Arthur Spring (Kerry North-West Limerick, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he envisages a need to further expand the nation's production of crops for export purposes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36975/12]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The maintenance of an efficient and viable cereals sector in Ireland is clearly very important to the well being of the agri-food industry. Indigenous production of cereals is of course, an important part of primary agriculture production. In addition to generating an income for our tillage farmers, the cereals sector is a key source of grain for the milling and malting industry and feeding stuffs for the livestock sector. Annual cereals production in Ireland has fluctuated around 2 million tonnes in recent years and it is desirable to try and sustain this level of production in order to avoid over dependence on imported cereals. According to the CSO Cereals Supply Balance sheet Ireland had 74% self-sufficiency in cereals in 2010/2011. Imports of cereals in that period amounted to 938,000 tonnes, down 14% or 155,000 tonnes on the previous year.

Since Ireland is a deficit market for cereals, prices here are greatly affected by world prices and supplies. In 2010, increased demands for grain from the biofuels sector and the growing needs of new emerging markets like China and India drove up world grain market prices. In line with this rise in world prices, grain prices in Ireland increased and growers here reacted by increasing the acreage sown. This resulted in a bumper harvest in 2011 with total grain production of almost 2.5m tonnes. The preliminary estimate for the 2012 grain harvest is forecast to be lower than the record harvest of 2011 due to the persistent adverse weather during the growing season.

However, the latest Teagasc report estimates the total grain production may come in, in the region of 2.3 million tonnes, boosted by a significant increase in cereal area planted in 2011. This is somewhat above the long-term average production of 2 million tonnes but 9% lower than the 2011 harvest figure of 2.5 million tonnes, which was exceptionally high.

My Department operates a range of services aimed at improving the efficiency of, quality and viability of cereal production. These services include seed certification, seed testing and recommended list of varieties. In addition, Teagasc provides research, training and advisory services for cereal producers. The value of all these support services is reflected in the fact that Irish cereals producers have consistently achieved some of the highest yields in the world.

Ireland is also a significant importer of field vegetables and potato sector. Most of my Department’s efforts along with that of the State Agencies involved with the horticultural industry is mainly focused on increasing production for the domestic market. The opportunities for developing exports, with the exception perhaps in the case of potatoes, is very limited. The main reason for this is due to scale of the industry, our costs of production, competition from major suppliers around the world and the controls exercised by the supermarkets in the importing countries. Also the very difficult weather conditions over the past 5 years, including 2 very severe winters, plus the very disappointing summer weather this year, have further restricted the industry’s capacity to even think of expanding production.