Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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190. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to reconvene the tillage forum in 2017; and the date of the next meeting. [48636/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I would like to give the Deputy an update on initiatives that I have progressed on behalf of the tillage sector since the last meeting of the Tillage Forum.  

Stakeholders at that forum identified opportunities to increase the demand for Irish grain in the brewing and distilling sectors, both of which are expanding rapidly.  Other opportunities identified included the development of a fully traceable native grain ration and availability of high-end niche markets for lifestyle foods. I invited contributions from members of the forum on developing these initiatives and how they could best be delivered.  I will be inviting stakeholders to a future meeting of the High Level Implementation Committee of Food Wise 2025 to present on the more important of these initiatives.

Food Wise 2025 is of course the blueprint for the development of the agri-food sector as a whole, including the tillage sector. This document contains a number of priority actions to support the development of the tillage sector. My own Department implements a number of these actions.

For example, in order to increase the availability of native grown protein crops for inclusion in animal feeds, a protein aid scheme was introduced in 2015, as part of the implementation of the reformed CAP package in Ireland. €3 million was set aside annually for this scheme and the rate of payment in 2016 was €246/ha. 

In July of this year in response to the exceptionally challenging harvest conditions of September 2016 I introduced the Weather Related Crop Loss Support measure to assist farmers who experienced significant yield losses in spring cereal crops.  

I introduced the Agriculture Cashflow Support Loan Scheme in January of this year and extended it to cover the tillage and horticulture sectors. All the finance available under this scheme has been committed and is in the process of being drawn down. There has been a very positive reaction by farmers to the Scheme, including tillage farmers.

In addition to this support I secured funding of €25 million for my Department to facilitate the development of a new Brexit response loan scheme for farmers, fishermen and food businesses in 2018. Further details will be announced in due course.  

As a further support to tillage farmers I introduced the Tillage Investment Scheme under TAMS II earlier this year.  The specific areas of investment include Minimum Disturbance Tillage Equipment, Sprayers, Rain Water Harvesting, Grain Storage and Grain dryers.  There is a significant level of interest in investments under this measure with a total number of 687 applications received. 

I secured an increase from 50% to 70% advance payment on 16 October last of the 2017 Basic Payment Scheme and Greening payments from the European Commission. This approach was prompted by the market difficulties being experienced in several sectors including tillage arising from ongoing currency fluctuations and protracted poor weather conditions. 

Finally, my Department operates a range of services aimed at improving the level of production, quality and viability of the Irish cereal sector. These services include seed certification, seed testing, crop variety testing and the publication of recommended lists of varieties, research funding through the ‘Stimulus’ competitive research programme and funding for the quality assurance scheme. In addition, Teagasc provides research, training and advisory services for tillage 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. 

Notwithstanding the range of current supports, I will continue to closely engage with the tillage sector on its needs, particularly through the Tillage Stakeholders Group.