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

I thank the Deputies for their questions. With regard to Deputy Cahill's question about the TB compensation scheme, the savings will be €1.5 million, not €2.5 million. Those savings are as a consequence of the fact that we made provision on the basis of trends and expectations and, fortunately, the incidence of the disease reduced from 3.25% of herds to 3.18%. Though the number of herds is down, there was a slight increase in the overall number of TB reactors. The provision made for drawdown has not been reached and that is something to celebrate. The scheme is working well.

The Deputy asked about individual farmers and the compensation scheme. I understand his point and we have discussed it both formally and informally, but the problem is that the scheme was designed in consultation with the farming organisations and modifications to it only took place recently. I cannot vary the terms of the scheme for an individual holding but I take the Deputy's point. It depends on timing. We face into a spring in which the indications are milk prices will increase and, as a consequence, the price of spring heifers dairy cows will increase. I accept that will make it more costly for somebody who has been depopulated to re-enter the market. The scheme was devised in consultation with the farming organisations but it comes up for review. It is not written on tablets of stone but, unfortunately, the most recent modifications were only signed off in the early days of my tenure. It will be up for review again and, by that stage, the individual whose circumstances the Deputy has raised will have moved on but my Department keeps the scheme under constant review and the issue will be raised in consultations with the farming organisations.

Both Deputies raised the issue of grain farmers. I am acutely conscious of this because I have met them in my own constituency. I have met farm organisations representatives also in counties Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim and I understand the points they have made. I concur with Deputy Penrose regarding the scarcity of straw. There is little feed value in any straw as a consequence of the weather. There was a perfect storm in many respects in the endeavours to get in the harvest. When this issue was raging in the autumn, I undertook post-harvest to convene a stakeholders meeting. All the relevant bodies were represented, including the farm organisations and the millers. One of the interesting issues raised by the farmers and the merchants, in particular, was access to affordable finance. One of the startling observations made by a miller was that 80% of spring barley is sold on merchant credit, which is one of the most expensive forms of credit that farmers use. This issue was raised by every farm organisation in the context of the recent budget. We faced a scenario where we had €11.1 million in funding coming from Europe as a result of the July package, which was available for livestock both in the dairy and beef sectors. We felt that if we spread that between 100,000 livestock farmers, it would make no meaningful or significant contribution to the difficulties they faced.

Given the common thread among all organisations, including those representing tillage farmers, was access to affordable finance, we examined how we could provide matching funds. We put more than matching funds by providing €14 million to extend the availability of the loan scheme not just to livestock farmers, but to the tillage sector as well. The product with a €150,000 maximum loan, low interest rate and other terms is not available anywhere else and that is well documented. We extended the scheme under de minimisstate aid rules to the tillage sector because there is a framework under which we are permitted to put assistance from the Exchequer into a particular sector. We availed of the maximum liberty available to extend the scheme. Where somebody avails of the maximum loan, that is the equivalent over three years of the €15,000 threshold available under state aid rules. That is not the solution for everybody who faces this difficulty but it will help some farmers in making decisions. I appreciate time has moved on and most of them have made decisions to plan for winter barley or spring barley. The scheme will make that more affordable.

There are other significant issues in the industry, not least the fact that 50% of the crop is grown on rented land, which is a major cost and which is questionable in the context of the viability of these enterprises. Farmers are paying top dollar and that land is being chased by other enterprises, particularly grass and dairy farmers. Individual farmers have to weigh up the affordability issue. The grain sector is critical. I would hate to see people exiting the sector in droves because the herd is expanding, particularly in the dairy sector, which will bring its own demand for ruminant feed. However, the sector has to be based on a solid economic rationale. One of the many issues is access to affordable finance and we have done something that is allowed under state aid rules. I have extended the knowledge transfer programme, which was only available to the beef and dairy sectors previously, to the tillage sector. I will announce in January the detail of the tillage TAMS. I am open to keeping this issue under observation but limited resources are available and, equally, there is a legal framework which I cannot breach in respect of state aid rules. I have exercised some of the discretion we have in that regard through the SBCI lending scheme.

In response to Deputy Penrose, Mr. Nick Ashmore attended a recent meeting of the Beef Forum where he confirmed that the January date for the scheme is still on target. The call for partners, including the pillar banks which have responded, went out recently to roll out the scheme. As the Deputy said, it will be made available to the mushroom sector.

This will help the mushroom sector, but Brexit produces very difficult circumstances. Some businesses have gone to the wall already. In the budget, we also increased the funding available under the capital grants scheme run by my Department for the mushroom sector and we fund the mushroom producer organisations.

I think that addresses some of the questions raised.