Mr. Enda Monaghan:

We said there was something wrong and went to the Department, knowing that the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, was being brought in to ask that it put in place a very good organic scheme or have two schemes that could work together. We wanted to frontload the payment on the first 20 ha, then the next 20 ha and so on down the line to help the small farmer. The Department moved from a figure of 55 ha to 60 ha and the payment moved from €106 to €170, which we welcomed. We wanted the payment on the first 20 ha to be €340, on the next 20 ha to be €225 and on the following 20 ha to be €100. It would not have been very different, but it would have helped. We were told it had gone for the bigger size to bring in the bigger tillage farmers. Approximately 90% of the meal we use is imported to feed our stock. That is why we wanted everyone to receive a small payment to sow his or her own crop instead of giving the money to the bigger farmer, but the Department did not heed us. We came here 18 months ago after the new scheme had just been brought in. Under the old scheme the average size of herd was 20 and the average number of hectares for tillage was 11.

Under the new scheme, the average herd increased to 25 and the size of the average tillage farm had decreased to 8 ha. Straight away, one could see that the change was making matters worse. There were more cattle and sheep to feed and less tillage. It obviously had not worked. Now the money has run out but the Department has stated that the scheme is very successful scheme. There are approximately 1,600 or 1,700 farmers on the scheme, which is welcome. It is the case, however, that there are lots of cattle and lots of sheep but no feed. Now the Department is saying that if it gets more money for the scheme, it is going to target it towards tillage or dairy farming. Every farmer in the scheme was looking for a payment to sew his own tillage, whether it was in respect of corn, turnips, kale or whatever.

Can we get to 5% in respect of organic production? I cannot see a reason why not. Even 10%, if the schemes were put in place. I have said previously that most of the production along the west coast from Kerry to Donegal is essentially organic. It is not certified that way, however, because the scheme does not suit. It is down to money. The budget for organic farming is in the region of €10 million. The budget for the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS, is €290 million per year. There is a big cohort looking for the GLAS money. If some of that money was diverted to organic production, the price relating to all the cattle and sheep that would go into organic would increase immediately. Even though it would be the same volume, the export value would be a lot more. I cannot see why we cannot increase to 5% or 10%.

Austria and other countries in Europe were mentioned. They would not have the same high standards as Ireland. In some countries, it is possible to buy standard cattle from a conventional farmer. For example, one could buy a one month old calf from such a farmer. If one kept that calf for three months, one would have it for three quarters of its life. That animal would be automatically designated as organic. An Irish farmer cannot feed a calf milk replacer because there are no organic milk replacers available here. There are road shows and the Department and the certification bodies run promotional campaigns by which farmers will taken in. For the first two years, matters might not be too bad because farmers who become involved are not paid a premium because it takes two years to qualify as organic. Eventually, after another three years, they get out of it. In effect, there is a revolving door.