Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish Professor Boyle the best of luck in the future, when he retires. Ireland should be a country that can produce food efficiently. Everyone is talking about the climate but the first problem many people may face is food shortages as a result of what governments around the world are doing. I met Professor Boyle a few years ago in Leinster House and we discussed hedgerows. Do we have tonnage figures for the sequestration that is possible now?

Have we done any research on grass? Grass grows, it is eaten, it grows again and it is eaten again, but it is sequestering. Have we done anything on that? Have we done anything on heathers or grain? I read a report from Norway on grain. The witnesses spoke about biomass. Willow and miscanthus have both been disasters. Where is Teagasc's thinking with regard to anaerobic digesters? They can create electricity. They have a double use.

I would like Teagasc's view on the following. I got a call this morning from a guy in Louth, where some of Teagasc's guys are going around signing up farmers to basically go chopping straw. To make matters worse, it is barley straw. It is my understanding that we are trying to increase our organic herd to 8% or 10% or whatever it is. This equates to 350,000 ha. When one looks at the terms and conditions of the organics scheme, one sees that one has to use straw in the 50% of a cattle shed that must make up the lie-back area. Deputy Carthy touched on the issue of horticulture earlier on. What is Teagasc's view on this chopping of straw. I talked to a few people about it this morning and it is my understanding that, while one gets more slugs in the ground, one has to spray away more tannins. Is that correct? Are we defeating the purpose altogether?

In its document, Teagasc talked about peatlands and wetlands. What is its vision for people in Donegal, Mayo, Sligo, Galway or any other area which has mountains or peaty ground who are trying to farm, do the best they can and rear a family? Is the vision that such people should flood their ground for the sake of the rest of the country? What is Teagasc's view for the future? I will be very straight about my view. I heard people on about climate, food and the lot. We see the prices land reaches when there is a shortage. There are areas in the west, the north west, in Wicklow and in the Chair's own area that are really only suited to sheep or suckler cows. Dairying will not work in these areas. What is Teagasc's view on such areas and peaty ground? I have been watching Teagasc over the last while and it has made a fair bit of reference to the matter. What is its view? There is a new system for agitating in slatted tanks which allows the methane coming out of them to be reduced by 40% to 50%. Are there new technologies that will tick the boxes and get us through this?

How much research has been done over recent years? That is very important. Off the top of my head, I believe some work on this is done in Athenry. Everyone talks about what comes out of agriculture. If we do not know what it sequesters, we are giving the incorrect figure. Have we given the wrong figure over many years? When will Teagasc be able to give the right figure that includes the sequestration potential of all the hedgerows about which we have talked, the grass and all the different things that grow, to put it simply? On top of that, how much research has Teagasc done with regard to forestry? Am I correct in saying that, when the goods are being divvied out, the carbon credits arising from sequestration from forestry do not go to the agricultural sector but rather are spread between a few sectors? If these credits come from agriculture, they should come back to that sector.