Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Sinn Fein welcomes the motion. With regard to the analysis of how we got to this point I cannot see how anyone could argue with the wording of the motion. I also cannot see how anyone could argue with the solutions proposed. They are completely in keeping with what the farming organisations and the farmers, as representatives across rural Ireland, are telling us. We could not see anything wrong with this motion so I am very disappointed that the Government has submitted a counter motion. We have sought to add to the motion with a couple of points, which I shall now address.

Action on this issue is long overdue. The fodder crisis is playing havoc with farmers' well-being. We have all heard the stories of the worry and the serious strain that farmers are under. Farmers are extremely angry. Their warnings and our warnings have been ignored. The extent and the impact of this crisis cannot be overstated. Macra na Feirme has said:

[We urge] farmers not to suffer in silence, speaking to a friend or neighbour can help ease the mental burden. The amount of stress, anxiety and worry in the farming profession is enormous. Farmers are responsible for so much but cannot control the weather.

Farmers seeking to buy in fodder drastically outnumber those attempting to sell forage on. To help alleviate the burden of the fodder crisis on farms, a new sourcing app, developed by Herdwatch, has created a fodder platform to connect farmers who can help each other out. An article, however, published a week ago showed that the list of those seeking to buy fodder is nearly 20 times the level of those selling, with more than 200 farmers seeking fodder compared with a mere 12 suppliers. This crisis is nothing new; it has been happening for years in wetter parts of the State such as in the west and the north west. I put it to the Minister of State that the Minister should not have waited until the crisis hit Cork before paying attention. The hard lessons from this fodder crisis must be learned by the Government.

The drive towards huge expansion in agriculture as outlined in Food Wise 2025 - the ten-year plan for the agrifood sector - may look good on paper, but in the context of Brexit and climate change is this feasible or indeed desirable? Avoiding another fodder crisis needs discussion and proposals from the farm organisations, Teagasc and the Department. This may involve a reduction in stocking levels. Sinn Féin has called for action on this issue for years. Since last September we warned the Minister of the number of farmers in the north west who had been unable to get second cuts of silage and had to house cattle early due to severe rain in August and September. Last October we warned again of a looming crisis but our concerns were dismissed by the Minister, Deputy Creed, who continued to claim that there was no crisis and that there was lots of fodder in the country. In December, farmers, including some from my area of Donegal, contacted Teagasc regarding fodder shortages, with the majority of the farmers having a 50% shortfall in fodder. We warned that the proposed fodder action group would be kicking the can down the road but our warning fell on deaf ears. In January of this year we called again on the Minister to provide meal vouchers to help subsidise the cost of meal, a feed which farmers are assured of as to the quality. Sinn Féin has been consistent in raising this issue with the Minister but he has systemically ignored our calls.

The family farm is an integral part of rural Ireland and Irish society. Making it sustainable is a key aim for the future of our State. We cannot allow circumstances to arise where only the big, industrialised farmer can survive and the small family farm goes to the wall for lack of foresight and planning to avoid crises. We call on the Government to properly compensate and support our farming community for its losses during this crisis. I reiterate that the proposals in this motion from Fianna Fáil must be agreeable in seeking to address this crisis. They are sensible and practical proposals and the Minister of State cannot disagree with them.

The Sinn Féin amendment seeks to address the need for assistance to farmers to drain marginal land to prevent a fodder crisis from happening again. Climate change issues, specifically more frequent and heavier rainfall, are serious for farming. This cannot be allowed to continue to happen every year and measures must be taken to avoid fodder crises. More and better drainage could alleviate some of the waterlogging that has meant farmers, particularly in the north west, could not get a second cut of silage. Combined with a long, cold winter, which meant that spring growth was delayed, this created the severe shortages. If accepted our amendment would go a long way to accomplish this.

At the very least it is vital that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Teagasc and the farming organisations, pull together to learn the lessons from all of this. We must understand that climate is changing and that we have to look at the macro farming model on this island to see how we can sustain farming. We must keep a particular eye on it. The Minister of State is aware of the statistics from the Council for the West; 42% of family farms across the west of Ireland have gone in the last two decades. There has been a huge reduction in the numbers of young farmers in Ireland in the last ten years. We have huge issues already and we need to address this, look at the long-term sustainability and learn the lessons.