I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time. The Bill before us is designed to continue, in permanent and somewhat amplified form, existing emergency legislation providing for the maintenance of satisfactory standards in the production, processing and sale of agricultural seeds.
Between the development of a strain of seed by a plant breeder and its availability in commercial quantities to farmers, are many stages of reproduction and multiplication. The earliest of these can be undertaken in the Plant Breeding Station in which the strain is developed but, as the quantities increase, further reproductions must be carried out on farms. The necessity for securing that in these later multiplications the desirable characteristics of the strain will be preserved is obvious. Such objectives cannot, however, be achieved in a haphazard manner and supervision is required in relation to the various steps in reproduction, from the selection of growers, the preparation of the land and the inspection of growing crops, to the harvesting, drying and cleaning of the seed and its subsequent warehousing and sale.
Facilities for carrying out these various operations cannot readily be provided by individual growers working independently. Some measure of coordination and direction entailing the employment of trained staff and the provision of plant and equipment is, accordingly, required. Virtually all countries now engage in seed production and schemes of one or other kind are in operation to ensure that the general standards of quality of seeds are maintained at a satisfactory level and to provide that seed of special merit is marketed under recognised designation mark, seal or tag which will indicate to the buyer that the seed is of special worth. While many such schemes are voluntarily operated, there is none the less the necessity for some statutory powers to ensure that certain aspects of production will be safeguarded as, for example, prevention of cross fertilisation and protection from misuse of names or designations such as "certified."
The present Bill is in accord with this modern trend. It is concerned with two aspects of seed production. The first is the production, processing and sale of good quality commercial seeds and in this respect it is at present confined to the common root seeds, namely, kale, mangel, turnip (including swede turnip), rape, sugar beet and fodder beet. Power is, however, being taken to add other seeds to the list should the necessity arise. The second aspect of seed production with which the Bill deals is the provision of certain powers in relation to the operation of schemes for certification of seeds.
In so far as the production, processing and sale of root seeds is concerned, the Bill contains nothing in the way of new legislation, and in fact its introduction flows from the policy of replacing emergency legislation by permanent enactments.
The temporary legislation replaced is the Emergency Powers (No. 254) Order, 1943, and certain subsidiary Orders and it may be well to recall the origin of this temporary legislation.
In pre-war days, this country's normal source of supply of common root seeds was Britain. Early in the war years, exports from that country were prohibited and difficulties immediately arose in securing sufficient of these seeds for our needs. Faced with this situation, my Department invited the principal seed merchants to co-operate with it in the production of root seeds in the country. Two associations of seedsmen entered into the business and have continued in it since with a considerable measure of success. Comhlucht Siúicre Éireann went into the production of sugar beet seed and you will be familiar with the progress which the company has made in that field. It is of course open to other qualified persons or firms to engage in the business.
It is not impossible that outside sources of supply might become difficult in the future and there is, therefore, good reason for persevering with home production and making the country independent of imports as far as possible, quite apart, of course, from the economic advantages of providing seed growing farmers with a cash crop.
As I have mentioned previously, it is not sufficient merely to produce seeds but to ensure that the seeds grown are of standards of quality equal to anything available from elsewhere and in fact strains of seeds developed and propagated in the country should give more satisfactory results than imported strains produced under other conditions of soils and climate. With a view to ensuring that these proper standards will be attained provisions are included to provide that firms having licences to produce seeds will be in a position to provide proper facilities for supervising production at all stages between sowing and sale.
Another important section of the Bill prohibits the growing of certain seeds in certain areas in order that such areas may be preserved for the production of other seeds, mainly with the object of guarding against grass fertilisation. At the moment the growing of mangel and sugar mangel plants to the seeding stage is prohibited in a wide area in Munster in which Comhlucht Siúicre Éireann has been carrying on the production of sugar beet seed and this arrangement has worked satisfactorily.
Part III of the Bill contains provisions relating to the certification of seed. Certified seed is backed by State Department or other certifying authority to the effect that the growing and processing has been supervised by the certifying agency according to the conditions of the relevant scheme and that, as far as is reasonably possible, the authenticity and merit of the seed can be vouched for. The production of certified seed is well developed in various countries and in fact has been operated with very considerable success in this country since 1931 in relation to seed potatoes in which a valuable export trade exists. A similar trade might be developed in other certified seeds and to this end my Department has been operating, on a voluntary basis, schemes for the production of certified seed of wheat and of a new strain of perennial ryegrass.
It is intended to continue these schemes and to develop others on a voluntary basis but there are certain aspects of them which require some statutory authority as, for instance, the preservation from misuse of seals, tags and labels which, it is hoped, will become recognised as indicating the quality of the seed. Also, of course, provision must be made to prevent the loose application of the fundamental term "certified" to any but genuinely certified seed and it is to this end that Part III of the Bill is mainly directed. These provisions are, however, enabling and, in keeping with my general policy, I propose to employ them only should evidence of improper practices come to light which might necessitate my doing so.
