Mr. Patrick Lalor:

In one way it is very simple and very complicated in another. If the soil is right, it will protect the crop. Getting the soil right is a lifetime's work. There is no blueprint that enables it to be done over a five-year period. It is known in science that if one pushes a crop by using soluble nitrogen, potassium and other industrial phosphates because one wants to get the maximum yield, one's crop will grow faster than nature intends and is then unable to withstand diseases. If the crop is grown organically, it grows at its own speed as nature intended and does not get the diseases. It is not that our crops get diseases and that we have a problem with them but that they do not get them. If one manages this right, one will not have problems with weeds. It sounds simple and it is. It is down to day-to-day management, as well as management of the soil on a long-term basis. Long-term soil management involves looking at the biology rather than the chemistry of the soil. We look at things ordinary farmers do not even think about such as bacteria and fungi. This is not about people with long hair, Aran sweaters and sandals who were associated with organic farming many years ago but serious commercial farming. If one gets the soil right, one can do without all of these things.

I will respond to the question asked by Senator Paul Daly by saying the biggest single challenge we face is to have more critical mass. I will explain what is stopping more people from getting involved in production in the industry. The Department does not have the funds, or is not allocating them. There is a waiting list of people who want to get into the organic scheme. I do not doubt that if it was opened, many more people would get involved in organic farming.