Ms Triona McCormack:

I will try to summarise some of the questions. I thank the Senators and the Deputy for the comments on what we are doing. It is critical that Ireland continues to invest in research and innovation. It is necessary. We are hearing from the committee today how necessary it is that new knowledge comes to the fore and that solutions are found and translated into farms. That is the way forward for a vibrant agrifood sector. I thank the committee for its kind remarks on the quality of our work but also the shared recognition that this is a critical area for continued national investment in research and innovation. It is more critical in this sector than in many others as we seek to find the solutions.

Senator Mac Lochlainn asked if there are solutions where we can find the perfect pitch point between sustainability and intensification. The question was posed specifically on methane emissions but I think the example we gave earlier from the tillage sector applies, where we are bringing technologies and new disease and soil management strategies together - that is a new way of working. Working with industry and the producers is also new. We are finding solutions. They are there but they are not obvious. They require us to do things differently, bring different actors together and work with everybody.

Senator Mulherin had the same question on whether we are engaging with producers. We will be doing more of that as we seek to change the way we do research and innovation to produce these solutions to complex issues. Working in this different way is a relatively new area for all of us. There are examples and they are coming to the fore. The more we can promote those examples, the more we will get buy-in for that way of working and approaching the problem.

Deputy Martin Kenny asked about opportunities in areas with land quality challenges. Professor Evans might come in on this as well. I return to the points we were making about the bio-economy and where we see that going next. The new extraction technologies are really valuable. They are allowing us to see value in products where value was not seen before. They also allow us to reach back and ask what kind of products could we start to grow that might have greater value. Professor Kevin O'Connor - our leader in the national bio-economy research centre and who was mentioned earlier by Deputy Cahill - is considering things like sugar beet and forestry, and asking what opportunity is there for traditional land products like that. We will start to find those opportunities but we need to continue to reach back into the product base, see what we are growing and ask how we can optimise that. Professor Evans might like to add to what I have said in the area of intensification of farming and family farms.