Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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51. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the steps he is taking to increase the amount of land being farmed for tillage purposes. [25024/23]

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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Tillage is an important part of our agrifood sector and the rural economy. A University College Dublin report from 2020 showed that Irish tillage generates €1.3 billion in economic outputs and supports 11,000 jobs. It is also one of the sectors within agriculture that has the lowest greenhouse gas emissions and it is already carbon neutral in many cases. Despite all of this, the sector is not being supported properly by the Government and tillage farmers are under severe pressure. I want an update on what the Department is doing to increase the amount of land being farmed for tillage purposes. We all know the tillage sector is not reaching its full potential in Ireland.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Cairns for raising this. I start by again reaffirming my commitment to our domestic tillage sector. It is dynamic, sustainable and world-class and I am committed to securing the long-term future of the sector. I want to see it grow in the years ahead and we understand the tillage sector's importance and how it is an integral component of our industry. We also know it makes a significant contribution to the overall agricultural output. Last year it was estimated at €1 billion in value at farm gate prices. We have also recognised the importance of the Food Vision 2030 strategy and in the climate action plan, where a target has been set to increase the area in tillage to 400,000 ha. That is an ambitious target but one we can achieve and that is well-founded, given that the sector is one of the most carbon-efficient sectors in Irish agriculture.

To help achieve this target, I recently established the Food Vision 2030 tillage group, which had its first meeting on 11 May. This group is bringing together all of the relevant stakeholders to set out a road map for the sustainable growth and development of the sector up to 2030. I am aware of the challenges facing the tillage sector, including access to land. Other issues relevant to the sector will be discussed in detail by the group as well. Once it has concluded its recommendations, and I have asked it to carry out that work urgently, I will fully consider them.

In recent years I have also been proactive in introducing a number of innovative measures to support the sector. Last year I introduced the tillage incentive scheme and that contributed to an increase in the area under tillage of 20,000 ha, or approximately a 6% increase on the year before. We paid out just under €10 million through that to over 3,500 farmers. That was paid at a rate of €400 per hectare for each new hectare of tillage and I am running that again this year at the same rate but with an additional €200 per hectare maintenance payment for anything that qualified for the €400 per hectare payment last year.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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The Minister is outlining plans for the area under tillage but there are so many contradictions in the policy.

The Minister highlighted that tillage farmers are finding it hard to rent land. There is no plan to address that matter, other than to talk to them about it. This has been an issue for a while now, in particular for farmers who might be facing a change in derogation and who are renting land in other places. Tillage farmers simply cannot compete with the price dairy farmers can make in that way. As a result, the policies continue to drive dairy farmers to increase the amount of nitrates they are using and they are renting land at extortionate prices to do that, which is worthwhile, and then preventing tillage farmers from being able to rent more land. From what the Minister says, there does not seem to be any plan to address that.

The Minister also mentioned the tillage incentive scheme, which did lead to an increase in the area of land under tillage, but that was mainly of advantage to non-tillage farmers. That was especially demoralising, as farmers who were already invested in tillage could not benefit from the scheme. We all know that there is not enough joined-up thinking for the tillage sector. It is completely undervalued. It is carbon-neutral. We are importing food and feed from all over the world and there is no real or meaningful effort to encourage more people to go into tillage in Ireland. Will the Minister outline what he is going to do about tillage farmers being driven out in view of the prices they must pay to rent land? Because of the situation in dairy, it is financially worthwhile for dairy farmers to rent land and potentially not even use it, in order that they can apply more nitrates.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I have a massive commitment to the tillage sector. It is a very important one that has been shrinking in recent years, but that we need to see expand and for the trend to be reversed. Some of the measures I have introduced have been unprecedented in terms of the support level. I talked about the tillage incentive scheme last year.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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Tillage farmers did not benefit from it.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I also referred to the straw incorporation measure, which is very important. I introduced it for the first time and it is now plugged into the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP. Some €10 million was paid last year for that. There was also a doubling of the protein aid in terms of the coupling under pillar 1. Those are supports that were never there before and are there again. It did achieve a reversal last year. Thankfully, we saw it start to go in the right direction. We are in a very different year this year with unique pressures. I want to gather all ideas, including any ideas Deputy Cairns might have, because we need to pool all the brainpower in the sector in order to see how we can take it forward. I established this committee to respond to the various challenges, especially those that have emerged in recent months, in order that I can bring together the knowledge of everyone in this sector and look at the proposals we can adopt to ensure that the tillage sector grows. I am concerned at where it is at this year. The sector is under pressure in spite of the progress I have made as Minister, working with the sector in recent years. I am concerned that we could see a shrinkage in the area under tillage this year rather than continued growth. That is something I do not want to happen. I want to see what steps I can take, as Minister, to continue the momentum we had built up to last year.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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It requires more consistent policies that reward environmentally sustainable farming. There are policy changes that would make a substantial difference to the sector. We could be growing a lot more feed and food. One of the changes that could be made relates to tillage machinery, which is so expensive. The current investment ceiling of €90,000 in the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, 3 is insufficient to address the cost of specialist equipment in that sector. The scheme could be adjusted upwards. We could perhaps engage with Teagasc to expand the range of eligible investments.

I agree with the Minister that the straw incorporation measure was a very welcome development in the sector, and it has proven successful. Perhaps an increase in the acreage limit for applications by individual farmers would be a really good thing to look into in order to support the sector. Practical changes like that would make a massive difference to farmers who are enduring the high production costs and the variable prices. We also need to look into the issue of land being rented at extreme prices because it is worthwhile for dairy farmers to do that at the moment. If the nitrates are not even being applied to that area of land, it does not do anything to protect the water quality in a particular area, which is the entire purpose of having a limit on the amount of nitrates that can be used. Is there a way to monitor that? If a farmer is allowed to apply X amount of nitrates for X number of acres, does it have to be spread over those particular acres? What is the Department doing in relation to that if the whole purpose of the regulation is to protect our water?

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I am hungry for ideas in this regard. I put a big effort into trying to grow the sector and support the sector. Under the straw incorporation measure, an individual tillage farmer can get up to €10,000. That was a significant injection into it.

We are in a new TAMS this year, so even if farmers have maximised their investments last time around, they now have a new €90,000 investment ceiling. We have also expanded the range of equipment that they can apply for under TAMS. The big pressure obviously is the challenge around rental prices. That has certainly been affected by the nitrates challenge. That is something I am going to raise in Europe to see if we can get additional flexibility because it is putting pressure on land and it does seem to be putting pressure on tillage in particular.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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How is keeping the derogation in place a solution?

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Government has sought to support tillage in a way that has never happened before, through a range of measures. We had made progress. This year has different types of pressures, ones which there are not necessarily obvious answers to address. I want to pool all the ideas together to see how we can support this sector. I certainly welcome any ideas Deputy Cairns or any other Deputies have in that regard. I welcome in particular the committee I have put together of all of the people in the tillage sector to advise the challenges that are there and how the Government can make sure that we drive the tillage sector on towards that 400,000 ha target which we have set.