Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge and welcome our guests this afternoon. It is an important topic.

First of all, I apologise I missed part of their opening statement. I was delayed at another meeting.

There are significant challenges there for the industry, whether it is labour, access to grants, carbon tax and the price of plastic. The price of parts and of new machinery, particularly in the past six or eight months, has been a real issue that many contractors have come across in my part of the world.

That last comment is important. They are, more than ever, an important part of the wheel. It does not work without them in so many ways.

We had a discussion earlier on the trailing shoe and about low-emission spreading of slurry. The truth must be told. The majority of farmers in Ireland do not have tractors to pull this machinery. That is why we are all using low-emission spreading slurry tanks with a contractor. We all are aware of the benefits, both in economic and environmental terms. It is important that the agricultural community does what it can to make sure the contractors can avail of grants to make sure that we can have more low-emission slurry tanks, even though you would be probably waiting 18 months to get one at this stage.

It is an important part. If you look at the new Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, in particular, where we are going environmentally, whether it is how we will manage the spreading of fertiliser or whatever, in talking to my farming community, that is a topic that they are saying could be done by contractors. Given the price of a new fertiliser spreader with the new GPS heading up to €28,000 or €30,000, a normal farmer would not be availing of that. You would be looking to get a contractor to come in every ten days to do it in rotation because you would believe that would be the appropriate way to do business. We need to make sure that there is availability of grants so that we can get our contractors to spend the money to buy the machinery so that we can increase our environmental standing and also qualify for these new proposals in CAP.

We are intertwined. If the farming contractor is not on board, the entire venture goes off line. That is a real issue. Now more than ever, the contractors are such an important part of it.

I ask Mr. Moroney to comment on a few issues, in particular, the labour issue. From speaking to contractors a while ago, labour and access to competent and capable pilots who will be involved seems to be a significant issue for contractors at present. How is Mr. Moroney proposing to deal with that labour issue? I agree it is a significant issue on farms but I often say you would prefer to drive a tractor than milk cows. If the contractors are finding it hard to get labour, where will the industry go? What needs to be done to get people into the industry making sure there are competent people driving the machines?

Many members spoke on the grants issue. Access to TAMS, is such an obvious requirement, in particular, with the new environment. The majority of farmers are so busy that they will be moving to contract out more work, whether it is the zero-grazing, the slurry, the spreading of fertiliser or bringing in the first cut in the bales. These all will be part of the contractors' role but we need to have an industry that is lined up for it.

The carbon tax issue was touched on by Mr. Moroney, but I will go back to the price of machinery and parts, and the price of plastic to a lesser degree. The latter was an issue last year and probably will be an issue this year. The price of parts, particularly in the past number of months, has been an extraordinary issue. From talking to people in Cork, we have had parts inflation of anything up to 30% to 40% in the past few months. Mr. Moroney might share his thoughts on where that will affect the industry. Is it Brexit, is it shortages or where are the blockages regarding that issue?

Of course, then there is the price of new machinery. I was talking to a contractor a while ago and you would nearly buy a farm for what they are telling me they are buying tractors for now. It is so significant. That is why, if you have a 2,800 gallon tanker coming in with a trailing shoe, there is no normal dairy farmer or beef farmer who will have machinery to pull that. I refer to the expense that they are going to in order to get this work done. Mr. Moroney might share his thoughts on the cost of machinery and how sustainable it will be to have a fleet of five or six tractors of 200 horse power each in the yard. It is an amazing layout of capital. Is this sustainable? How can we make sure that they can survive if that is the projection of the way the industry is going?