Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I definitely want to see the area under production increase. The trend in recent years and decades where the area under tillage has shrunk is not good for Irish agriculture. We have tremendous potential to grow grain successfully and productively in this country and I want to put a big emphasis on improving that in the time ahead. Looking at the range of schemes that we have in place this year and that are plugged into the next CAP strategic plan, it is evident that support for the tillage sector is strong. It is hard to know how much we can push it. My focus is on the push and pull factors that we can put in place and to stretching the capacity to deliver as much as possible. We could set targets but it is not the target that will deliver the outcome but the schemes, the pushes and pulls that we can put in place. We have a lot of measures in place now to try to make progress. Farmers have stepped up to the mark this year and tillage farmers, in particular, have delivered that 6% increase, which is something we hope to build on.

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