Tim Lombard (Fine Gael)
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It has been an informative session and I have learned a lot on the fuels and the levels required. I may be mistaken, but there is a conflict between what we have heard here today. The view of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is that even if we were to grow grain for this product, it would not be feasible and the farming community would not buy into it in large numbers. It is something like 1% now. Would we reach 7% with the current margins? That is the core of my question. We have had a lengthy discussion about the viability of the grain industry and where it is going. Acreages have fallen from perhaps 2,500 ha to anything as low as 1,500 ha now, which is a significant drop. No new land is being made available and what we have is what we have. Farmers have become more productive. In many ways there has been a major change in dairy and grassland production is one of the key drivers there, especially in my part of the world in the south. When it comes to the future of the grain industry, will farmers see it as a product to chase and one in which they see a future? Will they perceive it as a product that will keep the industry going, whether it is the knock-on effect of having land for nitrates or straw?

I question the figures. We can do anything up to 7%, and we are at 1% now, so we are 6% behind the curve in an industry that is running out of grain production. How do the witnesses see that turning around? Do they think farmers will see it as a commodity they will buy into as something that provides a sustainable future? We must consider that grain is probably at its lowest levels over the past decade. There have been four or five years of consistently low grain prices, although they have increased slightly this year on the previous two years but they have been at an all-time low. The committee has heard about a levelling-off of grain prices and a dramatic increase is not evident. Members were told that 40% of the grain market is already there. Ultimately, will that 6% be fixed by this cap or will we buy into it?