Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I tabled this Commencement matter following a lot of engagement with small farmers. I visited a number of farms in the last few days in County Laois. The farms I am talking about are small, traditional land holdings with Land Commission houses. Such farms are common in counties Cavan and Kerry. I was in Cavan last week and was also in Kerry, Clare, Galway and Wicklow. On all occasions I was there by appointment and visited small land holdings. The Minister of State will be very familiar with such farms which are generally no bigger than 30 to 50 acres.

To be fair to these farmers, they run holistic, sustainable little farms. They are farms that have been successful at outdoor rearing of cattle all year round. It is possible to successfully out-winter cattle in certain places where the ground is firm. They have tailored their farming husbandry and methods to the tight constraints of their farms and are successful.

I spoke to a farmer in County Clare who has had no vet visit his farm in three years and whose animals have not been injected with any veterinary products. He has approximately 15 head of cattle and runs a very small but concentrated operation, with some off-farm supplementary income. His farm is sustainable, holistic and can be loosely described as organic in that there is no use of fertiliser and luckily, no veterinary interventions.

I acknowledge the success of the three green low-carbon agri-environment schemes, GLAS. They are good for farmers, farming and the environment. I also acknowledge the extension of GLAS, which some farmers availed of successfully. In the early stages of GLAS in 2017, ring feeders were in operation but their use was stopped. Under GLAS, a lot of farmers converted to low-input permanent pasture, LIPP, but the knock-on effect of LIPP was to reduce holdings in terms of grazing. That was a scheme for which funding was available.

Farmers want to continue the practice of out-wintering where possible. It is not always possible and very much depends on ground conditions and many other issues. They believe they can do it but want some assurances in the context of CAP. Who will represent the interests of the small farmers who operate in this way in the context of CAP? These farmers are engaged in safe farming practices. They are not spreading slurry at any time or using other fertilisers. They have a rotation grazing system in place and are careful not to overgraze. They are conscious that it is in their own interests to have a sustainable farm operation. Profitability is important to them but so is their land. They are the custodians of the land, which is important.

How can we support these farmers and who will do so? Can they continue to use ring-feeders, albeit moving them around the farm? Can they continue to use them in order to feed silage to their animals?