Dr. Brendan Dunford:

The Senator raised some good points and I will be brief in responding. Where do farmers get advice on how to do that? They start by talking to other farmers. This year, the farm information ambassador winners were a wonderful family, Norman and Michael Dunne, who have done extraordinary things on their tillage farm. It is a substantial 300 ha tillage farm but they have very much reduced their levels of fertilisers, fungicides and other inputs, while sustaining production levels. Sharing the tried and tested knowledge of other farmers across the sector is something else. I could name plenty of others around the country, such as Andrew Bergin and Pat Lalor, who have been doing this for years and who have extraordinary results both financially and agriculturally to prove that it works.

The second point I am reminded of is this notion about new entrants. Another wish I have is that we could make it more accessible to young people who are not currently farming to get into farming. Access to land is so difficult and every industry needs innovation, fresh ideas and fresh input. That is a little lacking at present. It is very difficult for young farmers to access land. I have met a few of them and what they do when they access land is absolutely phenomenal.

The third point is about the paperwork. There is a lovely thing in what Dr. Moran, Mr. Donal Sheehan and I are proposing today in our systems. The European Court of Auditors visited us and they gave us the green light, saying that this type of results-based approach which one can capture using a simple app is a dream for them as auditors because everything is there to access. One does not need reams and reams of paper and this, that and the other. This is a very simple system administratively, and it is very important, in terms of our design principles, that it satisfies the needs of the farmer with regard to minimising bureaucracy, as well as the needs of the funder with regard to ensuring that taxpayers' money is well spent and is only spent on the delivery of outcomes.