Tom Barry (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the delegates for their attendance. I work with Teagasc on tillage and I concur that its work ethic and approach is very professional. Farmers are only now beginning to come to terms with using a web-based as opposed to a hands-on approach. Farmers love the interactive approach in general. I was not surprised when a web-based sales programme did not work because I know farmers like to rub cattle and to look at them. That is the farming tradition although it may not always remain so. A two-tier system exists. People like myself remember when computers were not in use but we have embraced them and there are others who will not bother with them. We need to ensure the great work done by ICBF has a beginner's guide for users because some people are just starting out with the system.

Our guests must be flexible and move with them.

I have no difficulty with large farms. In fact, I am all in favour of them. We must, for many reasons, protect large farmers. In the first instance, these individuals are very exposed. I have farmed extensively in my time and I am aware that issues arise in the context of land fragmentation, access to finance and land, variable weather conditions, land quality, availability of supports and so on. There is a great deal to consider for those who own large farms and if they get wrong any of the matters to which I refer, they will end up going out of business. This is because they can be exposed to such a large degree.

We may need to consider taking a more long-term approach, particularly in the context of educating students from second level onwards. I am not stating an intensive course should be put in place, but there is a need for students to be aware of the importance of agriculture. It should not be a revelation for them when they reach their 20s. Students must be made aware of what is happening. Mobile phone applications are huge and being embraced by the young. Cork Institute of Technology is the first third level institution to offer a degree in cloud computing. This is of interest to everyone, including farmers. We need to ensure young people are exposed to agriculture early in order that their creative knowledge can be harnessed. It would be great to have people involved in farming who also have an aptitude for computers. It is these individuals who will ensure computer programming follows in the direction in which our guests are moving.

When I entered the biochemistry department in UCC in 1987, PCR was only just coming into vogue. Those involved in the area were only evaluating the genome at the time. As our guests indicated, the Internet only began to have an impact in the early 2000s. It took these two major things which we now take for granted to come together to make the work to which our guests refer possible. It is only 2012, which shows how matters have developed in a short period. One of our guests referred to the massive changes that had occurred during his lifetime. He is absolutely correct in that regard. However, the pace of change has really quickened in the past 15 years. The challenge we face lies in looking forward to the next ten years and deciding the direction we wish to take. It is incumbent on Teagasc and others to begin putting a ten year plan in place. They must be brave and bold in this regard and replicate what was done in respect of Food Harvest 2020. They must ask what they want to see happening with their databases and so on in the future. Our guests may only have aspirations now, but they can be damn sure that there is some bright young person out there who will make them become a reality.

I cannot praise our guests enough in this matter, particularly as this is the direction in which farming is moving. People refer to small and large farmers. Smaller farmers know their properties like the backs of their hands and can be completely accurate when they use their fertiliser spreaders in particular fields. Consider the position of a farmer who owns 1,000 acres and may never have seen some of his or her fields before. A GPS system will ensure he or she can achieve the same accuracy as his or her smaller counterpart. What we are seeking to do is encourage attention to detail. If they continue to be supported, Teagasc's and the ICBF's programmes will ensure large-scale micromanagement will continue. If small farmers want to become large farmers, there is nothing wrong with this. We must ensure, however, that courses are provided in order that they might become involved. Some small farmers are very clever in matters such as those to which I refer and they have more time on their hands than their larger counterparts. I would not always equate being a small farmer with not being tuned in.

We should not be recording data just for the sake of doing so. A metric or performance-driven approach should apply. It is great that, as our guests have indicated, the approach in this matter is led by farmers. If that remains the case, it will be successful. I have used certain agricultural machines and after an hour I was able to state they were designed by farmers. However, I have used others which most certainly were not designed by them. That was because they were not practical in their layouts and their displays were not ergonomic, among other things.

Our guests must realise this is only the beginning. I will be interested in seeing how matters develop in the future.