Tim Lombard (Fine Gael)
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I will be brief, as most of the statements have been made. Given the labour issue, where do the witnesses see the agriculture industry progressing in future? Will that be the new quota and the new barrier to development? During the boom, young people left agricultural colleges and some colleges closed. We have seen that happening again now to some degree, especially this year. Do the witnesses fear that the agricultural sector's real limitation is going to be young trained farmers - or labour of another nature - coming into the system? We have seen a ferocious growth in the dairy industry in the last two or three years since the quotas have gone. Would the witnesses agree that has benefitted the industry enormously but it is questionable how much the farmer on the group has benefitted?

The scaling up of farms - by up to 100% - has had a major social impact on what was a way of life. Would the witnesses agree that it is not just a way of life now, it is becoming a business and with that comes exceptional physical and mental pressures on farmers? How sustainable will the next generation be with those pressures? The real issue is generational change and getting young farmers into the industry. We have had a policy that has increased production and in many ways has left the farmer a slave to that production level with very little income. It was previously stated that the economic factors will ensure farmers will stay. If those economic factors are not good enough, will the farmers stay or in a decade will we have a huge issue because a young trained farmer network will not be coming through? The industry itself be could be in a very dangerous situation.