Written answers

Thursday, 27 October 2016

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Food Prices

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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157. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the extent to which he and his Department have managed to address the concerns raised by the farming community in its various submissions through representative organisations, pre-budget or otherwise; if he remains satisfied regarding the stability of the agrifood sector, with particular reference to its ability to compete on home and international markets and having due regard to the cost of inputs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32476/16]

Photo of Michael CreedMichael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Since taking up office, one of my priorities has been to address the impact of the sustained period of lower commodity prices on farmers. I met with a range of stakeholders in advance of the recent Budget and I have been engaged, both at National and EU level, to address the issues involved and to ensure that we continue to have a sustainable and resilient sector. As part of the recent Budget, I announced a “three pillar strategy” to alleviate the pressures of income volatility through:

- Lower Cost Finance: I announced plans for an 'Agri Cashflow Support Loan' fund of €150 million, which will support highly flexible loans at an interest rate of 2.95%, for amounts up to €150,000 and for terms up to six years.

- Tax Measures: I agreed with my colleague the Minister for Finance an adjustment to the current 'Income Averaging' system, allowing for an opt-out in an exceptional year.

- Farm Payments: Spending on farm schemes through the Rural Development Programme will see €601 million go directly to farmers in 2017, including a new €25 million sheep welfare scheme and increased participation in GLAS, BDGP & TAMS. his is on top of €1.2 billion paid through the Basic Payments Scheme.

Regarding the agri-food sector generally, the Food Wise 2025 strategy contains recommendations aimed at improving value-added and productivity at farm and food industry level through a focus on sustainability, efficiency, knowledge transfer and innovation. Realising the ambitious growth projections set out in Food Wise will be challenging, particularly in the context of Brexit, but I am confident that the strong implementation process for the strategy, led by the High Level Implementation Committee which I chair, will deliver results.

Specifically on the cost of inputs, we will of course remain vigilant in the current market environment but the CSO's agricultural input price index decreased by 1.0% in August 2016 compared with July 2016 and decreased by 4.7% in the 12 months to the end of August.

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