Ms Triona McCormack:

Senator Lombard asked where do we see the sector going. The Senator asked about the agricultural drop-off and wondered could we face challenges. I think we could. What the Senator is remarking on is something that is happening right now and it is happening in this context. Our point is there is a different future but we need to create it quickly. We need to take advantage of the new knowledge that is out there and get it quickly out. It was remarked on earlier that the conversation here today is welcome because it is an airing of that potential new future. We quickly need to change that narrative or story around what is possible in agriculture and then in the agrifood sector in Ireland. There is an opportunity. It is back to the point that Professor Evans was making earlier about that continuum. We all need to work together. It needs to be a shared Irish story about how we can sustain the agricultural production sector and make that as attractive as possible, while flowing this new knowledge back, as well as how we can get that out into the agricultural colleges and more embedded in things such as the green certificate, which is recognised already as providing value and much engagement. It is a matter of using our mechanisms well and feeding more of these technology solutions but making them accessible and showing the value and being able to show the differentiation. Critically, there is an opportunity but unless we make change now the opportunity could pass and we could be looking at a sector on the producer side that is in decline. That would be a huge worry for what is a vibrant sector for us nationally and our largest employment sector involving all of those statistics with which the committee members are intimately familiar. I do not know whether Professor Evans has other points to make on that.