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

I welcome the delegates and thank them for their presentation. Automation and technological advances were mentioned as means of making farming less labour intensive and delivering more profit to farmers.

At the end of the day that is what it is all about.

I was interested in the reference to tillage and the advances being used in that sector in using the various new technologies. Representatives of the tillage sector have been to the committee and reported on the huge problem in which it finds itself. I see low food miles as a way forward for the agriculture sector. Whatever is produced and the inputs in food production have to be as local as possible. What is Macra na Feirme's view? It is one of the contradictions that farmers are advised to obtain their inputs as cheaply as possible to keep their costs low, but this advice is destroying the tillage sector which cannot compete with imports from the other side of the world. It is a big issue. If we are to look at it honestly and in order to help the tillage sector, we must be prepared to support it in providing the inputs. There are other spin-offs, which are one of the aspects of agriculture that neglect. No sector stands on its own; each sector is dependent on the other. If, by focusing on low cost inputs, we destroy one sector, it will be to the detriment of the entire industry. I am interested in Macra na Feirme's views, especially on how farmers can target fertilisers at plant types and can target where spraying should happen more effectively.

I turn to the issue of attracting young people into farming. I grew up in a rural area where most people said to their children, "Whatever you do, son, make sure you do not go into farming." That is a problem with mindset as much as anything else. So many young people are encouraged to do anything else but enter farming because their parents and their parents before them found it such a hard life and got so little out of it. It will be an issue until we can turn that mindset around. There was a period in the 1980s into the early 1990s when there was an emphasis on alternative farm enterprises which helped to turn the industry around for a while. The problem is that many of the alternative farm enterprises have come under pressure because of size and scale. They have had to get bigger and bigger. Where there were hundreds of small farm enterprises, the numbers sank to a couple of dozen that grew bigger.

Farm support schemes certainly need more support. Land succession is always an issue. I see nothing wrong, in principle, with Macra na Feirme's proposal in that regard, but, of course, there will always be some resistance. Any proposal the organisation comes up with can look good on a broad scale, but when one tries to apply it, for every ten individuals there will be three of four who will have a problem with it because of their particular issues. That is why an element of flexibility has to be built in. The general thrust of the proposal, to try to get the farmer who is reaching retirement age or who may be well beyond it to let go of the reins and let somebody new and young take over, is admirable as a way forward.

Reference was made to the review of the Common Agricultural Policy. We are aware that there is talk of a cut, but we should resist it as much as possible. The focus really needs to be on pillar 1 and where the money will go. It accounts for the bulk of the money which should go towards smaller holdings and family farms. The CAP tries to do two things - it tries to assist in encouraging production and it tries to maintain family farms. However, there must be a choice. We must consider the position from Ireland's perspective, where we stand and the model of farming in Ireland compared to that in other European countries.

We have to focus on the family farm aspect of it. That is why I suggest that it needs to be frontloaded in some way, that the first 10 or 15 ha get a larger entitlement or payment. That is another thing, the entitlements go back the best part of 20 years. They are long outdated and something needs to happen about that. To suggest that people will be paid on their level of production or activity over 20 years beforehand is ridiculous. We need to own up and say that it is ridiculous and find a new way of balancing that out. The payments need to be frontloaded to a higher payment for the first number of hectares and ease it off then, but to continue to pay to all farmers across the board. The family farm needs to get the bulk of that to ensure it is made as sustainable as possible.

I refer to the milkflex loans and where money can be accessible. That is a bone of contention I have for a long time. We have had the bankers in the committee, we only had them here last week. The problem is that the banks in Ireland are taking money off the people who are out there now to pay for the mistakes the banks themselves made in the past. We are being charged at least 2% extra on top of anywhere else in Europe. That is a problem that has to be faced up to as well. The banks do not face up to it. They will have all kinds of excuses saying it is a different market and it is this, that and the other, all of which is bull. That is reality. The pressure needs to be put on them and that is something the Government has to do rather than farm organisations but it needs to be called out for what it is as far as possible.

I refer to the knowledge transfer and the matter of the trained farmer and the farmer who will get training. I mention Mr. Healy's idea of the voucher. While it is a good idea, it goes back to the problem I have that it should be more flexible than that. There are some farmers that because of the activity they are at, the skill of their farming, their intensity and their interest in it, would need ten times that size of a voucher and they would use it and they would want to get that knowledge. There are also a lot of farmers out there who because of the nature of their farm do not want the voucher or would not need it. In fact they probably have off-farm activities that they are making most of their income from and they are farming and they are happy and fine. There needs to be a certain amount of scale brought into that and understanding that it is not a one size fits all. That is the only criticism I have on that but I think his proposals on trying to get new young people into farming are welcome. One of the blocks to that is to try to move on the people who are there currently and make an incentive to do so. I agree that farmers should not receive a CAP payment beyond the age of 70, to be frank about it. There should be a stop off period somewhere or other to force that move to occur as soon as possible.