Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on agriculture in this debate. I have listened to most of the speakers since this morning. It is our largest indigenous industry and the main industry that is keeping rural Ireland going. There are many issues facing the agricultural industry but, as previous speakers have said, each sector is now in dire trouble. We can look at international markets, international arrangements and where the markets are going, but we have to look at the advice that was given to our farmers over the past two to three years, especially in the run-up to 1 April 2015 when milk quotas were abolished and we were going to have the production of milk in the dairy sector without quotas for the first time in 32 or 33 years. The infamous programme by George Lee broadcast during the week of 1 April about the white gold should be challenged by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland because it was not fair or balanced and the past 12 months have shown that it was misleading.

Dairy farmers were advised that they could borrow up to €4,000 per cow for every increase in the herd. Monopoly would not have given that kind of advice to the farming sector. All sectors of farming are now in dire straits. I hear of people within the agriculture industry who are selling stock just to pay the day-to-day bills. Farmers with borrowings are finding it very difficult to rear a family and make ends meet.

One of the previous speakers said we should not pit the big farmer against the small farmer and all the rest of it. The debate needs to focus on an equitable and fair distribution of the supports to all sectors of agriculture to ensure we have the maximum number of viable farms irrespective of the quality of the land in an area. People spoke about forestry. In Rockchapel in my constituency, more than 60% of the parish is planted with forestry trees. There is a serious question about the direction of afforestation.

I wish to return to the primary producer. We have talked about the food industry and global exports. Our dairy and general food exports have risen since 2009. However, we need to remember the primary producers, the farmers, the men and women who get up every morning, get their hands dirty and work through the night, calving cows, producing milk, producing sucklers, whether they are in dairy, tillage, beef or sheep. Other Deputies spoke about the difficulty in the lambing season this spring.

In the past 25 years and particularly since 1996 when BSE or mad cow disease came in, the amount of regulation has increased and farmers have ponied up to it. Every farmer dealt with the bureaucratic nightmare and recognised that regulations had to be adhered to in order to ensure they had a world-class product. While they have a world-class product, they are not being paid for the world-class product they are producing.

Based on international standards and how the products are produced in other countries, we are as near to organic as damn it regarding what is seen as best farming practice in other countries. We have to compete on those levels. Departmental officials are arriving in farmyards with briefcases and laptops and frightening the living daylights out of farmers. Hard-pressed farmers are finding that there is a cross-compliance requirement, an i not dotted or a t not crossed in some shape or form, and I am concerned at the aggression with which the Department goes after them in those incidents. The Department needs to be more pro-farmer. Instead of policing the farmer, it needs to work with the farmer, who needs support. We need to be more proactive in looking after the primary producer.

Over the past five years, my major criticism of the Minister, Deputy Coveney, has been that in all his speeches both here and directed to the agriculture industry, the food industry has always been number one and the farmer was the last man in the line. If we do not support the primary producer - the men and women getting their hands dirty - we will not have a future in this industry. I could speak for hours on the topic.

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