Ms Gillian Westbrook:

I wish to respond to Deputy McConalogue in terms of supports and self-sufficiency for the sector. Tillage is something that we have to import. We currently have a 2,000-tonne deficit just for oats for breakfast cereals. Other businesses are seeking to come on board to produce animal feeds here, but we are importing a lot from the UK or via the UK. The product often comes into the UK for onward distribution into Ireland.

Horticulture is the main sector where there is a major deficit. We cannot grow certain fruit products, including citrus fruit, here but quite a lot is being imported. That is about continuity and getting people to work together. I know that "farmer collaboration" is a buzz term but it is very important. If farmers start to work together they can examine some of these markets. Both our directors here are a fantastic example of what can be done. Our other director is working with farmers to export a dairy product to New York and Asian markets as well. It is phenomenal what can be done when ten dairy farmers get together and take it all on.

Mr. Fahy is working with an agronomy group to try to up production. There is some work to be done with that, including educational things on agronomy. There is a slight barrier in education but more could be done.

As regards assistance from Bord Bia, it would be good if the board could do an organic origin green. An Bord Bia has a fantastic marketing strategy, however, it would be beneficial for it to have a specific strategy for organic products. That is what our members have been seeking.

Double funding under the GLAS scheme was referred to. We have given a series of different recommendations on what could be done under GLAS. We did not consider that it would attract double funding. That issue applies across the EU and is not just in Ireland. One would hope that we can revisit that in the mid-term review and the CAP 2020. The Department has been helpful and flexible about this. It is keen to examine the various actions one can do. Therefore instead of saying, "This is double funding, and we don't want it", the idea is to come up with an action and give it to the Department to examine. We would like to see areas such as agri-forestry and other climate change mitigation strategies being put in place for organic farmers as well.

The circular economy and waste reduction will play a major part in food security. We appreciate what the committee is saying about organics raising that bar. If it is all right with the Chairman, I would like to provide a document on which we have been working with our European counterparts, which summarises that better than I can do here at 100 mph. It is not that meaty but really summarises it and is a really interesting piece of work.