Mr. Michael Scannell:

The Deputy raised a very important issue on how to reconcile sustainability with food security. It is no secret that the Commission is under much pressure to essentially accommodate concerns on food security at the cost of our sustainability objectives. For example, when the new CAP reform enters into force from 1 January next year, we should essentially postpone certain sustainability-orientated reforms to basically not compromise our production. Of course, there is a whole discussion to be had also on the extent to which sustainability measures are at the cost of productivity. There is a very strong body of evidence that suggest that these sustainability measures are essential to ensure the long-term viability of our systems and we should not abandon them for short-term fixes. On Monday, the agriculture Council will touch on many of these issues. The Commission will present an update on the current evaluation process of the CAP strategic plans and the extent to which, if any, they need to be fine-tuned to take account of the food security-related issue. Difficult choices will need to be taken.

The Deputy raised a very important issue on fertilisers. When I highlighted earlier that Europe is in a good position traditionally, thanks to the CAP, etc., we still have our vulnerabilities. I mentioned, in that context, fertiliser in particular. We import huge quantities of potash and phosphates, as well as huge quantities of gas for our nitrogen-based fertiliser industry. If those supplies were compromised for one reason or another, that would then call into question the availability and the cost of fertilisers, which in turn would have a big impact on farmers planting decisions and the prices they receive. If they choose, for example, to use lesser quantities of fertilisers, that would compromise yields, which again brings us back to food security. We are back, essentially, to the same kind of issues.

On the extent to which recent weather conditions have basically allowed them to escape the consequences of less fertiliser use, I do not think it is the weather conditions per se, but there is a so-called concept of a phosphate holiday. Basically, you can cut back on the usage of phosphates and potash for the short term. Generally levels in soils are sufficient and Teagasc does much work with farmers to basically identify where they might be deficient in this context. Essentially, you can cut back in the short term. The extent to which you can do that in a second growing cycle or, indeed, a third is questionable. If the Deputy asked me to highlight the areas that we need to keep very clearly on our radar moving forward in terms of food security, I would say fertiliser availability and, behind that, energy availability. I mentioned the forthcoming communication on the coming winter. That is very prominent on the radar.