Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I take the opportunity to thank the Rural Independent Group for bringing forward this motion. I will concentrate on farming and the supports required there. I acknowledge the Government's measures to try to help people with the cost of living. I think nearly €500 million has been put into the system. The question I always ask is where we are going to get the money to pay for it. The Minister is probably asking himself the same question.

Issues abound in the farming sector. The unprecedented rise in costs is causing severe problems for farmers. This has been borne out by the CSO figures released this week. The figures show the huge financial challenges being faced by farmers as input costs wipe out any marginal increases in output costs. I will briefly expand on that. Fertiliser prices went up almost 25% in December 2020 and overall in that year went up by 86.9% in 2020. That is the fuel to grow our grass, silage and crops so we have food we can sell to the shops. Electricity prices have gone up over 22%. Fuel prices have gone up 40%. Feedstuff prices have gone up 15.9%. The price of the plastic needed to wrap the bales of silage has doubled and will add to the increased costs of harvesting the round bale for farmers. On the other side of the coin, farming is unique in that farmers cannot dictate what the price will be for their product at day's end. They are what we call price-takers and are at the mercy of the market. They are at the mercy of the meat producers and when they go to the mart to sell their stock they are at the mercy of what price they are given. They cannot set the price. In most industries, if there is an increase in production costs it is added to the sales price to try to recover that cost. That facility is not available to farmers and they are in a serious predicament. There is no avenue to add this cost onto the selling price of their stock. We all know the wording when you buy a calf has always been: "Did you get good value?". You would always be told: "You will know the value of that calf the day I go to sell him". That is the way farming works; no other way. It is important we take that into account when we look at what is happening with farming.

It has been alluded to that the volatility between Russia and Ukraine, Europe and all that is creating additional pressures on prices of basic materials used throughout industry worldwide, fuel in particular. This is something no-one can blame the Government for or anything like that but we must take these things into account when we look at farmers and how we can support them.

Farmers need support right now and I will tell the Minister why. It is not so much that the farmer is thinking about what he is going to do. Young farmers and farmers generally are making decisions right now that they are not going to buy as much fertiliser because they cannot afford it. They are not buying cattle but thinking about selling. The knock-on effect down the line will be that we will be producing less food. We will also have a situation where young people are running away from the responsibility of trying to run the family farm. I have spoken to about five sets of parents this week who have told me nobody is willing to take on the farm. What do we do then? In my constituency of Galway East we have had investment in, and will soon have opened, the BIA Innovator Campus in Athenry. It is supported by Government through the rural regeneration fund and will be a great place to create perhaps 200 jobs in the food industry. However, if we continue with the situation we have we will not have the raw materials for the food innovation to happen so we can increase our exports. I am referring to the export of products that are recognised worldwide. That is where we are coming to with farming. The important question is how we support farming right now. There are a number of things we must do or the small family farm will be wiped out and we will end up with large tracts of land being farmed by industrial-type farmers. The family farm, which is the fabric of rural Ireland, is in serious danger.

I heard the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine earlier and did not get much confidence from what he was saying about next year and the year after. He was talking about CAP and different grants that might be happening. He is talking about a 2% increase in something when we have 89% increases in the cost of some raw materials. We must look at this very seriously and do so urgently. Farmers need some sort of hope. They need some sort of pathway to be created. They need direct subventions right now. They need to be exempted from VAT. For the moment, they also need an exemption from the carbon tax. These need to be considered as a matter of urgency. The other aspect to farming some people may not realise is the lack of transparency in the price set for the finished product is causing huge problems in the farming industry. We must ensure the price is regulated such that no products are being sold below cost. Right now farming products are being sold below cost and that is not sustainable in any walk or field. As I said, we are supporting industry and even through the LEADER programme we are supporting small industry to develop, such as cheesemaking and artisan foods.

That is great, but if we do not have the supply chain of beef, lamb, milk and grain, we will not sustain this industry. We will not sustain jobs in the towns and cities that can sustain them. We are experiencing a significant knock-on effect. My plea to the Government today is to consider this matter as an urgent crisis for farming. I do not say it to scaremonger, but because of the experience I have. A young farmer told me he can only afford to buy a third of the fertiliser this year that he bought last year. What will happen is that his production levels will do down and his profits will go down. He is in his 40s and in a few years, he will be looking for an out. I am delighted the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, is here to listen to us. I again thank the Rural Independent Group for bringing forward the motion. It is important that farming is recognised as being in a crisis.

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