Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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104. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will consider introducing an insurance scheme or a guarantee of a basic income for the tillage sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [66245/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Byrne for raising this point because under the current proposals for CAP post-2027, there is a mandatory requirement for member states to put in place risk management tools. Risk management tools were optional in the current CAP strategic plan, running from 2023 to 2027, and the case for inclusion of crop insurance was examined in its preparation. However, its inclusion was not supported by stakeholders. The issue of risk management has since been discussed by the Food Vision tillage group, which included a recommendation in its final report to promote existing risk management tools and examine opportunities for an Irish model of crop or price insurance. My Department will consider potential risk management measures as part of the strategic planning for the next CAP strategic plan.

In recognition of the tillage sector’s importance, my Department provides substantial direct support to tillage farmers. In 2026, €50 million will be made available through the protein aid scheme, the straw incorporation measure and a new tillage support scheme. Having secured this additional funding in budget 2026 to further support the sector, I intend to consult stakeholders on how this funding will be utilised. My Department has also provided significant direct supports to tillage farmers in recent years. This year, the budget for the protein aid scheme is €10 million, having increased from €7 million to €10 million annually from last year. Applications for approximately 66,000 ha of cereals and oilseed rape straw were submitted for chopping and incorporating under the straw incorporation measure this year. I made the decision to pay all eligible applicants under the scheme.

In February of this year I announced €32.4 million of payments under the tillage and horticulture support scheme, which was the Government’s response to the difficult position tillage and horticulture farmers found themselves in due to exceptionally poor weather and continued high input costs in the spring of 2024. The tillage sector is also being supported under other schemes, including the tillage capital investment scheme, ACRES and the organic farming scheme and, indeed, tillage farmers have availed of the water quality EIP, with significant areas committed to cover crops, which are a really effective tool. I will continue to work with the tillage sector and provide targeted support where possible given the strategic importance of this sector to the wider agriculture community.

Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister. He and I do not need to discuss the challenges facing the sector; I know he is very much aware of them. What farmers are looking for is a guarantee of a basic income. Obviously we already have the BISS scheme in place. I welcome the fact that as part of the CAP negotiations the Minister is looking at trying to provide some floor for farmers. It is not just important for the sustainability of farming, as the Minister mentioned, it is also important to us being able to tackle climate change and meet our environmental obligations. It is critical to be able to support farmers in those areas. We can certainly look at linking payments to food security and sustainability goals. That would be a very positive measure. It is critical that guaranteeing a basic level of income to tillage farmers is core to the CAP negotiations the Minister will enter in Brussels.

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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There are many different tools in our armoury to be able to support the tillage sector as part of the CAP negotiations. I attended a meeting with the Irish Grain Growers and the IFA in Killashee Hotel to which more than 1,000 tillage farmers turned up. Deputy Byrne and I know tillage farmers do not protest much or in those kinds of numbers but they did on this occasion, such is the level of desperation after three really difficult years. After that meeting, it was very clear to me that there was a need for short-term financial support to give farmers the confidence to put seed in the ground again next year. That is not the long-term solution, however. The long-term solution is the value-added piece. The dairy industry has been very successful in identifying product such as whey proteins as the value-added piece. Unfortunately, our tillage sector is currently at world market prices and that is really hurting it. What we need to do, while having the short-term financial support I have committed to for next year and on the design of which I will work with farming organisations to make it most targeted, is to work on the value-added piece around our native grains, which I am happy to expand on in my next answer.

Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister is aware that in the US there is a federal crop insurance programme which was introduced during the time of the depression. I was with the Canadian ambassador when he spoke to the IFA about guarantees, insurance and a basic income scheme that operate in Canada. It continues to be a concern that 1,400 tillage farmers have left the sector in recent years. I know the Minister is committed to this and I very much welcome his support for flour production in Ireland, bringing that back and diversifying markets. There are all of those measures. However, until we can guarantee our tillage farmers that if they plant in the autumn, they will get a reasonable income when they reap in the spring, it is going to be a big challenge for the sector. I know the Minister is aware of this but it is critically important to address it as part of the CAP negotiations.

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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We absolutely need to design this scheme and make sure the €30 million I have secured for budget 2026 is targeted at the farmers. I want to do this differently from the last scheme. The last scheme provided a much-needed €100 for every hectare that had seed in the ground, with no capping or conditionality around it. We can be more targeted with this €30 million, get it to those who need it the most and increase the value of it for those farmers as well. That scheme will buy us some time.

The broader issue is that I want to work with the farm organisations and industry to identify how we get that value-added piece. There are things we can do in respect of native grains in our feed. The Irish whiskey file needs to be examined in terms of how we use our native grains in that or what its requirements are. The use of quality assurance schemes in other sectors has been really successful. It is challenging, it is not simple and it requires leadership from stakeholders. I want to work with people on that. We will get certainty into the sector in the medium term and beyond by moving to a value added-piece and not being dependent on world market commodity prices, which is a very vulnerable position for our tillage sector to be in.

Finally, as to the efforts I am making on nitrates and other issues, land availability is a key issue, as is the price of rented land for tillage farmers. It is not an island or a silo. Irish agriculture is all interlinked. The success of how I get on with nitrates will determine and have an impact on the tillage sector as well.