Mr. John Keane:

I thank the Senator. From the perspective of a young farmer and the Macra organisation, the narrative around farming and the environment can often be very negative. That is not necessarily down to farmers or an individual but there can be some finger-pointing at farmers. That is the perspective that is being put to us. As young farmers we are absolutely out to embrace the new technologies, farming practices and changes that would benefit the environment, biodiversity and water quality. Looking ten or 15 years down the line, if consumers are asking this of us and driving farmers to it, and if it benefits our farming practices and economic performance, it is something we must embrace and move towards.

There is the question of stakeholder involvement and feeling that we are part of a process. I am conscious that my experience is less than that of many those who are on this call but to succeed in any of these processes, we must encourage stakeholders and ensure they are part of the process. We must ensure that their input is heard right the way through, as opposed to looking for a perspective from a particular element once the process is nearly finished. There should be involvement with stakeholders, including farm organisations, young farmers and the environmental sector, all the way through. That can only produce a better perspective than not having that element.

The fear element comes from the fact that we are going through a vast amount of change within a short period of time, and we are looking to engage with that. For young farmers, a snapshot of the last three years of the targets set for farming between 2017 to now shows where the goalposts started, the rhetoric of where are we now and what we now have to aim for. Plans we might have put in place in 2017 and 2018 to deliver on targets or schemes might not be enough 12 or 24 months later. There has been a journey and change within a short period of time.

Farmers in general have to plan their businesses for a long number of years. We are making breeding decisions for herds that will affect them in three, four or five years time. The long-term planning aspect is important. Just because we do something today due to the fact we have the ambition to do something different in 18 months time does not mean we can adjust quickly. We made decisions a long time ago that already impact on what we are doing.

We need certainty and to be involved in the process. We have to embrace and engage with opportunities like this. In terms of getting our point of view across, feeling involved and ensuring that the sentiment of young farmers and farming in general are heard, more involvement from organisations during the process can only be positive as we move forward.