Ms Anja Murray:

The issue of food security was raised along with the moral obligation not to support increased extensive farming. We do not wish to increase extensive farming but rather to ensure that those farmers operating extensive farming systems are supported to maintain those farming systems because they deliver benefits for rural communities and for biodiversity. Many ecosystems depend on the maintenance of extensive farming. We do not want to see land abandonment in extensive farming systems, because this is becoming a significant problem.

On the question about increasing productivity, there is enough food in the world to feed everybody. The problem is to do with people's ability to access those food resources. Ireland or Europe increasing the production of food is not going to address the problems of people who do not have enough food. Another issue is the productive base for sustaining productivity in the future. This is dependent on the quality of the natural environment such as soil fertility, pollinators and such issues. These factors are not rewarded by the market; they have to be rewarded by incentives. We need to incentivise to ensure that the productive base for agricultural productivity is maintained. This is much more of an issue for food security than merely increasing production. The problem now is about access to food resources and much less about not having enough food. There are significant issues with food waste. Increasing productivity in Europe will not address those problems.

Senator O'Neill noted that local authorities are big contributors to ground water pollution. There has been a significant problem with water quality in Ireland over the past 50 years. The Common Agricultural Policy has driven intensification of productivity with the consequent decline in water quality in Ireland. Local authority municipal sewage treatment-----