Mr. James Healy:

I will try to work down through each of the comments. I agree that from the perspective of the agricultural industry the environment will be the greatest challenge we face. This question has been central to much public discourse during the past 12 months. Let us consider carbon dioxide and climate change as one issue. While there are many sectors of various industries that are equally to blame, agriculture seems to be the sector that is easiest to blame or the sector that seems to attract most of the blame. That is a battle that we need to be conscious of no matter what we are discussing. We believe precision agriculture can feed positively into that. I mentioned that fertiliser, sprays and so on play a major part in water quality. There is considerable focus on that at the moment with the dairy sustainable forum and the setting up of the agricultural sustainability support and advisory programme. The idea is that the dairy industry, the local authority waters and communities office and the Departments come together to focus on 190 catchment areas throughout the country. This will enable farmers and those tasked with inspecting them to work together in more of a collaborative arrangement to try to improve things together. The last thing the farmer wants is for someone to walk in to inspect him. If someone can give a farmer advice and guidance, it is far more likely to achieve success as part of a collaborative arrangement.

The comments on sustainability are correct. There are three elements to it. While everyone thinks of the environmental element, the social and economic elements are relevant as well. For farming to be sustainable, there has to be sustainable income.

That probably feeds in to much of the discussion around young farmers. If we want young people to enter the industry there has to be a sustainable income for them. One point of concern to our organisation at present is that during the mid 2000s there was a major decrease in the number of young people attending agricultural college. We are starting to see a similar situation again. Numbers have dropped off in some of the colleges, although not all of them. If the building industry or other industries begin to pick up again, I fear the numbers going into full-time agriculture will drop and the number of those going to the various agriculture colleges will drop off again. This will place further pressure on those colleges. It is about showing that there can be an income that will sustain two families, as mentioned by Deputy Martin Kenny.

Whether it is a partnership or by management, there has to be an ability for a farm to support two families and that is probably the biggest question at the moment. We are discussing income but a lot of that comes back to the supports under the CAP. Front-loading it for smaller family farms is the most prevalent model in Ireland and I consider it to be the most successful. In our own committees, one of the things we discuss most is what size of farmer one needs to be to earn the average industrial wage. Between 80 and 100 cows have traditionally been enough to support a family. However, with the difficulties regarding labour, farmers who are going beyond that have a decision to make because a huge jump has to be made to justify a second labour unit.

For those who are encouraging young people on their career paths, showing that agriculture can provide a sustainable income plays a huge part but it has a reputation as a career with long hours and small wages. In secondary schools, teachers and career guidance professionals tend to dismiss agriculture, although that is probably born out of ignorance of the variety of careers open to people who have done an agriculture course. It is important to open the eyes of the people involved in the education of our young people as to the viability of farming. We also need to sell a positive message about the agricultural sector, and not just farming. There has been a change among people rearing children. Our parents are probably most to blame for turning us off farming because they told us to do anything but farming. However, people now realise that farming can be a nice way to spend one's life and to rear children. It is now time to show those shaping the lives of children in education that farming can provide people with a viable career.

Deputy Cahill asked about broadband. We had our national AGM at the weekend and I spoke about broadband at that. I said we were being left behind in rural Ireland. The rural broadband scheme is often mentioned but seldom seen. It is important to get away from the belief that it has to be optical fibre because technology is advancing and there are now many different ways of providing high-speed broadband, which need to be explored further.

Deputy Martin Kenny asked about low food miles and we have discussed this in our committees. We held a consultation of members over the winter on the question of developing a number of policies for the various sectors and one of the things that came up concerned tillage, and the fact that we were importing a lot of feed in the dairy and beef sectors. The question needs to be asked of farmers whether they would pay a bit more for a ration that could be guaranteed 100% Irish. To our knowledge, however, there is only one feed supplier in the country that can guarantee a 100% Irish ration. All sectors are interdependent and people support others at various times. The wheel is always turning and, at any one point, one person is making a profit while somebody else is not.

In answer to Senator Mac Lochlainn's question, we were the first farming organisation in Europe to come out with a policy position on the next CAP and we have relaunched our document, given that this month we will see a lot of decisions being made.

Commissioner Hogan spoke in Kilkenny and at this committee. He was very positive about our document. We see a number of things as being pivotal. The budget is one thing that is important to all farm organisations. Another thing is the definition of an active farmer. We want to ensure those actively farming and in control of farms are getting their payments. The current definitions tend to rule out golf courses and airports rather than say who can receive CAP payments. An active farmer has to show an element of development and has to show he is improving, whether that is with a farm business plan, showing payments for public goods, increasing stocking rates or continuous professional development. This may create an administrative burden but the definition of an active farmer is absolutely critical.

Of particular importance to the young farmer is the removal of the five-year rule, particularly as it has created generations of young farmers who have been left behind. We try our best every year to come up with innovative ways to support them. We were on the farm of John Buckley in west Cork on Friday evening. He is one such farmer and he showed some initiative in creating a milk partnership with his father in the mid-2000s but he was left behind for doing it. Farmers should not be left behind because of being forward-thinking but should be rewarded. Whether through a fully-funded, continuously available national reserve or the removal of the five-year rule, it is vital to ensure this does not happen again.

The land mobility service is something a lot of countries around Europe are looking at. It came from Macra and has only been possible through the support of the Department and FBD Trust. A number of co-operatives have joined with us to pilot it. The proof of the pudding is in the eating and, in the four years since it piloted, there have been over 400 arrangements, which do not generally include inter-family partnerships because they tend to look after themselves. It gives an opportunity to a young farmer to access land to which he would not otherwise have access. They spread their wings and get experience in the process. Tax changes and reliefs in respect of long-term leasing have given them the confidence to take on long leases and invest in ground, to get away from conacre. It is about continuing to support those who have no family history of agriculture and to encourage them to take a chance on agriculture as a career.

We are trying to roll out the land mobility service nationwide this year. We are speaking to all the co-operatives and Meat Industry Ireland has committed to it. We believe it can be of use across all sectors.

Obviously we would not say no if a measure such as installation aid were to be re-introduced because the investment that has to be made to begin farming is huge. In my particular case, my uncle is dairy farming in north Cork on what is probably as heavy ground as one would see anywhere in the country. He has no children and he probably did not see any successor coming. He has looked at me and we have decided we will do something at some point. When he saw nobody coming there was a lack of investment put into the farm, so to begin farming efficiently and profitably again will require a huge investment. The installation aid that was there previously was a huge boost to farmers starting out.

To be fair, something we recognise, which is not in the document, is the retirement scheme. We did not include it at the time because whenever it was discussed at EU level it was absolutely dismissed out of hand. Having heard the comments of the Commissioner, Mr. Hogan, over the past while it seems like something that is certainly coming back onto the table. As was mentioned, it is important to give those stepping back from farming the security of an income and security to know they will not end up homeless or that their children will not kick them out of the home, and to give them the confidence and security that they can hand over control and maybe even ownership of the land.

This is probably a summary of the most important elements. If anybody wants to have a look at the document we brought some copies with us. These are the most important issues with regard to shaping the next CAP.

The cost of leasing land was mentioned and this is certainly a barrier. To be fair to the banks, they seem to be willing to back young farmers, but to receive backing one must have a solid business plan that adds up. I hope the banks are benchmarking at the right level. Given the winter and spring we have had, and the way milk prices seemed to be heading at the start of the year, I hope they have their sums done correctly because the last thing we want to see as an organisation is young farmers loaded up to the gills with debt and being the next generation of people stuck working to pay off debts more than anything else. Certainly the cost of leasing land at present is huge and is placing pressure on farmers. What kills it altogether is that one ends up giving back the value of the entitlements to the landowner. When that is included the money is staggering.

I hope I have covered everything for everybody so far.