Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Approximately 28,000 farmers are participating in the knowledge transfer scheme. The scheme is enormously beneficial in terms, literally, of the knowledge it transfers, but it has an equivalent value in respect of the socialisation opportunity it brings to a profession that is largely carried on in isolation. I have heard the concerns around the edges of the scheme. Obviously, there is a facility within the mid-term review of the rural development programme to look at those issues. At the moment, it is doing a very worthwhile job as evidenced by the number of participants, some of whom I have engaged with myself. I appreciate what it achieves.

A number of members have raised the issue of the grain sector, including Senator Lombard and Deputy McConalogue. I am meeting grain farmers on 6 October. There are very difficult issues to grapple with. It is a capital intensive business that cannot be sustained by the types of income that are being generated. The business is structured unusually in Ireland in so far as a lot of the produce is grown on rented land. We need to have a no-holds barred conversation around the solutions for farmers on a case-by-case basis. Farmers need to look at the economics of it. There is a limited amount that the State can do, just as there is a limited amount the State can do in respect of a crisis in any income sector. However, this is something that has been extremely difficult for a number of years and it is now reaching a tipping point. I want to go into it with an open mind and, respectfully, listen to the industry. There are alternative crops that could be looked at. I have spoken to my Cabinet colleague, Deputy Naughten, about energy crops. I acknowledge that we did not have a great experience in that space with miscathus. An effort was also made in respect of the Edenderry power plant to look at what could be grown there but that did not get off the ground. The current situation is not sustainable and if we all come to the table to explore all of the options, including ones that might involve other Departments and agencies, we might come up with solutions for some. It is very difficult and I appreciate that it is particularly so on the western seaboard.

I was in Donegal yesterday and I met with the IFA.

I appreciate the point that Deputy Kenny made about bad weather in the north west. The chairman of the County Leitrim IFA was part of that deputation and he cited chapter and verse on rainfall in the county from the meteorological service. In June, July and August it was pretty wet, which poses problems, particularly on heavier ground. The Department has had previous experience of fodder crises. It is true to say, however, that there is not a fodder crisis in the country as a whole. We have enough fodder but it is in the wrong places at the moment. I appreciate that cattle have been in for a number of weeks in certain places. Farmers will need to get appropriate advice on how to utilise scarce fodder resources. The farm advisory services are there to assist them in this regard, but my Department has a track record in dealing with such issues and we will be keeping the situation under observation while working with farmers.

Senator Paul Dalymentioned the diesel issue and I have seen all the speculation about that. Together with my departmental officials, I have regular engagements with my colleagues, including the Minister for Finance who deals with excise duties. We have been in contact on this issue.

The Chairman referred to the basic payment. This time last year, I was sitting on the committee members' side of the table and I appreciate the issues involved. I have discussed them with my colleagues in the Department. Some are due to teething difficulties in a new system that was introduced last year. There was an issue in prosecuting cases whereby if a person rang up more than once, he or she was talking to different people on successive days, so it was difficult. I am assured we have a better system in place now.

On Deputy Penrose's question, we are constrained by EU regulations as to when we can pay. The earliest date on which we can pay is 16 October. It is because of that constraint that we will pay 75% on 17 October. That is the maximum amount we can issue and it is the earliest date on which we can do so.

Senator Mac Lochlainn mentioned the income crisis and aquaculture licences. We are making some progress. In 2015, there were 104 licence determinations, while there are 150 this year, so we are playing catch-up. I appreciate, however, that the licensing system is very cumbersome. It is fraught with difficulties and the narrative is skewed against the industry and against licence applications. We need to work collectively at improving the narrative in order that this industry can comfortably co-exist with tourism and angling interests, provided the industry is properly policed and monitored. We need to do more, given the enormous potential, but we are catching up on the backlog.

Part of the solution to the income crisis is diversifying markets when one is in difficulty in one market. I have dealt with that aspect. We have received numerous submissions from farm organisations on income averaging and variations of that theme to allow farmers to shelter some of their income in a good year in order that it is available to them to draw down in a bad year. We have received submissions on that from various farm organisations, including the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society, ICOS. We are exploring those options as well.

We also fund facilitators for producer organisations, which is something that could work in the beef sector. A single farmer delivering a load of cattle to ABP or any other plant for that matter is a price taker. However, if a producer organisation is dealing for 100 or 500 farmers, it may be operating to a contract. It may say it can supply black white head heifers, 400 kg, on 1 August, 1 September, 1 October and 1 November in the numbers required, but it will only have a contract if it can get a guaranteed price. That gives a farmer muscle in the marketplace which he has been missing to date.

Funding of those kinds of producer organisations is an innovation under the rural development programme, which might address some of the issues. It is not a panacea and I appreciate that the markets are generally difficult anyway. However, it will go some way towards addressing the imbalance which Senator Mulherin referred to earlier. There are primary producers, processors, distributors, retailers and consumers. The people who get the worst of both worlds are primary producers and consumers. If we got everyone along that chain to take a little bit of the pain, we could ensure primary producers had a reasonable standard of living. None of the others will make a living if we do not have the primary producer.