Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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40. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if there is evidence of beef farmers switching to dairy production in significant numbers and if this presents a concern for the beef industry. [43013/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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During the period 2009 to 2013, my Department operated the New Entrants to Dairying Scheme, where up to 200,000 litres of milk quota were awarded to farmers wishing to commence dairying and who were successful in the competitive assessment process. Just over 400 farmers received quota allocations in that period. An analysis of successful applicants for the period 2009 to 2011, involving 230 applicants, indicated 58% were involved in beef production of some description at the time of application and that a further 25% were involved in mixed farming which would include some beef as well. There is nothing to suggest that this trend was not followed in the remaining two years of the Scheme. It is of course a common feature in Irish agriculture for dairy farmers to have a beef enterprise as part of their farm as quota constraints limited the size of their dairy output. The abolition of quotas may see these farmers divest themselves of the beef cattle in order to use their available land for dairy production and maximise their output.

With the advent of a milk quota free environment from 2015, there will be more opportunities for farmers in other sectors, including the beef sector, to consider whether dairy production is a viable alternative for their enterprises. I expect that some farmers in the beef sector will make that switch though in the context of the numbers in each sector, I believe that the number converting will be relatively modest. In this context, constraints on land and the capital investment required to move to the dairy sector will remain as barriers

I am confident that the beef sector will continue to strengthen its position as one of the biggest net exporters in the world. Indeed, the expansion in the dairy sector will also provide new opportunities for the beef sector, both at producer and processor level, in terms of adding value to the increased progeny of these dairy cows or rearing replacements on a contract or partnership basis.

I have made it clear on a number of occasions the priority I attach to the suckler sector and this is the reason I have €74m in 2015, for schemes specifically directed to suckler farmers. This year alone I allocated €33m in funding towards beef data genomics scheme, which are among the first of their kind in the world for the beef sector. I am also proposing a new six-year scheme starting in 2015 under the Rural Development Plan which will build on and further develop this genomics concept. This scheme, which is currently under discussion with the European Commission, will have a budget of approximately €300m over the life of the programme and will revolutionise the breeding strategies employed by suckler farmers and deliver a genetic gain which help to improve environmental sustainability and drive farm profitability. This funding allocation is a vote of confidence by this Government in the sector and its role at the heart of the Irish agri-food development story.