Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and his staff. I also welcome the farm organisations and their representatives.

In the first week of October last year, I had a priority question to the Minister on this issue. On that occasion, the Minister's basic mantra was that there was no fodder crisis. His view was that there was plenty of fodder in the country but some of it was in the wrong places and needed to be moved around. Everyone was aware that the wet weather during the last harvest destroyed the possibility of anyone getting second-cut silage and those who did, got poor quality silage. For many farmers, the problem has been compounded by the fact that there has been no grass growth over the past several weeks when they thought there would be. This has affected the south and other areas where this would not usually be a problem.

Teagasc, from which the Minister said he was taking advice, told farmers if they had to feed their cattle three bales a day, to move to feeding them two bales a day and supplement it with concentrate feed to stretch it out. When the Department was putting a relief scheme in place, however, it had nothing to do with concentrates but moving fodder around the country. That was a mistake. Some means through a voucher scheme to provide farmers with the concentrates they require to stretch out the fodder they have in their own areas should have been put in place.

It has been in the media already that this has developed into an animal welfare issue where much of the fodder farmers have is of poor quality. In turn, this poor fodder with high deficiencies in nutrients is having an impact on the cattle sector and in the sheep sector where many ewes are not surviving. The solution is to put a meal voucher in place to ensure farmers can get the concentrate to feed to their livestock. In the north west, we are looking at another four or five weeks before there is grass. Even if the weather stays warm, the ground is so saturated that the grass will not grow.

The Minister referred to GLAS, the sheep welfare scheme and other agricultural schemes that are due for payment shortly. There is an EU regulation that inspections must be completed before payments in a scheme can be made. There is a case for that to be waived on this occasion and to get that money to farmers now. The average payment in GLAS is €4,000 approximately. A 15% payment of that comes to between €600 and €700. That would make a big difference to many farmers who need to buy meal at this time. Will the Minister make that bold move in that regard and look for forgiveness later rather than looking for permission in advance? Many farmers are finding it difficult to manage and the added pressure that comes with a farm inspection is not appropriate. Putting off inspections until farmers have grass and can put their cattle out on the fields needs to be examined.

The dairy sector has expanded significantly. Many dairy farmers have increased their herds and used up the better lands but now find they have not enough fodder. Loans may work for such farmers. However, for farmers in the north west depending on sheep and suckling cows, who do not have much possibility of making any profit this year, loans are not an option because one has to pay them back. Those farmers do not see a possibility of being able to pay them back into the future. While some of the co-operatives are importing fodder, many farmers are not signing up to buy this fodder because they do not have the money. It needs to be recognised that they have not got money. We all agree the agrifood industry is an important sector and is a significant contributor to the economy. Unfortunately, the primary producer is not the one who makes all the money. The money is made elsewhere. The primary producer is at the bottom rung of the ladder and is not able to survive.

There will have to be a longer-term look at this issue. Eighteen months ago we were talking about the possibility of a fodder crisis. It did not materialise then but this year it has. If we continue to get these wet harvests and late springs, we will keep on running into this problem. The intensification of the whole agriculture sector needs to be re-examined on a larger scale to see how systems are working.

GLAS and other scheme payments need to be got out to farmers immediately. A meal voucher scheme needs to be put in place where farmers get concentrate feeds from their local creamery to ensure they can feed their cattle now, not in one or two months' time. I appreciate the Minister believes he was working on the best advice available. However, there was better advice coming from the farmers. They need to be listened to. There is a lesson in this for the Government and the Department to listen to farmers on the ground. Those are the ones with the real experience of what is happening.