Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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1. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to commence the process of working towards a €200 annual payment for suckler cows under the rural development programme to ensure the sustainability of the national herd; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41646/18]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I ask the Minister for an update on the beef environmental efficiency pilot scheme announced in the budget. What are his plans to commence the process of working towards a €200 annual payment for suckler cows? Can the Minister make a commitment to further progress following the welcome commencement of the measure announced in the budget?

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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My Department is examining all appropriate measures to support the different agrifood sectors, including the suckler sector, in preparation for the next iteration of the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP. The measures adopted will be informed by stakeholder consultation on the needs of the sector to develop in an economically and environmentally sustainable way, as well as the relevant research and the available budget and structure of the new CAP when it is finalised.

I was pleased to secure an allocation of €20 million in the 2019 budget this week for a new pilot scheme for suckler farmers, specifically aimed at further improving the carbon efficiency of beef production. The scheme will target the weaning efficiency of suckler cows and calves, measuring the live weight of the calf at weaning as a percentage of the cow's live weight. The data will be used to target improvements on a herd basis by giving the farmer detailed feedback on the performance of individual animals. The data collected will also be a valuable addition to Ireland's impressive database on cattle genomics. Details of the scheme will be announced in due course.

I am also confident that suckler farmers will be significant beneficiaries of the additional €23 million in funding announced for the areas of natural constraint, ANC, scheme.

The beef data and genomics programme, BDGP, is currently the main support specifically targeted for the suckler sector, which provides beef farmers with some €300 million in funding over the current rural development programme, RDP. This scheme is an agri-environmental measure to improve the environmental sustainability of the national suckler herd by increasing genetic merit of the herd.

My Department has rolled out a range of schemes as part of the €4 billion Rural Development Programme 2014-2020. In addition to the BDGP, other supports which are available for suckler and sheep farmers under Pillar II of the CAP include GLAS, ANCs and knowledge transfer groups. Suckler farmers also benefit from the basic payment scheme and greening payments under CAP Pillar I.

I am conscious that this has been a difficult year for the sector in terms of weather and the range of challenges associated with it. At the recent meeting of the beef round table on 3 October, I highlighted the need for stakeholders to recognise their interdependency. I urged processors to engage positively with their farmer suppliers to build the sustainability of the sector as a whole and to ensure a reasonable return for the farmers upon whom the sector relies for its development. It is essential that the position of the primary producer in the supply chain be secured if we are to build a sector for the future.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

The beef round table also included discussions on the potential for producer organisations and the development of new technologies as ways of adding value along the entire supply chain, all tools to build resilience in the sector. Producer organisations would allow farmers to engage collectively with processors, with the aim of strengthening farmers' bargaining power. Additionally, I have asked Bord Bia to conduct a detailed examination of market dynamics, with the co-operation of the industry, taking into account sales of particular cuts into particular segments of the market to improve price transparency.

One of the unique strengths of the agrifood sector is our shared vision for the sustainable development of the sector in Food Wise 2025. I hope that this positive engagement will continue.

I am strongly of the view that this new provision announced in this week's budget and the existing range of supports available to suckler farmers, together with ensuring access to as many markets as possible, both for live animals and beef exports, are appropriate supports for the continued development of the sector. According to national farm survey, suckler farmers receive support equivalent to approximately €500 per suckler cow on average.

I will continue to argue for as strong a CAP budget as possible, post 2020. In particular, I am committed to ensuring that suckler farmers continue to receive strong support in the next CAP. Such payments should support and encourage suckler farmers to make the best decisions to improve the profitability, and the economic and environmental efficiency, of their farming system. The beef environmental efficiency pilot is a positive step in that direction.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the introduction of new beef environmental efficiency pilot. It is a start in the process of delivering a proper payment to the suckler sector to ensure it is sustainable and that there is a margin and income for the farmers who are working so hard and underpinning our beef sector.

It has been a difficult process to get to additional payments made towards it. As the Minister will be aware, a number of months ago Fianna Fáil introduced a Dáil motion which the Government voted against. That motion mapped out a pathway towards the payment of €200 per suckler cow. The Minister previously set his stall against introducing a payment that would be coupled in some way to the suckler cow. However, this particular payment is a coupled coupled payment in that it is tied to both the suckler cow and calf and paid on the cow. It is important and will contribute to improved data collection.

It is vital that it be straightforward, simple and easy to operate for farmers. They must not see the money slip away through costs associated with the scheme. Will the scheme be open to all suckler farmers? When will the scheme open for applications? Will the Department provide assistance to ensure that those farmers without access to weighing scales can be provided with them to ensure there is no cost implication for them?

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I confirm that the scheme will be open to all farmers and not just current participants in BDGP. It is consistent with every utterance I have made in the context of the suckler sector; it is not a coupled payment. A coupled payment would run contrary to everything the industry has been striving to achieve over recent years, which is improving the quality of the herd. That is the direction of this initiative and it is compatible with the objectives of the BDGP, where currently minimal data are being collected on the weanling efficiency, that is the relative weight of the weanling to the suckler cow. It is not a coupled payment.

I fundamentally believe that a coupled payment would be the wrong direction in which to travel. That is the reason there will not be a coupled element to this scheme. As I said, it is open to all farmers. I appreciate the Deputy's observations about not everybody having access to a weighing scales. That is the detail we need to work through with stakeholders, including the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation, ICBF, with which I have had some preliminary conversations. I am satisfied we can get to a situation where the majority of the payment will be to the farmers. There will be some costs insofar as they will have to access weighing scales but I believe we can do that in a very cost-efficient manner.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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It is crucial that the drive to improve the payments being made continues. This is a decent start. We would have liked to have seen more but I acknowledge and welcome it as a good start. I have been clear with the Minister that, from a Fianna Fáil perspective, we would be flexible regarding the way in which the payment would be delivered to the suckler cow sector, the key point being that the payment is forthcoming and that we see not only a message going out but a demonstration in terms of funds that there is an understanding of the pressure the sector is under and that it would be supported.

Can the Minister confirm today that the funding for this scheme will not be taken from other unspent funds in the rural development programme, RDP, and that it will be additional funding? Will he commit today that he has seen the light and will work towards the achievement of a €200 annual payment per suckler cow? He indicated he was not willing to do it in this budget and that he would seek to provide for it in the future and in the next Common Agricultural Policy, CAP. It is great we have got to the stage where he has come around to introducing this scheme and starting off this process here today? Will he commit that this is his policy and that this work will continue in the context of the next budget and future ones towards the achievement of a €200 annual payment per sucker cow? Fianna Fáil will be driving forward to achieve that. I acknowledge the strong support and campaigning for this from the Irish Farmers Association, IFA, and the Irish Farmers Journal, which have highlighted the need for this support in the budget. It is important that work continues and that additional progress is made.

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The commitment of the Government to the suckler cow sector, which underpins the beef industry, was never in question. We are the only member state that has a specifically focused initiative in our rural development programme for the suckler sector in the context of the beef data and genomics programme, which is delivering €300 million to the suckler cow sector. I have always said that in the context of supports it would have to be compatible with the objective of improving the genetic merit of the herd. That is compatible with our objectives in respect of climate change to make sure that the industry is as carbon efficient as possible. Much of that effort in terms of carbon efficiency leads to profitability for the farming sector also. The refrain the Deputy and I would have often heard at public meetings is that the cost of keeping a suckler cow for a 12-month period can be €700 to €800 and if she is quite an inefficient cow the cost could run over €1,000. The objective of the BDGP, and this scheme, is to accelerate a situation where the genetic merit of that herd delivers a smaller suckler cow, a bigger weanling, a cow that is in calf every year, that has an easy calving, that has sufficient milk to deliver a quality suckler cow and, in achieving all of those, improves profitability and drives down the carbon footprint. That is the direction of travel to which I have been committed from day one. I am glad that others now see the merit of going along the direction of a measure that is compatible with the BDGP rather than a coupled payment.