Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Given the challenges we face with climate change, at the moment we seem to be sticking our heads in the sand and hoping the issue will go away. Quotas have been imposed in Holland where cow numbers have had to be reduced because of the phosphorus production. One of our sectors has been expanding very rapidly, as has been outlined in the tillage presentation. I wish to acknowledge three excellent presentations today. Our tillage acreage has dropped very significantly in recent years.

We have the most sustainable dairy production in Europe. Mr. Carroll outlined that our beef production is the fifth most sustainable in Europe. Irrespective of how sustainable we are, we will be a long way from meeting our climate change targets. We need to focus on what Ireland can do to ensure we can farm sustainably and commercially. One of the most interesting points made by the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association was the need for the hill lands to be left in their natural state. They provide a far greater carbon sink in that state than as forestry. We sometimes feel that forestry will solve the issues of us. I recently read a frightening statistic on the amount of forestry needed for one extra cow. Forestry will definitely not solve the issue for us.

The challenges we need to face are coming down the track very quickly. Historically we have been known for steer beef production. Can steer beef production be sustainable under climate change? Given the age at which cattle are slaughtered, is it an efficient use of resources? Can steer beef production meet the challenges coming rapidly down the track?

Mr. Carter made an excellent presentation on tillage. Our tillage acreage has dropped very significantly because of issues with profitability. I fully agree with Mr. Carter that increased acreage is needed to meet our targets. The issue we need to address is how to arrest that slide. A few months ago, this committee published a report on the tillage sector. Diverse forms of food production will be a key part of meeting our targets. At the moment all the signals are that we are heading in one direction with one sector expanding rapidly. Unfortunately, that will bring increased challenges.

Commissioner Hogan is quoted as saying that the targets under Food Wise 2025 need to be abandoned now in the context of climate change.

That is startling for the economy and the country. We have to face up to these issues and try to find solutions. They are not going to go away. The Dutch have already had restrictions imposed on them. This week we were granted a derogation for another four years. It was given full status by the Commission. However, four years will pass quickly. Will we be able to regain that status in four years time? As maintaining the status quowill not serve in the future, we have to make changes and adapt our production methods. All of the increased production is in one rapidly expanding sector; all of the others are shrinking. We will have a discussion in the Dáil tomorrow on the suckler cow herd, beef production and the challenges posed by climate change. A lot of hard questions have to be asked. What we are doing now will not be okay in five years' time. Therefore, we have to adapt.

The presentations were excellent. However, every sector is putting forward what it considers are the solutions for its viability, rather than what we all need to do to beat the challenges posed by climate change. Last year was a wet one and we saw the challenges that brought in storing slurry and the huge investment made in that regard. This year extra conditions have been brought forward for slurry spreading, with more and more coming down the tracks. We need to get ahead of the game and make sure that when the European Union looks at the issues of climate change and sustainable food production, we will be top of the class. Is steer beef production sustainable? How do we arrest the decrease in the acreage used for tillage? I refer also to the recognition of hill farmers' land as a carbon sink and how we can stop land abandonment on hills. We need to be to serious about the challenges facing us. They will come at us at a rate of knots. For a long period we had quotas in dairying. A different quota is coming at us fast.