Mr. Alan Mooney:

I agree with Ms Lynch. The conventional tillage sector in Ireland has become very specialised, the acreage has got very big and farmers are leasing land. Without a shadow of a doubt, all that is compounding the difficulties of getting into organic production. There is also the fact, to which Ms Lynch alluded, of the loss of infrastructure on those farms, including sheds to house cattle, roadways, water systems and fencing. Even stockmanship skills are disappearing fast on the conventional tillage side. The farmer is a machinery man, basically. That is his pride and joy. He is good at it and at maintaining machines. That is the biggest stumbling block. There is also the fact that it requires a great leap of faith to change from conventional to organic production. A farmer will say, "I am going out five, six or eight times with my sprayer or my fertiliser spreader and I will have nothing if I do not". It is not that he is not interested, but it is a huge jump for him to get his mindset back to more traditional rotational systems. It is the biggest stumbling block.