Mr. Patrick Kent:

Very useful questions were posed by various members on the direction Ireland should take. There will be choices for individual farmers because farmers have different stocking levels and densities. The advice would be different for each one, depending on his or her stocking level and his or her age. Decisions for one might not necessarily suit another. Teagasc must give some direction in that there are no stocking rate controls with which to compare intensive, high input farming activities. Some older farmers who are getting a good price for cattle on a given day are making money because they are not spending a lot. Their input costs are lower, as are their stocking levels and work rate. They might perhaps provide a model for young farmers to get involved in farming because owing to the lower intensity levels there may be an opportunity to find a part-time job or a full-time job off the farm. Different advice applies to different farmers. Teagasc must go back to the drawing board as some of the advice it has given to ramp up stocking levels and change direction and become involved in intensive dairying might not offer the best long-term solution. It might be perfect advice for individual farmers, but for others, it might not be, depending on the resources available to them.

Brand Ireland must be revisited. Food Wise 2025 must also be revisited. Some of the projections have been very ambitious. Some of the people involved have also been out of touch with the realities on the ground. The forum should probably be convened for a few days to consider what direction we should take as it does not seem to be sustainable to follow the model originally envisaged.

We have unique selling points, but we have not sufficiently pushed the purity of our food. We have dropped the ball in our food being GM-free. There is not one GM crop we can grow profitably in this country as they are all designed for use in hotter climates, but we can sell our food as GM-free at a higher price on the basis that it is healthier and glyphosate free. Glyphosate is endemic in GM crops and contaminates the entire food chain. We must revisit the issue and declare this country a GM-free growing area. We import some proteins that are GM, but perhaps we might revisit that issue also, even though there might be certain costs attached. Gaining a higher shelf price for our product is something we should examine very closely. We should also examine consumer trends. Nobody in the world would then be able to compete with us because we would have a very pure and healthy product. From a tourism point of view, we would also have a selling point. We could gain a lot if we were to go down that road.

Deputy Thomas Pringle asked a question about sustainable downsizing and I think I have more or less addressed it. Profitability is an issue.

In reply to Deputy Martin Kenny's questions, we need to speak to farmers more to see what they want. Up until now they have been told what to do. They have not been asked what they think we should be doing. There are tremendous people within Bord Bia who have been working very had during the years, but I think they have lost direction. We need to improve marketing, rather than policing farmers in terms of quality assurance and Origin Green which is based on carbon levels. German supermarkets in the United Kingdom are not carrying Irish beef and lamb products and we must change this. Bord Bia needs to redirect its personnel towards marketing. We must market our product as being the best available. Farmers are willing to provide top quality food, from which we would like to see some benefit. Our food must be unassailable. That would make it Brexit-proof, CETA-proof and, possibly, TTIP-proof.