Dr. Frank O'Mara:

I would like to add briefly to what has been said with regard to the nitrogen issue. There is a realisation and a desire within agriculture in Ireland to move to a system that uses less nitrogen, whether for greenhouse gas emissions, water quality or, now, for cost and availability. All of the strategies around how the sector is going to respond, whether EU driven, farm to fork or our own climate or food vision, envisage us transitioning to a lower nitrogen usage and replacing that with nitrogen that plants abstract from the air. The atmosphere is 70% nitrogen. The target of our advice is around how we can transition farmers, in particular our more intensive farmers, to a system of production where they are relying more on clover and multi-species swards to supply a lot of the nitrogen that they need for the system rather than on buying it and paying a €1,000 per tonne for it. That is the direction of travel. There are many drivers pushing and pulling the system in that regard.

The Deputy asked what would be the ask of Teagasc. We are a part of Government. We do not ask or tell Government what to do.