First of all, I would like to congratulate the Minister on his fine statement and comprehensive review of the present agricultural position. The Minister is in charge of a very complex Department, a Department which embraces a great variety of items and I think these congratulations are due to the Minister. I also want to say that his Department, and indeed the agricultural community as a whole, are making steady progress. This of course is due to the sound economic planning by the Government and as a result agriculture is making steady and sound progress. This is borne out by the latest figures we have which show that agricultural output has increased by 2.6 per cent over the previous year. Agricultural prices rose in 1970 and the figure is now in the region of £343 million, or £24 million over the previous year. Total family income has risen over the 1969 figure by over £10 million, or in the region of 6 per cent. Many of our farmers can compete with any of their counterparts in Europe and indeed some of our farmers are the best in Europe and can take their place, on our accession to the Common Market, side by side with any of their counterparts in Europe.
The demand in agriculture was never greater than it is at present and indeed the Government have continually emphasised their faith in it by backing it up with practical deeds and that faith in agriculture is paying off. This is apparent in a great many places. There are definite advances and the people engaged in agriculture are aware of this. There is a more definite approach made to the production end and also the marketing end, and the increasing use of fertilisers is having the required impact on farm output, and the very generous subsidies provided by the Government are bound to have a further significant impact in the future. These aids are being backed up by facts and knowledge imparted to the farmers and the agricultural community by the advisory services. Our farmers are now doing things which they never did before. This is the sort of spirit that is around and this indeed is the sort of spirit that must be around.
The basis for these advances was education and consequently in that area there must be significant progress. Agricultural education is an immediate need and one which will play an important role in putting into effect the aims and objectives of the programme for expansion necessary for our farmers when this country becomes a member of the EEC. All our farmers must realise the importance of education in their profession so that they can become efficient with the least possible delay. Furthermore, I feel that we need to put agriculture into the minds of the whole population as our key industry, the basis of our economy, the provider of raw materials for our industries, the best hope of quick success in the years that lie ahead and indeed the very staff of our national life. We can effectively do this by concentrated programme planning on our farms and projecting the proper public image to the non-farmer sector.
We are now launched on a new era and, economically speaking, one which is likely to be a period of great significance for our country. Now more than ever before farmers must take a pride in their profession, because if pride was not considered amongst the rewards of their vocation, in the difficult years that lie ahead, perhaps the other incentive rewards may not be sufficient to encourage our young people to remain on the land. I believe, however, that the long-term prospects for agriculture are good and if we can pull through, which I feel we can by pulling together in an organised manner, the prospects are indeed worthy of the effort. Also—and this is important— the financial rewards of agriculture must be made sufficiently attractive, and at the same time, our farmers must not see their way of life merely as a resort of those who have been outstripped in the race for better callings. The farmer must regard his work not as a mere routine procedure but as giving a scope for originality and experiment and the constant application of new information.
I was glad that the Minister made reference to the co-operative movement in so far as it affects creamery rationalisation. In this respect the Minister and his Department are to be congratulated on having this matter speeded up.
I wish to say something about co-operation in farming in a much wider sense. Co-operation will have a growing influence on farm economy from now on especially in communities where holdings are small. The co-operative movement can only be really successful if it is operated by the farmers themselves for themselves. I believe that co-operation and the promotion of the co-operative spirit is essential for efficient progress in the Irish agricultural economy and, indeed, the whole economy because agriculture is its bedrock. The co-operative movement can do this and the need for it is as great today and, perhaps, more urgent than when Plunkett decided to devote his life to promoting it in rural Ireland.
Through co-operation as Dr. Knapp, the American co-operative expert said when he surveyed the co-operative movement in Ireland some years ago, "The self-reliance and self-respect of the Irish farmer will be improved. It will help to raise the income and living standards of Irish agriculture through better marketing of farm products and better purchasing of agricultural requirements. The productivity of Irish agriculture will be increased and this in turn will encourage better agricultural practices".
Efficient and well-run co-operatives can bring about a change in productivity in an area by giving the farmer a greater stake in the advantages that come from a more productive agriculture. An example of this is that approximately 75 per cent of our farms are of 50 acres or less in size. With the gradual breakdown of international trade and transport barriers in the EEC, it is necessary, if the majority of these farms are to survive as viable economic units, that Irish agriculture should be abreast of foreign competitors in all its techniques. It is through co-operation and using the co-operative movement to the best advantage that our farmers can achieve great results for themselves in the future, more particularly when we join the EEC.
I want to refer to education and particularly the advisory services. I am glad that the Minister in referring to education, research and advisory services said:
By far the most important agricultural resource are the men and women who work on our farms. My Department is very much concerned with improving their management and technical efficiency. This involves a continuing process of education and advice and the provision and application of new information and techniques.
I wish to pay a well-deserved tribute to the advisory services, their personnel, the CAOs, the advisory officers in each county and to everybody associated with these services.
In this context tribute should also be paid to the farming organisations dealing with farm education such as Macra na Feirme and Macra na Tuaithe which are responsible in no small way for the progress being made in agriculture at present. I am glad the Minister sees fit each year to give a very generous grant to Macra na Feirme and I hope that when he is budgeting for the coming 12 months he will further increase the grant to Macra na Feirme which has given so much of itself to Irish agriculture. It would be remiss of me not to include the very fine work being done by our residential agricultural colleges throughout the country.
It was, indeed, a source of joy to me to read in the papers some months ago that the Minister had opened another of these colleges in his own native Kilkenny. I hope that is the forerunner of many more because the demand for this type of agricultural education far exceeds the resources which are available. I should like to see a great expansion in this type of education. No farmer's son or potential farmer should consider it beneath his dignity to spend a year or two in one of these very fine and very well-equipped colleges which are providing the information and the know-how on farming methods.
The winter farm schools and the evening classes conducted by the advisory services are keeping our farmers abreast of present-day trends and present-day advances in agriculture, and present-day advances in agricultural education.
I was also glad to see that the farm apprenticeship scheme has grown from 24 participants in 1964 to something in the region of 123 in the present year. There is room for further expansion. I should like to see this scheme extended. The financial aids which are being provided by the Department should also be extended. The operation of this scheme has proved to be an unqualified success as a method of training in farm management. The scheme came into operation in October, 1964, and since that time the numbers entering apprenticeship have increased steadily each year.
The scheme is designed to give a three to four year course in in-service apprenticeship training leading to qualification in farm management. A boy who has reached the age of 18 years on entry may sit for his first certificate examination at the end of three years. The qualification is phased over three stages. First there is a certificate in farm management on the completion of apprenticeship service. A senior certificate in farm management can be obtained a minimum of two years after taking the first certificate. Finally, there is the master farmer's certificate. This examination may be taken three years after taking the senior certificate.
After the first years of the operation of this scheme a growing awareness of its value has become noticeable. There is very little difficulty in obtaining sufficient suitable teaching farmers. We have found that these men are most co-operative. I should like to pay tribute to the farmers who are known as master farmers for taking on apprentices and training them in the rudiments of agriculture and good farming husbandry.
The standard of the academic education of the apprentices entering this scheme has been rising every year. The boys who have qualified through this scheme so far have remained in the country and they are all commanding a good living. It is obvious that the management training and the skills which these boys have acquired through the scheme are highly valued. There is no doubt that there are plenty of opportunities in our agricultural industry for young men with the training which this scheme provides. If these opportunities were not evident in the past it was because the young men were not there. The Farm Apprenticeship Board are aware of the fact that, after the experience of the past few years, a review of the scheme is now necessary further to improve the standard of training. I understand this is under consideration at present with the co-operation of the Minister's Department. I hope that the improvement sought will be well within the compass of the board.
The board have enjoyed the co-operation of the Minister's Department from the outset. Since 1967, three years after the inception of the scheme, the Minister's Department have provided a basic grant of £2,600 per annum to the board for administrative purposes plus a further £ for £ on income received by the board from non-State sources. I would urgently ask the Minister to consider the very valid argument for increasing the grants to this board to ensure the further expansion of this very vital section of agricultural education.
A reorganisation of the advisory services has been talked about quite a lot over the past 12 months or so. Submissions have been made to the Minister by the different farming organisations, by the advisory services, by the organisations themselves and by the General Council of Committees of Agriculture. I hope that in considering these submissions the personnel of the Department and the Minister will give a thorough and deep study to this important section in agriculture.
The county committees of agriculture are providing a very fine service. Much reference has been made to the composition of these committees, but by and large their services in each county are expanding and progressing and, also, there are an increasing number of instructors being appointed. Therefore, any decision as to the future of these committees, should be reached only after all considerations in the context of their services down through the years have been taken into account. The men on these committees are well aware of the particular problems in their respective counties so that at their monthly meetings they are in a position to reach the decisions that are best suited to solving the problems of the farmers in their areas. I urge the Minister to consider very carefully any suggestion that may be put to him regarding the diminishing of any of the powers of these committees. The importance of an efficient advisory service as an aid to agricultural development cannot be over-emphasised.
In regard to the recruitment of staff, the present system should be changed and advisors should be appointed on the basis of interview, whether it be at national or county level. I refer, of course, to the appointment of temporary advisors. These people should be made permanent as soon as possible. Perhaps they could be made permanent after a 12 month probationary period. Also, their conditions of employment should be comparable to those obtaining in any other service because it is important that men of outstanding ability in the sphere of agriculture are attracted to these posts. I would ask the Minister to have published a White Paper on the whole aspect of the re-organisation of the advisory service so that there could be comprehensive consultation with all the parties concerned. Already, we know the views of the various parties, but so far we have had no indication of the Department's thinking on the matter. I look forward to hearing their ideas and suggestions in this respect.
I welcome the statement by the Minister telling us that the Minister for Finance has authorised the Agricultural Credit Corporation to lend to farmers a further £4.5 million in this current year. Our farmers have the ability to utilise this money to the best advantage. It is good to know that any farmer who can produce a worthwhile scheme will not be refused a loan by the corporation.
May I refer again briefly to the question of re-organisation and make the suggestion that the Agricultural Credit Corporation should be under the control of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and not under the control of the Department of Finance.
The subject of agriculture is so wide that one could spend many hours discussing it, but on an Estimate such as this we can talk only on certain aspects of the industry. In conclusion, I want to say a few words in regard to our entry into the EEC in so far as it will affect agriculture. Many of the economic benefits that are likely to accrue from membership of the Community will be to the benefit of the agricultural sector. The Community's agricultural policy and the implications of that policy for Irish agriculture are of the greatest importance not only to the agricultural industry itself but to the economic development of our country as a whole. Clearly the effects of membership of the EEC will be very much to the advantage of agriculture, especially in our main sectors of livestock and livestock products. While we will meet the keenest competition in an enlarged Community, I have the fullest confidence in the ability of farmers, processors and export interests to meet this competition successfully and to make the most of the opportunities that will arise when Irish agricultural products will be placed on all the markets of the Community on an equal footing with the products of the other member States.
A prosperous agriculture is vital to Ireland's economic well-being and advancement. Membership of the EEC will open for us the opportunity to compete on fair terms in a market of 250 million people. Between 1966 and 1969 the value of total agricultural output rose by almost 30 per cent in this country. This was achieved by a smaller labour force as it is well known that fewer people are now remaining on the land. This is not just happening in this country, it is a world-wide trend. The value of output per man in farming rose by almost 10 per cent in that same period. Many of our industries use raw materials from agriculture. Indeed, industries based on agriculture are responsible for about 45 per cent of industrial output. Therefore, the value of our agricultural exports has risen from about £125 million in 1966 to £167 million in 1969. The total value of exports of agricultural products and commodities derived from agriculture in 1969 was £207 million which is about 60 per cent of our total exports. This high contribution provides cash for the importation of equipment and raw materials necessary for industry. Without it perhaps industry would have to fold up or would not be able to keep moving.
While we are proud of the contribution made by agriculture to the national economy we realise that this contribution could be far greater. In 1959 a competition in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and the committees of agriculture was launched by Macra na Feirme. It was a national farm management competition. In that year the gross output per acre of the first prize winner was three times the national average. The gross output of the winner in 1969, the most recent competition for which results are available, was six times the national average. Therefore, output, with consequent increase in family income, is increased by adopting the most modern techniques. For example, in dairying this would include paddock grazing, heavy use of fertiliser, heavy stocking and modern farmbuildings. The adoption of modern methods entails extra costs. Farmers generally are not afraid of increased costs if they get a greater award for their produce. We know that there are more progressive dairy farmers in creamery areas where a good milk price is paid. We know that if the creamery is efficient and if it has good marketing "know-how" it will be able to pay a better price than any neighbouring creamery with inefficient techniques. When we enter the Common Market the payment of better prices will instil confidence and encourage further progress in farming. The same can be said about enterprises other than dairying, for example, beet and vegetable growing and pig production. When the market is assured and a reasonably good price guaranteed the farmer increases his output.
