Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and acknowledge his presence. I ask that his Department develop a long-term strategy to ensure the sustainability and resilience of the agricultural sector during and after periods of extreme weather. It has been both an unfortunate and amazing year if one takes into consideration what has occurred in the past eight or nine months. We started off with Storm Ophelia. We then had nearly 2 m of snow in my part of the world in March and April and it has now been four weeks since we had rain. This is part of the pattern of climate we are seeing.

Most Oireachtas committees have a major focus on climate change and the drastic changes it is bringing for all sectors of society. It will continue to have a major effect on the agricultural sector, for obvious reasons. We are dependent on what the weather will bring in many ways, whether it is the storms and snow that arrived in the early part of the year or the drought we have experienced for the past three and a half or four weeks.

In many ways, we need to revisit our strategies. I am calling for a long-term strategy to be put in place to ensure the agricultural sector will be more sustainable and robust when it comes to dealing with these dramatic weather changes. For that to happen, a major body of work must be done by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. This will involve many stakeholders, including Teagasc, to ensure appropriate strategies are implemented. We do not want a repeat of the two fodder crises we have experienced in the past five years when we had to purchase fodder abroad. I have no problem securing fodder abroad but these crises have a major impact on the sustainability of the agricultural sector.

In many ways, we need to build a new ethos for how agriculture, the agricultural community and industry can deal with major environmental changes, which will continue in the years and decades to come. The body of work I am asking for should include education for farmers to ensure they have more stocks and training for agricultural advisers to ensure they treat spring as an important time of year. In the event of a drought, discussion groups should meet every 14 days to respond to the climate changes that are taking place.

In making this suggestion, I do not claim to have all the answers. I hope the Minister has some answers. In many ways, this is about a changing ethos and ensuring the agricultural industry moves and changes with the changing environment to remain sustainable and robust in the face of dramatic weather events such as those of recent years. I hope the Minister will start this process. We are dealing with a very short-term issue at the moment and the issue of fodder will also need to be addressed because problems will arise again in the coming months and years. In my part of the world, winter fodder is now being used as feed, which could unfortunately have consequences in the coming winter.