Mr. Clive Carter:

I will give a brief rundown. The tillage sector in Ireland is a fantastic sector, with many positives for food security, including its carbon footprint and its environmental credentials, but it is currently in a massive crisis. We have had three bad years in a row. The area under tillage has fallen 40% in 40 years. The key ask in our budget submission was for €92.5 million per year over the next five years, given that a certain level of promises were made by all the Government parties pre-election. That would entail a €350 per hectare payment over the next five years. This investment might seem a tall ask to some, but let us remember it is coming from a very low base of investment compared to other agricultural sectors.

Poor policy support has led to a long-term decline in the past 30-odd years. Regarding the importation of feedstuffs, we have often heard of Mercosur but, as Irish tillage farmers, we have been dealing with imports from Mercosur countries for 30 years. There is unbalanced competition. We are importing GM crops but are unable to access GM technology here, and we have a much higher cost of production here in Ireland. One of the current crises is the land rental market. A vast proportion of the arable area used by tillage farmers, probably 50%, was on rental land but this has dropped to just over 30% in the past couple of years. Tillage farmers are priced out of the market and cannot compete with other sectors, such as the dairy industry. There are also rising production costs, such as for machinery, fertiliser, diesel and other fuels.

The policy actions required include taxation support for low-carbon tillage crops and a reward for biodiversity. Every acre under tillage has a biodiversity value. There is also the issue of marketing. Irish grain has a gold standard under IGAS, the Irish grain assurance scheme, that many other countries have not yet achieved. However, there is no promotion budget under either Bord Bia or Origin Green. We do not have any such body promoting Irish grain.

With regard to the drinks industry, the technical files have to be revisited to consider the inclusion of Irish grain or the maximisation of Irish grain in the drinks industry.