Mr. Louis McAuley:

Definitely. On some of the core crops going into the last one, the research was so limited that it did not show the benefits in the way it could have done. As a result, there was less of a weighting put on them. However, if that was shown to be better, as it is showing on our farms, it would receive a greater backing in the CAP and play a greater role.

In the context of small farms, there are different examples of the farming community. One benefit we would have is that much less machinery is required in order to farm in this way. Under the other system, the small farm requires a contractor to do all of this cultivation and the various elements that go with it. However, we have a couple of examples in our group where a couple of farmers got together. With small farms, they would not be able to justify the full rigmarole for conventional tillage but they bought a direct drill or no-till drill between them and that empowered them to go and do it for themselves. Working in a partnership, they have the option to do little bits of contracting for their neighbours who are also interested. That is one example of a smaller farm given a little injection of life with this system.

There would be other such examples. With a small livestock farmer in the locality, our cover crops are an option for him to graze for the winter. It is closing the loop a little bit, linking the traditional tillage farms and livestock farmers together. There is the potential for co-operation, such as straw-for-dung agreements, where if we all work on our own we can run into all sorts of challenges but if one has straw to sell, he or she may be much more interested in doing so if he or she will get the dug back. These are simple principles but the potential for what can be achieved is limitless.

UCD was mentioned. We have had a presentation from Dr. Saoirse Tracy on soil scanning. Dr. Tracy, as part of her research, is looking at what we are doing, but from a technical point of view, and seeing it in a scientific way. Definitely, we would love to work more with UCD. That is an example of how science and scientists can put a value and some numbers on it and give us more verifiable evidence of what we are doing.