Ms Kate Carmody:

I would like to comment on the peat soils. Some 200 years ago, they were identified by the Bog Commission as ideal for growing hemp and flax. To return to the dairy farmer, very good work was done in Holland with harvesting hemp in the green format, before it is matured. It was put into grass silage at a 5% incorporation rate and this increased the yield of dairy cows by 1,000 litres per cow. There is also the mobile biorefinery. Members may have heard of Biorefinery Glas. It could go from community to community and separate out the leaf and flower of the hemp plant, taking out the oil and protein and the sugar, leaving a cake-like dried cutting.

That could be put into silage. They have done experiments with that in Holland.