Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the Chamber and thank him for taking this Commencement matter. The straw incorporation measure is a payment for chopping straw and incorporating it into the soil. There are certain crops that can be used such as winter or spring oats, rye, winter or spring wheat, winter or spring barley and winter or spring oilseed rape. You can get paid on, at least, 5 ha but for no more than 40 ha. If you apply for more than 40 ha you can carry it out but there is no payment above 40 ha. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has approved a budget of €10 million for this scheme, with a payment rate per ha for the oat, rye, wheat and barley of €250 and for oilseed rape €150.

Since its establishment, this has been a really good scheme. Many tillage farmers in Tipperary speak very positively about it and they are very happy with it. A question regularly asked of me by tillage farmers is if this scheme can be made permanent. The Minister will be aware that for most schemes introduced by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine the first question is always on how it can be made easier to apply for. This is a scheme that people are really happy with in terms of applying for it, but they are looking for it to be made permanent. In fairness to the Irish Grain Growers group, it has been requesting this. I know that the group has been in contact with the Minister and the Department in regard to the scheme being made permanent for tillage farmers. This year has been a good year for tillage farming but that is not always the case. A scheme like this gives a level of certainty to farmers.

Another question often put to me by farmers is on why the payment for oilseed rape is set at a different level and if, at any point into the future, it is proposed to increase it to the €250 payment for the other crops. A number of farmers chop the oilseed rape, but from a financial point of view and with a difference of €100 per ha, it makes more sense to chop the straw of the wheat barley rather than the oilseed rape. Will the Minister consider raising the budget for this over the next number of years as well because of the interest in it?

One of the main requests is for an increase in the ceiling per individual. At the moment, as the Minister will be aware, a farmer can apply for 40 ha, or almost 100 acres, under this scheme, which is excellent and people are really happy with that. Last year, we fell below the overall amount allowed to be used nationally. I know farmers in Tipperary who wanted to use more of their land for this because they know it is a benefit to the environment. Over the next number of months - this has started already - we will face issues with regard to fertiliser and the cost of fertiliser. Cutting up straw and incorporating it into the soil helps in terms of encouraging farmers to use less fertiliser and it reduces the dependency for tillage farmers to use fertiliser. There is an environmental aspect to this and they know that.

While it is welcome that you can have up to 100 acres per farmer, can the Department do something for tillage farmers in Tipperary who have more than 100 acres, such as set a percentage of their land that they can use? For example, a farmer who has 150 acres can use 100 acres for this scheme, which means that farmer can use two-thirds of his or her land, but for the farmer who has 400 acres or 500 acres, 100 acres is only 20%. Could we, perhaps, allow for say, 25% or 30% of land to be used under this scheme? There are farmers who feel they would benefit a lot more if they could use more than 100 acres or, use the first 100 acres and beyond that a percentage of, say, 20% or 25%. This would give farmers with greater amounts of land more to work it.