Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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17. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the steps he has taken for developing plant science here. [52921/13]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The reply is as follows.

Research

My Department remains committed to funding plant science through our competitive funding programmes: Stimulus and CoFoRD (Competitive Forest Research for Development Programme). My Department’s industry derived strategic research agenda called ‘Stimulating Sustainable Agricultural Production through Research and Innovation’ contains a dedicated chapter on Crops (tillage) and a section on grassland management and breeding and, almost exclusively, this agenda informed the content of the Department’s last two research calls. Furthermore, a strategic research agenda on Forestry research is nearing completion which will focus on all aspects of forestry research including tree breeding.

Cereals

The Irish tillage sector has benefitted significantly from developments in plant science in recent years. Over the last thirty years or so the average commercial gains in the yield of cereals on Irish farms has been between 1% and 2% annually. Half of this gain has been due to the selection of superior varieties for Irish conditions through intensive testing in my Department’s Crop Evaluation Programme. Cereal yields here are now among the best in the world.

The same intensity of progress in the sphere of plant science has taken place in Irish grassland production. Some of the most successful grasses used in our high performing pastures have been bred by Teagasc and there are further improved varieties, uniquely suited to our conditions, in the pipeline.

Potatoes

Ireland has enjoyed much success both here and abroad in producing new improved potato varieties. Teagasc is the main potato breeder in Ireland and its breeding programme has been particularly successful. In its partnership with Irish Potato Marketing, 39 varieties have been released and at least 25 of these are still being marketed commercially in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. The variety Rooster, released in 1990 and probably the best-known of the Teagasc-bred varieties, now accounts for 56% of the total potato area grown in Ireland

Horticulture

In the horticultural area, the bulk of work in the development of plant science occurs in either Teagasc or the various Universities. The Teagasc research programme in this area is mainly concentrated on the management, screening and evaluation of a range of ornamental species for suitability as cut foliage.

Forestry

In partnership with a number of other organisations, my Department also supports the forest genetic resources aspects of plant science through grant aid funding for the work of Teagasc on the improvement of alder and birch, the work of the Future Trees Trust on the improvement of ash, birch, oak, Spanish chestnut and sycamore and the involvement in the work of the European Network on Forest Genetic Resources.

Teagasc

Teagasc have a group of plant scientists and biotechnologists based at Oak Park in Carlow, employing the latest plant science technologies for the improvement of crops for Irish agriculture, with the work targeted at those likely to have the biggest impact on the agricultural sector with a view to supporting the objectives of Food Harvest 2020. Currently the work is focussed on; the development of genomic selection in Perennial Ryegrass, improving disease resistance in cereals, accelerating the rate of genetic improvement in potatoes through the development of marker assisted selection and the production of biomass from marginal lands.