Mr. John Spink:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to present on behalf of Teagasc today. The current situation in the sector has been well covered so I will look to the future and outline some of the things we are doing in Teagasc to try to improve the situation in the sector.

Our predictions for 2026 are as follows. The beans and oilseed rape, which traditionally are break crops between the profitable cereal crops, are predicted to be the most profitable crops for the coming season. In the case of beans, that is due almost entirely to the protein aid scheme, which Ms Byrne just mentioned. In terms of oilseed rape, because of the reduced production of oilseed rape in the UK due to flea beetle and the need to feed, I think, three large oilseed rape presses there, the UK is sourcing a lot of the crop grown in Ireland, or what it can. Barley and wheat are the most widely grown crops and they are predicted to deliver the lowest profitability available to farmers.

I will move on to discussing what Teagasc has been doing. From a research perspective, and with a lot of support from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Teagasc has been looking to develop higher value markets for Irish tillage crops, for example, the drinks industry. We have established, with capital support from the Department, the national centre for brewing and distilling, which was mentioned briefly earlier. We have been trying to demonstrate the value of Irish wheat in whiskey production and to get more Irish grains utilised in the drinks industry.

Teagasc has also had a number of products looking at fractionation, particularly of protein crops, to develop human food ingredients and get some of the pulses and peas that we can crow into those higher markets.

As mentioned briefly earlier, about 18 months ago, we developed a life cycle assessment tool for Irish combinable crops. Earlier this year, that was incorporated into AgNav, and early results indicate that Irish grain has a very low carbon footprint in comparison with international competitors. We hope that will support the use of Irish grain in future.