Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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I thank the Ornua representatives for their presentation, which I found very interesting. As somebody who is not from a farming background, it is amazing to hear about hedge funds and future derivatives being mentioned when speaking about dairying and farming. In the run-up to quotas being abolished, the committee was sold a great story about how it would be a great bonus for farmers and that everything was going to be fantastic after March 2015, but all of a sudden towards the end of last year and January this year it was all doom and gloom, prices were going to collapse, everything was going to go haywire and farmers were in big bother. This signifies the volatility. The committee heard about how China was roaring ahead with importing dairy products, but Mr. Collins has told us this was just a blip. How could this not have been foreseen as being a blip rather than as something sustainable? Mr. Collins also mentioned an increase of 14% in butterfat in 2014. How likely is this to be a blip? What impact will it make on dairy farmers? Will Mr. Collins explain how farmers can hedge risk? How will this work? It sounds like getting involved in the markets, trading and insurance policies. What exactly will it involve?