Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is very important. Teagasc have renewed the recruitment of staff. Mr. Dermot Callaghan has been appointed as head of horticulture development. He was already in Teagasc and his previous position has been filled. One of the other things that we are looking at doing is a knowledge transfer between Bord Bia and Teagasc, as well as working with individual growers in various different sectors, particularly sectors that are vulnerable at the moment. The aim is to develop a knowledge transfer model. It works. We are trying to do the same in forestry, by the way. The Talking Timber and Talking Hardwoods events are about bringing stakeholders, growers and producers together.

If we develop lean pilot programmes for mushrooms and they prove to be worthwhile, the next step is to roll that out. Part of the rolling-out process is to share that knowledge with the other growers. I have been in beef discussion groups myself. There is nothing more useful than standing in a field or shed going through statistics and practices with a facilitator. One can pick up useful snippets of information at each meeting that one can bring home and apply. If we get lean programmes up and running and they prove to be an assistance, I believe that really would be great way to impart knowledge.

Warrenstown College used to teach a horticulture programme. I think Kildalton College may do it now. I believe it is important, at agricultural college level of FETAC levels five and six, that we train people how to produce vegetables and horticulture products. Following on from that, it is also important that we teach them how to run a business. That involves management skills and follows on naturally. That is the way I was trained as a farm manager. People learn how to do it first. They think they know everything about it when they are 17, but when they then go onto somebody else's farm, they realise how little they know. Eventually, they learn how to run a business. That is always going to be of key importance.

There are always going to be entrepreneurs in any of these businesses who are drivers and are to be admired. Not everybody has that capacity. Working with them and with the people who have the technical skills gives the whole sector the potential to grow, as outlined in Food Wise 2025.It was there before but it was far more fragmented. Now there is the chance to create added value and use the opportunity, as somebody stated, to create awareness. More people want to know from where their food has come.

I have attended the launch and first session of a farmers' market workshop, mentoring people on what they need to do for these. The first one was in my own neck of the woods in Tinakilly last Wednesday morning and I had a look. A woman who goes to quite a number of these markets was giving her story and there was a representative of Bord Bia, which organised the event. It was very well attended and there were 40 or 50 people in the room, all of whom were either interested in or already in farmers' markets. Apart from anything else, they were giving tips and indicating what to do when part of a farmers' market, either setting one up or being part of a wider group. That is a knowledge transfer programme from Bord Bia. In some ways, farmers' markets do not reach everybody but many people are certainly aware of them and the fact that they exist reiterates the need for people to look at labelling and where food is produced.

I agree with Senator Mac Lochlainn's comments. Two or three years ago, a couple of retailers landed 40 ft. containers in here with certain vegetables and undermined native growers' bonanza season that they depended on by selling products at a certain level. They could not have supplied the domestic market for the season but they advertised vegetables for almost nothing, meaning everybody had to rush to lower their prices. It set the bar so low it was disgraceful. Two years ago, the agriculture committee of the last Dáil wrote to all the multiples and asked them not to engage with that practice again, as did the farming organisations, and it got a certain level of commitment in that respect. It behoves all of us to highlight that growers, especially seasonal farmers, depend on getting a fair price. Vegetables in the shopping basket are not the most expensive commodity and it is discretionary goods on which retailers make a profit. People buy those items on impulse or in some cases I should not mention, the prices of products for a household can be increased.

It is absolutely disgraceful behaviour and I call on all multiples to desist from such a practice as it serves no purpose in the long term. It puts our primary producers, in particular, under serious financial strain when they are trying to come back next year. They do everything right in terms of quality and if that is what it takes to get people in through the door, it is a pretty poor statement of where we are from the retailers' perspective. There are many other ways of getting the same result, including coupons. For God's sake, do not screw the people who have a seasonal expectation to make their annual income.