein diets are dangerous and we should get away from them. We need a balanced diet, which includes protein. We must remember that half the world is starving at this moment. If there are repeated years of lower production of the food we rely on, that would manifest itself in serious starvation. We cannot forget that the European Union was invented to avert food shortages and it still has the potential to play a major role in that.

On the labour market and the economy, the module on job skills was part of the labour force survey in 2022. To what extent has that thrown up information of benefit in terms of population movements and productivity in the agrifood sector? I go back to my old reliable, namely, the degree to which we can continue to compete internationally in food production. We are good at that, including in dairy, all meats and so on. We must also recognise - I have already referred to this - that supermarket shelves now have a good store of imported goods. I know the answer will be that we export as well. Some of the indicators in that regard do not add up. Potatoes are being replaced by imports now. It is far to early in the year to see that. It should be March or April before that manifests on supermarket shelves. I ask for a rigid review to identify trends in that area. I believe the trend is that the reduction in this country's produce, which is not a reduction in consumption, is being replaced by imports. It is true that there are swings and roundabouts. We always have to be careful to ensure we do not get overrun by the volume of imports on the basis that those imports are better or that others are better at something.

My last point, the Chairman will be glad to know, having spent a number of years at it before I came into this House, is land drainage. There was a network of land drains going back 100 years called trench drainage, which has almost disappeared. One of the main reasons is the compacting of the soil. The Romans perfected compaction when they assaulted inaccessible areas throughout their long reign. The point is that if the drainage cannot take place, the soil cannot be aerated. Then, compacting takes place and it takes years for the soil to recover. I do not mind who says otherwise.

The use of very heavy machinery broke down the drains that were there and there is no intention to replace them. The tillage system in this country produces more, providing certain circumstances prevail, namely, that there is an average year in terms of heat, drought or rain. We need to keep that in mind. The fact is we had rain in the past. I distinctly remember that in 1951, which is a long time ago now, it was appalling. It rained constantly in 1950, 1951, the first six months of 1952, 1953 and 1954, whereas 1955 was a good year, 1956 was bad and 1957 was worse. It was intolerable in 1958. For all of those years, some of those were outside in the elements. It was much easier to take account of them then. There was no need to read up about it because you remembered where the dents were.

I ask that the figures be studied to such an extent that we can identify the trends well in advance and not allow people to tell us, as they told us in regard to the sugar beet industry, that the poor growers in Africa and other countries were going to supply all the sugar requirements in the future. That did not happen. The sugar industry in this country died a death but in other European countries it did not because they did not go along with the statistics that were hurled at them at the time. They were right. I am sorry for going on for so long.