1973 was not all that good either. To some extent it was good, but certainly 1974 was a very bad year as far as agriculture was concerned. At this stage I am not going to go into the reasons, the whys and wherefores for that, but unfortunately that appears to be the pattern of Irish agriculture over quite a number of years. There are good years and bad years. We cannot, I agree, blame the Minister for quite a lot of the bad years. Weather conditions, as everybody knows, play a tremendous part in agriculture and in the outcome of agriculture and whether we are going to have a good year or a bad year. If you have the wrong weather at particular times of the year certainly that will affect the outcome as far as farming is concerned for that year.
The reason I mention this at all is that I feel that since we had a good year last year and hopefully will have a good year this year, we should not regard everything in the garden as rosy. There are difficulties and problems. There is no question about that. Everybody realises and appreciates that, but when we have a bad year we shout and growl and bawl our heads off about the difficulties of farming and all the rest of it. When things are going well in agriculture, when we get a good break, a good year, we should get down to the task of planning for the future and for the development of agriculture in the future. A good year is the proper time to do that, to set our targets, to set our sights, to prepare and plan for the future and now is the time when we should be doing that. It has been said that the Minister did not refer to planning and development for the future. Be that as it may, the good year is the time to be doing it.
I come from Wexford, a constituency which to my way of thinking is an ideal one from the farming point of view as far as this country is concerned and possibly as far as the world is concerned. We have a mixed farming economy there where the growing of cereals, of root crops, horticultural produce, the dairy and beef, pig and bacon and sheep industries go hand in hand. The Minister will agree that Wexford farmers made an amazing success of that type of farming. At present in Wexford we are probably producing most of the country's wheat, a large percentage of the country's barley, of beet for sugar production and, at the same time, carrying on a tremendous dairying and beef industry. We have a huge sheep population and an excellent pig and bacon industry. Wexford is the ideal farming community where farmers work hard, long hours and are prepared to put everything into the land in order that they get the best results from it. On any one farm one may find tillage and beef and milk production. That is the ideal type of farming for this country. It is hard work. They are very industrious farmers who put a lot into it but who, in turn, reap a lot from their labours.
Wexford farmers have shown what they can do in horticulture. I was rather disappointed to learn from the Minister's statement that so little cash is being made available to that industry. In Wexford we produce thousands of tons of strawberries each year. Other fruits are grown also. Horticulture plays a very large part in the farming economy of that county. A man with a small acreage—and this is very important—can go into horticulture and make a good living from it. Wexford has shown the way in this respect.
There has been considerable talk in the course of this debate about market aids and so on. In the past we were too inclined to depend on market aids and too little on increasing production—seeking greater returns from the land and from our cows. We are told we have the lowest milk yield. If it is correct, it is a pity. I remember a few years ago in Wexford when the amount of barley or wheat taken from an acre was very low. It has since been increased, in many cases doubled and, in some, more than doubled. It is very important to increase production rather than seeking more aids and higher prices and, in turn, pricing a commodity out of the consumer market.
I was rather enchanted by something Deputy Carter said during the course of his contribution. Referring to the shortage and very high price of potatoes during the past year, he said we had more spivs to the square mile than any other European country. One questions the accuracy of that statement. Certainly in times of shortage, as has been the case with potatoes during the past 12 months, it is amazing how people can appear on the scene and make good money out of that shortage. For instance—reverting to strawberries for a moment—I remember seeing beautiful strawberries being sold last year at 10p, 12p and 15p per punnet, with a pound or more in each one, in Enniscorthy town and many other areas of Wexford. I saw the same punnets in shops not far from this House at double that price and, in some cases, treble—30p, 40p and 50p per punnet. Perhaps our producers, or the co-operatives who act on their behalf, would be able to do something to market this type of produce themselves, especially horticultural produce, vegetables, and fruit in particular. If farmers through their co-operatives or other organisations were able to market those items in our cities and major towns, it would cut out all those spivs to the square mile about whom Deputy Carter spoke.
I should like to refer now to the disadvantaged areas scheme. We had a chat with the Minister across the House recently in this connection. I think it was Deputy Allen who had a question down about the Macamores. I do not want to get into that argument again this afternoon. The Minister told us then that he had done everything in his power to have areas such as that included in the scheme, apparently without success. Sometimes, and I accept this, it is difficult to have accepted by the EEC some things we think should be accepted. I would ask the Minister to give that area very special consideration, to see if there is anything his Department can do to remedy the position there. As the Minister is aware, it is a huge area of land under sea level which means that it is certainly disadvantaged. A huge job of drainage is required to be done there.
The Minister did say on that day recently in the House that that area at one time had produced some wonderful crops of wheat. In a fine year with not much rain the area will produce good crops of wheat. It is true to say also that because of the manner in which it produced wheat and other products in the past it is one of the highest valued areas in the country. While some of the best farmlands in Wexford at present are valued at 50p per acre, an acre in the Macamores can be valued at anything between £1 and £1.50 and, in some cases, more. Perhaps the Minister would examine whether or not anything can be done to provide a suitable scheme for the drainage of that area. There is sufficient land involved to make the exercise worth while.
Another point I should like to raise with the Minister is the question of An Foras Talúntais. We have in Wexford two very valuable branches of the Agricultural Institute, Johnstown Agricultural College and the fruit research station at Clonroche outside Enniscorthy town. I would like the Minister in his closing speech to deal with both. Some farmers recently asked me the cost of running Johnstown Castle, the expenditure side and the income side, and the same as far as the research station at Clonroche is concerned. I realise that the Minister's Department pay an overall grant to An Foras Talúntais who deal with those particular research stations and agricultural colleges. There is no doubt about the value of Johnstown Agricultural College to the farming community and also to the agricultural community of a much wider area than Ireland. Remarkable work has been done there since this college was established. They deserve the thanks and praise of the farming community.
Another question which was raised very often during the debate was the cattle population. I do not want the Minister to tell me now as he told Deputy Carter, that we had fewer cattle during the final year of the last Fianna Fáil administration. It is too easy for Ministers—it happened three or four times today—especially during Question Time, to refer back to numbers, expenditure and so forth, four or five years ago. Things have changed immensely since then. The value of money has fallen by about half and the whole approach has changed. We are in a different situation. It would be as easy to go back to the good figure as the bad but nobody goes back to the really good figures.
In relation to cattle population we have heard Members of the House saying they are amazed at the drop in the cattle population in the last 12 months. It is easy to say that, but it is not so easy for the farmer who has cattle, whether they be cows, bullocks or calves, to refuse the good price when it is going. It is always very tempting to sell when the price is good because the fear is always present that the price will drop drastically. That is the danger all producers see. The Minister and the Department, as well as everybody else, must do everything in their power to encourage the farming community to keep cattle stocks up. If we let them go down too far the future of the cattle industry is in jeopardy. People are in agriculture to get the best price going, but the danger in selling when top prices can be got for cattle, calves and cows is that we will run down our cattle population to such an extent that it will endanger the whole future of the industry. I am sure the farming community and the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries are keeping a careful eye on this.
There is a long statement in the Minister's speech on disease eradication. I am sure everybody agrees with him on this. There is a very urgent need for disease eradication. The dispute going on between the Department and the vets is a tragedy. I do not know how it will be brought to a conclusion. This dispute must be ended quickly if the whole future of the cattle industry, the beef and dairy industry, is not to be destroyed forever. We were given a certain period of time to eradicate disease. We could not possibly meet the deadline. The longer this dispute goes on, the less chance, if any, we have of meeting that deadline. I appeal to both sides to end this dispute as soon as possible. It may call for sacrifices on both sides and it may call for a change of position. I appeal to the vets, the Minister and the Department, in the interests of the future of the cattle industry, which is so important to the country, to bring this dispute to an end immediately.
The EEC policy on agriculture has been mentioned in the Minister's speech and also by every speaker in the course of this debate. It is only right that Deputies should mention this because the EEC plays such a very important part in the agricultural business of the country that we must take note of it. We must do our part to ensure that EEC agricultural policy suits the country. I would hate to think what the £114 million Estimate would be if we were not in the EEC. I am, like the Minister and everybody else, worried about all the food that is going into intervention, all the beef, milk powder and milk products going into Europe. It is hard to understand when there is so much hunger in the world that there is so much stock-piling of food in the European Community. I may be soft-hearted, and that is no good as far as the hard-headed commercial interests of the world are concerned, but there must be an easier way of disposing of huge stocks of food stuffs than by putting them into stores, piling up thousands and even millions of tons of the finest food and letting it deteriorate or eventually selling it off at half its value to the Russians or somebody else. I admit this is a big problem. The intervention method helped our farming community to a great extent but there must be some way of disposing of the huge supplies of foodstuffs piled up in Europe to the starving world we read about every day.
I know, like the previous speaker, that the old scheme of grants for farm buildings and farm improvements will finish in September. I fear quite a lot of farmers are not conversant with the farm modernisation scheme or with the methods of securing grants to improve their holdings. There is need for much greater information about this, as far as this is concerned.
Sheep have figured very considerably in this debate and in the Minister's speech. In Wexford we produce a huge number of sheep. We had a very good export market in lamb from Enniscorthy, from a local factory. However, since France apparently were allowed to breach the EEC rules as far as the importation of lamb and the use of lamb is concerned, that market is gone. That is something the Minister will have to try to see restored to this country. He will also have to ensure that French importers play their part in the Community as we are doing.
Poultry and eggs have not figured very much in the debate and there are problems there. Rabies was mentioned by the Minister. This is a very important topic at present. I looked at a programme on BBC television one night during the past week. It was frightening to realise that this disease could so very easily be imported into Britain and from Britain into Ireland. This is a horrible and disastrous disease. The fear of this disease should be brought home to every human being in the country. A person who illegally brings a cat or a dog into this country should be dealt with very severely. I am sure the Department and our people at the points of entry are fully aware of the dangers involved if rabies was brought into this country. It is horrible to think it could be brought in so easily. I suggest that RTE broadcast the BBC programme or a similar programme to bring home to our people the dangers involved in this disease.
Research in agriculture is very important. In no branch of Irish industry is it more important to have scientific research than in agriculture. I am delighted to see this type of research being carried out in many of the Department's schools, colleges and institutes all over the country. It is from this type of scientific research that we will get the improvements and developments needed for our crops, animals and fruit. I want to refer now to horses. I do not know if the Minister mentioned them in his speech.
