Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following:

“acknowledges:— the economic role of the agrifood sector and the importance of Food Harvest 2020 which is being led by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine as a strategic vision for the agrifood sector;

— the increase in employment in the food and beverage manufacturing sector between 2010 and 2012 and the potential for 25,000 new direct and indirect jobs through the delivery of Food Harvest 2020 targets;

— the initiatives taken by the Minister in leading several trade missions, most recently to China and the USA, to develop new markets for the Irish agrifood sector and the opening of markets in Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and South Africa for Irish produce; and

— the commitment of the Government to the Irish agrifood sector, evidenced by the strategic importance attached to the agrifood sector in budget 2012;recognises:— the importance of an effective and well-resourced Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, in creating sustainable development of agriculture across Europe supporting the ambitions and targets of the Irish agricultural sector;

— that the amount of EU funding attributable to CAP will depend on the outcome of parallel negotiations for the new multi-annual financial framework for the EU budget from 2014 onwards;

— the need for the current reform discussions to respond to future challenges for agriculture and rural areas, increasingly from external sources, so as to maintain viable food production, sustainable management of natural resources and respond to climate changes; and

— the reform proposals in respect of the distribution of funds among and within member states and the need to retain levels of funding and provide maximum flexibility for member states;supports the Minister in continued strong negotiations on CAP reform in order to maintain Ireland’s direct payments and rural development at current levels as a means of best achieving Food Harvest 2020 targets; and

notes:— the importance of payments to farmers under the single farm payment, the rural environment protection scheme, REPS, the agri-environment options scheme, AEOS, and the disadvantaged area scheme, DAS;

— the introduction of a new €20 million AEOS scheme which will deliver an annual income in return for farming to high environmental standards;

— the advance payment of the 2012 single farm payment from 16 October which will represent the early payment of some €600 million to farmers;

— the payment of some €161 million to date under the DAS, benefiting close to 76,000 farmers; and

— the payment of €64 million under 2011 REPS to date.”

I thank Deputy Ó Cuív and the Fianna Fáil Party for bringing forward this Private Member's motion. Today is a very significant day, both for farming in terms of the strong statement that thousands of farmers made on the streets of Dublin today, but also in terms of the agrifood industry generally. The announcement by Kerry Group this morning that it is making the single biggest food innovation investment ever witnessed in Ireland is hugely significant. Not only will this create 900 permanent jobs and 400 temporary construction jobs, it is a fundamental endorsement of the Government's Food Harvest 2020 strategy, the innovation agenda which has been driving the Government's efforts to build a reputation for creativity, enterprise and innovation through the food sector. Graduates emerging from agrifood courses in universities and agricultural colleges across the country will now have an opportunity to compete for high-end jobs in one of the world's leading food nutritional and ingredients companies.

At the heart of the Food Harvest 2020 strategy is innovation. We are taking a strategic approach to developing quality food products, adding value and competing at the top end of markets worldwide. Kerry is leading the way with this investment in terms of innovation but I believe other companies will follow in time.

I want to focus today on the progress that has been made in the agrifood sector since the Government took office. Political priority has been attached to the sector from the very beginning and the agrifood and drink industry is now recognised as a major building block for recovery in the economy. In my view, it is by far the most important sector within the economy and has proved its worth today.

A significant amount has been achieved in 18 months. The strategic vision for the agrifood sector, Food Harvest 2020, which was put in place during the last Government's time in office, has been an integral part of this progress. The vision is simple - smart, green and sustainable growth for the agrifood sector. I published a second progress report on Food Harvest 2020 during the summer which shows how targets are being met. Action has commenced or has been advanced on 90% of the Food Harvest recommendations. Significant progress has been achieved to date on the main growth targets, including a 19% increase in the value of primary production against the 33% projected target for 2020, while exports have already reached 10% of the planned 42% growth by 2020.

An independent report recently published in Trinity College estimates that achieving Food Harvest 2020 targets could deliver 25,000 new direct and indirect jobs. The Irish food and drink sector is now truly operating on a global scale. In 2011, agrifood exports were valued at €8.84 billion, a 12% increase on the previous year. In fact, agrifood exports accounted for almost a quarter of the total increase in revenue from goods exported in 2011. From primary producers to food industry giants like Kerry Group, the agrifood industry is working together to develop high end, quality products with added value, aimed at key emerging markets. Food Harvest 2020 is a work in progress and will continue to be. We have quarterly targets which are monitored by my Department and we constantly review how the strategy is being rolled out to meet the targets in terms of what the market demands.

On a macro level, we are starting to see some of the ambition of Food Harvest 2020 being met in terms of trade opportunities opening up for the sector. Earlier this year, I visited China to discuss the possibilities around developing trade relations between our two countries. Subsequently, we signed an action plan on mutual co-operation between the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and my Department on both the agriculture and fisheries sectors, as well as protocols in a number of specific areas. Tangible examples of this kind of co-operation are now starting to become more visible. Kerry Group last week signed a partnership agreement with Beingmate of China for the supply of Irish dairy ingredients for infant nutrition applications in China, and it is worth noting that Beingmate has 5 million customers a day buying its product. These kinds of partnerships will be hugely important to Ireland in a post-quota climate where secure paths to market for increased levels of production will be vital.

A number of new markets for Irish produce have come on stream within the last few months. The United Arab Emirates recently removed the age restriction on beef exported from Ireland to the UAE. Agreement was reached with the veterinary authorities in South Africa which allows for the exportation of sheepmeat from Ireland to South Africa. A similar agreement for sheepmeat was reached with the veterinary authorities in Singapore. I also led a trade mission to the USA during the summer months, focusing on a number of areas, including beef access to the United States, which I believe will materialise in the not-too-distant future. My visit to Beloit, the location of the Kerry Group's headquarters outside Chicago, was made for obvious reasons, as people will understand from the developments at 10 o'clock this morning.

In March of this year, I launched a €2 million Africa agrifood development fund with my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Joe Costello, which is supporting new partnerships between the agrifood sectors in Ireland and exciting new growing markets in Africa. I hope to visit a number of other countries between now and the end of the year to continue to drive new market opportunities for Irish produce. I will be in Saudi Arabia for three days in November with that in mind.

We are now exploiting the potential that exists for Irish companies due to significant investment in recent years across traceability, food safety, veterinary practices and animal husbandry. This is now opening up new markets which are looking for the kind of standards and quality that we have come to expect in the Irish agrifood sector.

To ensure new and growing markets have a sustainable and secure supply of top quality produce, we have to make sure the fundamentals of primary production are firmly in place. In last year's budget, the Government, in particular the Minister for Finance, recognised we need to get the basics right for the future if we are to drive the Food Harvest 2020 agenda. We introduced a range of measures that are designed to help the sector to plan for the future at farm level and to allow the next generation a chance to thrive. Budget 2012 introduced a new stock relief incentive to encourage farm partnerships and a reduced stamp duty rate on agricultural land from 6% to 2%, with a half rate of 1% applicable to transfers to close relatives until the end of 2014, a change that will substantially reduce the stamp duty payable on transfers of farm land by gift or by sale. We introduced the restructuring of the retirement relief on capital gains tax to incentivise the earlier transfer of farm assets to the next generation and to encourage the sale of land by those farmers with no successors. We introduced a capital gains tax incentive for property purchased before the end of 2013 to try to stimulate the land market. I put it to Deputy Ó Cuív that things are happening; it is not just talk.

If we are to drive our reputation and market access globally, we also need to ensure that we have the science to back up what we already know, namely, Ireland is one of the most sustainable, environmentally friendly and low carbon producers of food on the planet. Bord Bia recently launched Origin Green, a national sustainability development programme which will help Ireland become a world leader in sustainably produced food and drink. If Members have not already done so, I urge them to look at the promotional video accompanying this initiative, which features Saoirse Ronan, who offered her time free of charge to support the project. In my view, it encompasses all that is good about Irish food.

Some 64 Irish food and drink companies have registered their interest in Origin Green, with a commitment to meet key sustainability targets and deliver a progress report on an annual basis. The companies are signed up to a sustainability charter which will ask them to reduce energy inputs, minimise their overall carbon footprint and reduce their impact on the environment. This will not only make them more environmentally sustainable, but also more efficient in terms of how their companies are run. The aim is to arrive at a place where 75% of all food and drink exports are sourced from Origin Green members before the end of 2014 and 100% by the end of 2016.

This programme is building on work Bord Bia and Teagasc have already been undertaking with farmers across the country. Ireland is the first country in the world to monitor the carbon footprint of producers on a national scale. A pilot programme for the dairy industry was initiated in 2011 and a national scheme, equivalent to that operational in the beef sector, will be implemented in 2012 to 2013. By the end of this year we will have the carbon footprint of 32,000 beef farms in the country. Within the next two years we will have audited and have the carbon footprint of all 18,000 dairy farms in the country.

The day of action the IFA organised today sent a strong signal to the Government, the European Commission and consumers at home and abroad that the Common Agricultural Policy is a fundamental part of our agricultural future and food security. I compliment those who organised the day of demonstration. It was handled very well. The inconvenience caused to those living in Dublin was within reason and kept to a minimum. The IFA deserves significant recognition for this, considering the numbers involved.

From an Irish perspective, I wish to ensure we have a well resourced CAP, that the country retains its share of CAP funds and that as a state we have flexibility in delivering reforms on a national level. There are two strands of negotiations ongoing on the CAP and they are fundamentally intertwined; the multiannual financial framework, MFF, negotiations, which is euro-speak for the European Union's budget, to decide the overall EU budget, the amount for the CAP and the allocation for Ireland. The CAP reform negotiations will decide the future policy framework for EU agriculture in terms of how the money is spent and the schemes it will support. The timescale for and delivery of CAP reform will be linked with the level of progress made in the MFF negotiations, something my Department and I are watching closely.

Throughout the summer and in recent weeks, I have travelled extensively to try to communicate Ireland's position on the CAP to other agriculture Ministers and Commissioner Ciolos whom I have met on numerous occasions on the matter. I also sought to learn what the key issues were for other countries. During the summer I was to Rome, Berlin, Budapest, Paris, Strasbourg, the three Baltic states, as well as Brussels, Cyprus and Luxembourg. This must be done to drive reform and achieve consensus at EU level, but with 27 member states and widely varying interests, it will be challenging to reach an acceptable outcome to the CAP negotiation process. I will not sign up to an outcome that is not in the interests of Irish farming.

One of the most crucial issues for the country will be the allocation of direct payments within member states. The priority for Ireland is to have as much flexibility as possible for member states with regard to payment models. The Commission's proposal to move to a flat national or regional rate would cause large transfers from the more productive farms to more marginal and less productive land. We want flexibility to limit the amount a farmer could lose in a redistribution and to achieve this, we have proposed an "approximation" model, by which all payments could move gradually towards but not fully to an average payment. A number of other member states now support the Irish proposal, including Portugal, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Luxembourg and, in principle, France. This has not happened by accident. In the coming weeks I will travel to various locations around the country. We have organised large public meetings with the IFA and the Irish Farmers' Journalto speak to farmers directly about why we have taken certain positions on the CAP and what the final compromise outcome might look like. I encourage Deputies to come along to these meetings if they wish to contribute to them.

The retail environment is another issue which was highlighted successfully by farm bodies today. I am happy to report the Government is making progress in this area. The programme for Government commits the Government to introduce legislation to have a sense of balance between producers and retail buyers. The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, will introduce a consumer and competition Bill which is due for publication during the current Dáil session. The Bill will make provision for a mandatory code of conduct for the grocery goods sector. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has been closely involved in the development of the code.

I acknowledge that the past 18 months have not been easy for many involved in the agrifood sector, particularly given the poor weather we experienced during the summer. I recognise that not all farms will be able to take advantage of the opportunities I have outlined in terms of Food Harvest 2020 because of their location or restrictions on production. That is why I have availed of every opportunity to bring forward advance payments where possible and introduce schemes to assist those farmers who rely heavily on them for income.

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