Mary White (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)

As someone who was elected in a rural constituency by many small hill farmers and land owners, I welcome this debate which encompasses many issues concerning Irish agriculture, such as food supply and security, prices and issues of fair trade, socio-economic progress in developing countries and environmental protection. I commend the Minister on her efforts on behalf of Ireland during the EU negotiations and at the world trade talks.

The current proposals from Crawford Falconer are far from satisfactory. It is said that Rossini wept three times in his life: first, when he heard an air by Paganini; second, when his opera was hissed off stage; and, third, when the Rossini family turkey fell off a platter and rolled into Lake Garda. If he were alive today and read these proposals, he might well have shed a fourth tear. Many of the proposals outlined by the WTO agricultural negotiating committee in February are unsatisfactory to Irish and European farming communities. The significant tariff reductions proposed include a 60% cut in carcass beef, 50% in boneless beef, as well as cuts in butter and skimmed milk powder and similar cuts for whole milk, lamb and pig meat. These cuts would make life miserable for many in Irish agriculture. I have confidence in the Minister representing the Irish position and I trust she will continue to highlight her concerns to the WTO agricultural negotiating committee and to Commissioner Mandelson.

With global staple food prices having increased by 80% in the past three years, it is vital that the repercussions of any deal do not put any undue burden on Irish suppliers. We need to highlight several other issues as the EU works towards a deal. The global danger from climate change means environmental protection must underpin any agreement. Agriculture is already seeing the effects of climate change. Too major regions of food supply have seen such effects in recent years. Australia has experienced two of its most severe droughts on record in the past five years. Its grain output in 2006 fell by 20 million tonnes, which is half of its average output. Its milk yield in 2007 was only 60% of that in 2001. Flooding in Brazil and Argentina has seen reduced food supply, all of which drive up prices throughout the world.

We have gone from a situation where CAP reform in the early 1990s was aimed at compensating cereal producers for a drop in prices, and where such reforms led to reduced incentives for farmers to increase production, to a situation where climate change, rising population — perhaps 8.5 billion by 2025, according to the UN — and increased expenditure of disposable income on food by people in the developed world have resulted in massive price increases. The carbon footprint of food, the issue of biofuels and other such issues must be factored into any deal. We must not end up in a situation where all our beef is Brazilian, all our apples are Chinese, our asparagus is from Peru and our green beans from Kenya. Increased transport and exports equals more carbon dioxide emissions. If experts are expecting food demand to triple by 2050 due to world population and economic growth, it would be absurd to have environmentally unsustainable movements of food while discouraging our own farmers from growing more.

We in the Green Party recognise that the issue of land use and biofuels is not simplistic. We will review our current policies regarding land for cereals being used for biofuels and will support major investment in second generation biofuels. There is a serious problem with food prices, exacerbated by the amount of land used for biofuels. A total of 8 million hectares in the US, which once provided animal feed and food, is now being used for biofuel production. Large areas of Brazil, Argentina, Canada and eastern Europe are diverting sugar cane, palm oil and soya bean crops to biofuel. This year, 18% of all US grain production will go to biofuels. The President of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, stated that all staple food prices had risen by 80% in three years and that 33 countries faced unrest due to rising prices.

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