Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

I met representatives of the pig industry recently and they made me fully aware of the difficulties currently being experienced by those farmers involved in the industry.

There is no doubt that the conditions surrounding the availability and pricing of feed materials have changed dramatically over the last six months. A number of factors have contributed to this rise in feed prices. These factors include the increased demand for feed materials generally and from the bio-fuel industry, particularly in the USA; unfavourable weather conditions worldwide which affected many of the major cereal growing regions; and the lack of synchronisation between the GM authorisation processes in the US and the EU.

Industry sources have indicated that the demand from the bio-fuels industry has significantly reduced the availability of feed materials for pig feed. The increase in the price of wheat is of particular significance. Efforts to secure alternative supplies to compensate for the shortfall caused by the weather conditions are hampered by bio-fuel industry demands. While whole maize is considered a suitable substitute for wheat its availability and price has also been affected by the demands of the bio-fuel industry. In addition the cost of soya has been forced up because of consequential increased demand.

The cost of inputs must have a knock-on effect to the consumer. Consumers will have to pay somewhat higher prices for their food products and producers will have to strive for even further efficiency gains. That said, the current high input costs cannot be sustained longterm into the future. However, I believe that cereal production in Ireland and in the EU will increase significantly in response to the market situation. This should be facilitated by the availability of set-aside land for cultivation in 2008. I hope also that the cereal producing regions will not suffer the weather conditions that pertained this year.

Efforts to substitute whole maize for the more expensive wheat are also hampered by the lack of synchronisation in the GM authorisation processes used in the US and the EU. This asynchronisation has caused US exporters and EU importers to act with caution because the consequences of detecting traces of EU unauthorised GM events in imported consignments are that the material has to be withdrawn from market. There is a real danger here that if the Commission does not act urgently in coalescing the two authorisation systems, the US exporters will continue to look to emerging feed markets in other parts of the world thereby giving rise to serious feed problems for the EU livestock industry in the not too distant future.

However, it is in this area of making more whole maize available for pig and poultry rations that I see the greatest potential for action. Indications are that new GM maize varieties will be introduced into the US cropping pattern year on year over the next number of years. If these varieties are not authorised quickly within the EU, the feed industry here will not be able to avail of the increased quantities of whole maize. A similar situation is set to develop in the use of soya from 2009 onwards with even more serious consequences. I am pleased the Commission is addressing this issue with its recent very worthwhile publication, Economic Impact of Unapproved GMOs on EU Feed Imports and Livestock Production.

I intend to remain in close contact with the pig industry representatives.

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