John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----who are very important to agricultural production in this country. As the Minister will know, we have very productive farmers in Wexford and very strong food products are provided by them. We have Irish Country Meats, Slaney Meats, Kavanagh Meats and a number of companies which provide very valuable job opportunities for the people of Wexford. In addition to paying good money to farmers for their products, they provide considerable employment in the county and we want that to continue.

The Minister, in the negotiations, was always going to be against the clock in trying to protect the amount of money available, but we must recognise the importance of agriculture to this country. It is one area of the economy which, in recent years, has expanded, developed and provided some hope for the future.

One of the concerns expressed to me by farmers in the south east is the reduction in the size of CAP funding. As Deputy Moynihan said, there will be a reduction of approximately 11%. The direct payments pot remains unchanged at €277 billion, which amounts to a €58 billion reduction in the current budget, beginning in 2014. The single farm payment allocation to Ireland has been reduced by €42 million and there is serious concern in the farming community about how this will pan out. If farmers have to take a reduction, it will affect their operations in the future. It is very important that the Minister, in conjunction with the Parliament, fights to ensure farmers' incomes are protected.

Heading 2, covering agriculture, rural development, fisheries and financial instruments for the environment and climate action, should not exceed €373 billion, of which €277 billion will be dedicated to market-related expenditure and direct payments. I read in today's Irish Examiner that the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan, cast doubt on Leader spending. As the Minister will know, I have argued for quite some time that the Leader programme should revert to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine because the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan, and his Department have made a bags of it. The Leader programme is currently on hold in terms of approving projects. That has gone on for two months and Leader projects throughout the country have told me they have a number of projects ready to be approved but they cannot get any direction from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. Will the Minister intervene? There are some good and worthwhile projects in the pipeline which cannot get approval as the programme is on hold in the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. It has said a review is being carried out and the Minister, Deputy Hogan, said this cast doubt on Leader spending of €314 million. Those involved with Leader projects have told me they would spend that money and more if they had it. There seems to be a conflict between the Leader programmes and the Minister, Deputy Hogan. As the Minister in the House knows, good and worthwhile projects have been approved by Leader in my county and, I am sure, in every other county. The hands of the boards of Leader projects are tied, and I ask the Minister to intervene. I argued with the former Minister, Deputy Ó Cuív, that it was a major mistake to take the Leader programme out of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. It should always be in that Department because it concerns rural development.

I support what Deputy Moynihan said about the fodder crisis. It may not be as big a problem in County Wexford as in other counties. I am sure some Wexford farmers are benefitting by selling fodder to other parts of the country, although it is a problem in some parts of County Wexford. It is a major problem nationally and I have been contacted by the IFA and the ICMSA in this regard. The Minister should engage in serious negotiations with farmer organisations to ensure that some reasonable solution is found to this issue, which is of major concern to farmers.

I refer to Harvest 2020. We received a document in the past week from Food and Drink Industry Ireland entitled "Shaping the agri-food future: Policy priorities of the food and drink sector 2013". It refers to achieving the targets of 2020 not only in the production area but in new and existing markets and in developing markets in the EU and further afield. What proposals does the Minister have in that area? What working arrangements does he have with Food and Drink Industry Ireland and the primary producers in regard to moving on the processing and production facilities required in the future?

In regard to the removal of the milk quotas in the next couple of years, many farmers have told me they will need major financial investment if they are to deal with the milk production that may come on stream. I read a Teagasc report recently which stated that a farmer would need €500,000-plus to get into milk production. The IFA put forward a programme recently on how we could deal with this. Will the Minister examine it? Certainly, farmers will not have the financial wherewithal to start from scratch to develop a milk programme on their farms without some financial help and grant aid. It is an area at which we need to look now rather waiting until the quotas are abolished only to find we are not in a position to produce the extra milk required under Harvest 2020.

The Minister has been fighting a rearguard action until now. I am sure that with the Parliament and the Council he will continue to fight on behalf of Irish farmers, because agriculture seems to be the one bright area in the economy where there is a future. Many young farmers are going back into farming and the agricultural colleges are full, which is a good thing. Farmers must travel to Piltown, Cork, Galway and elsewhere to do farm education courses, but they should be able to do them locally in the vocational colleges. There are opportunities there for the future.

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