Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Deputy Kenny. He has hit the nail on the head. Irish farming has great attributes in that it is largely family farm-based and pasture-based. We are able to keep cattle out for much longer than in other countries. To show that it is not as intensive, I understand that the average Irish dairy cow produces approximately 5,000 litres of milk a year. In Northern Ireland, where it is done differently, it is 8,000 and it is 10,000 in the UK. That lack of an intensified system should mean that, in a market which values that and which wants to know about origin of material, we have a competitive advantage over Brazil and over British and other farms. We risk losing it now because Michael Gove, in the British Government, was saying that that is how it will go, towards really high quality, having a better connection between the consumer and the farmer and certifying that it is sustainable. In those circumstances, the current system where we do not get the premium price and just get the average price shows that something is wrong. I think the way to change that is to nail down our sales marketing as a green sustainable nation with regard to our food. We should go for the premium market. We only represent 1% of global production so we can fit into that, sell it at that price and not do it on the hoof but as a select, targeted marketing exercise. That cannot be done if we are not looking after the environment and we cannot do that, in all conscience, when we are saying as part of Food Wise 2025, that we will increase our agricultural emissions by 11%. Phil Hogan is saying this. He has come over to say that we cannot do that. We cannot in all conscience sell ourselves in that way for a better price if, at the same time, we are increasing our emissions. We have to deal with it in transport, which I spend most of my time on, and in energy. We have to have a 100% reduction in emissions in energy.

Looking at how others have done this, New Zealand has gone ahead of us in the intensification, with a very similar pastureland-based system. They thrashed their country. They got a huge increase in dairy production but they are in a rapid reverse because they realised that it is not sustainable and does not work. It is the same with the Danes. They went with a really intensive capital-based system. The average Danish cow starts life with a €30,000 debt on it. We should not be going that route. We should be going for Irish family farms and higher quality.

I left out the grain suppliers. I had the fortune yesterday to meet a young Irish farmer, Johnny Greene, I think he is called, in Carlow. His grandfather might have founded the Irish Farmers' Association, IFA. It comes from a proud tradition.