Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister did an excellent job in the negotiations on the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, in getting us to this level and there is no doubt that task was difficult. I live next door to one of those young farmers we talk about which this country badly needs. My 11 year old and 12 year old sons have learned to milk cows and feed new-born calves. Living in close proximity to this working farm has kept me very much in touch with what farming life is like today. It is very different from the type of farming I did when I was a younger.

Young farmers such as the farmer who lives next door to me are investing heavily in modernising and building up their farms. They are making a huge commitment in that respect now and for the future. Looking after farm animals and trying to get land ready for this year's crops in sub-arctic conditions shows how unpredictable farming can be when one considers that the children were going around in T-shirts on that farm this time last year.

It is important for us to bear in mind how the farming sector is faring and what we want to get from that sector. Farmers provide raw materials to the agri-food industry, which is worth €9 billion to the economy, an industry we badly need at this time. In County Wexford, for instance, there are a large number of hardware stores, co-op stores, milk processors and meat factories and the livelihoods of the people employed in those outlets depend directly on what farmers are doing on their farms. There is a large number of pubs, shops and hotels directly dependent for their survival on how we make agriculture work. That is why the CAP negotiations are extremely important to ensure we look after productive farms and that we are able to fulfil the 2020 policy strategy for farming. Having regard to when milk quotas will go and the fact that basic prices for farm produce are good now, we need to be able to exploit that. We must ensure farmers who are investing in their farms and young people who want commit their lives to farming know that the unpredictability that surrounded the sector is being removed. There must be a clear pathway for how their future in farming will develop. That is one aspect that the Minister, Deputy Coveney, has made clear for the farming community.

There is a commitment to redistribution and that has been made clear. The Minister is right in the way he is moving in this respect. We cannot make huge changes overnight. We must be careful how we go about it. We do not want to create unpredictability in the sector and that those farmers who are working hard to produce €9 billion worth of raw materials for our agrifood business have confidence in investing in their future in farming and will continue to do so.

One thing we can do is to commit to co-funding in terms of the funding we secure from Europe and the Minister must try to get a clear commitment from his colleagues in Cabinet to do that. We must ensure that the other Ministers commit to that because such funding is hugely important for farmers who live in disadvantaged areas and farmers who rely very much on those schemes that provide small amounts of money. Such funding is vital. We must focus our energies on securing a commitment in that respect. We can leave it to the Minister to do the work in Europe and thus far he has done great job, but from our point of view we must work to ensure that co-funding continues.

The Minister was right about changing the reference year. That has helped to cool down some of the madness in regard to renting land, and that is important.

I agree with what Deputy Martin Heydon said about how we should be gearing up for the sugar beet industry. A good deal of work has been done in this respect and it is now time to test the business models in terms of getting that industry up and running again and to move from the theory to the practice. If sugar beet quotas are to go in 2017, we should prepare for that now and gear up to see if it is a sustainable industry and one we can bring back into economy. We need to move from talking about it to acting on it.

There are other issues on which the Minister needs to keep an eye. Change has taken place in the way the plcs are splitting up with the primary processing business returning to the co-ops and the value-added element of the business staying with the plcs. We need to monitor that. Farm prices are good at the moment but if they were to fall for a period, that could have a significant effect on the sustainability of co-ops for the future which again could affect our agricultural sector. The Minister's Department needs to monitor that and to ensure we keep farming on the sustainable pathway that has been achieved in the past number of years and that is being very much supported by the policies that the Minister is bringing forward at this time.

If I were to say three things in the sector that matter to me, I would single out the reference year, which is extremely important, productive farming and making sure we can continue to fulfil the targets under the 2020 policy strategy, and keep the existing jobs in rural Ireland. I refer not only to jobs on farms but jobs in the meat factories, local co-ops and local hardware stores. The sector also sustains shops and hotels in County Wexford and elsewhere. That is the reason it is important that we focus on the productive development of farming.

We in this House should raise a debate on the co-payments. There will be a great push to cut the budget of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in the next few budgets because things are still difficult here. The importance of co-payments and EU funding for the sector should be taken into account. Such funding is important not only for rural Ireland and those engaged in farming but for all aspects of Irish society. It is important that we very much focus on that issue.

There will be huge changes in the next few years in the way huge changes have occurred during the past decade. The value added element of Irish produce and the fact that we have a very good raw ingredient has made easy the accessing of foreign markets. When I was in Berlin on one occasion people were talking about the different types of steaks and I was amazed that Irish steak was mentioned. Our product is deemed to be a very superior one. We must make sure that we protect that. The way the Minister dealt with the recent horsemeat crisis was appropriate. We have shown that we are transparent in how we dealt with it and that we are extremely concerned to maintain high standards. It will be reflected in the future that we are a country producing the best quality agricultural raw ingredients and product for the market.

I support what the Minister is doing and I hope we can continue along this line in producing the best products and keeping farms sustainable. Changes to CAP are important in regard to the funding that will be put aside for new entrants and for people who possibly do not receive single farm payments at this time. Some people did lose out because they were not actively farming at the time the reference years were taken into account in the past. That discriminates against people who want to be involved in productive farming and who should be getting supports in the same way as people who were actively involved in farming at the time.

The Minister has made a clear commitment that there will be redistribution in that many farmers who were in receipt of extraordinary payments, of whom there are only a very small number, will have their payments reduced. The figures show that there will be substantial increases for a huge number of farmers for a number of reasons be it that they are not in a physical position to be able to work their farms to the highest level, their land is marginal or for other reasons. They are not engaged in the productive element in farming and their payments have historically been lower because of that. The Minister is right to improve that position for those farmers. In many parts of the country it depends on where one's farm is. I grew up in west Cork where there are many disadvantaged areas and areas where it can be very difficult to farm.

I represent County Wexford, which is completely different. The land is very productive and the farmers use every inch of it. They make a massive contribution to the local and national economies and we should give them every support possible. We must also make sure we look after farmers who are not capable of working or whose land cannot sustain the type of production I see in County Wexford. I commend the Minister's work and urge him to keep it going.

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