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

The Commissioner is very welcome. I thank him for making time in his schedule to meet us. I am disappointed that he did not mention grain. There is a love affair with milk at the moment. We will fall into a trough of milk and not get out of it. We need to realise that there is a tillage industry in this country that, albeit small, is significant. I am sure the Commissioner is well aware of that. The problem is that world market prices, about which the Commissioner can do nothing, are lower than ever. If we went back to Irish pounds, we are at €100 per lb for green grain for this harvest, which is shocking. This is what we received 30 years ago. There would not be an industry but for single farm payments.

I am very grateful for the support for protein crops. It is a help but many grain farmers are telling me that if their son was a dairy farmer, he would get a grant for milking powder or bulk tank but they themselves are getting nothing. I raised this with the Minister. I am not suggesting that the Commissioner can fix this straightaway but this issue needs to be realised. While our tillage industry is small, it offers a balance to the ships coming in. We produce 2.5 million tonnes of grain here and import over 2 million tonnes but as long as we produce it here, we will never be exploited in respect of the price of our feed.

The Commissioner says that feed prices on the supply side are projected at lower levels than those observed in 2010 and are a benefit to milk. I suggest that a high grain price would suit people in Ireland because we produce off grass. Therefore, it would be better for us if there was a slightly higher price for grain. If anything can be done on the support side for grain farmers, it should be done because it has reached a critical level. The Commissioner understands where I am coming from.

In respect of inspections, the Minister made a very good point at a meeting in Cork last night. They were talking about the new genomics scheme. He said that we will break the penalties down in proportions. If a farmer has broken a rule on a certain point, they will be fined on that point of the scheme. If a person in tillage does not have a proper defined boundary, they lose all their property if it is over a certain percentage. They have only broken one rule. That can be critical when one is trying to survive. Penalties are there to punish, not to remove a farmer from production. We could look at how they are divvied out.

Could the Commission look at the simplification of CAP? When a delegation from the committee visited Hungary, they were quite supportive regarding looking at greening on a country level. It makes no sense to have a three-crop rule in Ireland when we are 95% green. If we could get some modification there, it would help on a practical level.

I could not agree with the Commissioner more regarding labelling. We are struggling to get proper labelling on origin but if GM is going to become an issue, labelling needs to be pronounced and clear.

Protein production is a hobby horse of mine. I am very grateful for the payment on protein crops. It is forgotten at this stage that only two to three years ago, Europe was running short of protein. It was not that we could not pay for it. We could not get it. Soya bean production had decreased in the US and around the world. We are only a small market. The large ships do not necessarily face in for Cork or Foynes. I spoke about this with the Secretary General a few years ago. We need to stimulate production of protein, for example, producing soya bean in places like Romania or Hungary and beans here. We need to look at it in a strategic fashion to ensure we are never held hostage because if we cannot produce enough protein, our milk industry will not function. That is vital and I feel we are leaving a broadside open on that.

I started off with area aid many years ago. Roughly speaking, farmers got €150 per acre, produced their crop and got their payment. Production was then decoupled from payment. Where a farmer once had a single farm payment entitlement, this has now gone to the landowner. If a landowner leases for a long period of time to give surety to the active farmer, they get tax allowances. However, what is happening now is that the landowner is keeping possession of the entitlement. If I am renting land for ten years, I pay back the single farm payment to the inactive farmer and pay another €200 to €300 per acre for the pleasure of working the land. They are market forces and we cannot change them but we need to look at this strategically to make sure that payment goes to the active farmer because it is crippling active farmers with debt. We cannot look for cheap funding from banks and at the same time not use the single farm payment properly. In effect, it is becoming a social welfare payment. It is the way the system has evolved but I would like the Commissioner to be aware of it.

In respect of farm credit, the Commissioner is aware that we still have weak banks in this country but they are getting better. However, there is a tendency to mop up equity. Unfortunately, people who are changing their structure in farming from sole traders to limited companies are finding that their interest rates are increasing substantially. Greater equity is being sought. It is giving them less ability to use their assets productively. It is something we need to keep an eye on. We do not have enough competition to fix that yet. The SEBI funding is being discussed in terms of it coming through to Ireland at around 5%. That is too high. One of our pillar banks is suggesting 5%.

The pearl water mussel is causing concern in the Blackwater valley in north Cork. I know it is not totally a matter for the Commissioner but it is important it is recognised. Another issue is the famous hen harrier. Where do I start with it?