Paraic Brady (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry I missed the presentation. Our product in Ireland has always been known as Irish and green. We are known to have a clean, environmental way of farming. I am a suckler sheep farmer. We depend on grain to feed weanlings and feed cows and sheep during the winter. In regard to grain growers, how much of the product is forward bought by processors here? Can I have some comments on three-crop rotation? When we were in Europe last week, three-crop rotation seemed to be the pillar on which European farmers model themselves. Another issue relates to straw chopping and putting straw back into the ground. Straw is a commodity that suckler and sheep farmers depend on for bedding. Last year, suckler farmers were paying €50 a bale for round bales of straw. It was absolutely crazy, especially when we knew that straw was being chopped into the ground. Grain growers received money for chopping straw into the ground. There has to be a better way. Some joined-up thinking must be put into the process regarding this. There has to be a valued amount in straw per year. This year, straw is probably of lesser value - maybe half of what it was - but it is still going to be used up, if not this year then certainly next year. What are the witnesses’ thoughts on crop rotation, forward buying and what percentage of Irish-grown grain goes into the pig, poultry and agriculture industries here? As has been touched on by others, we know that processors import a lot of grain. Soya is an important part of the grain industry here and is a big import. Is there a byproduct here that can fill in for soya so that we can support grain growers? If there is, will the witnesses give us some insights on that? I apologise again for missing the presentation earlier.