asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries if he will make a statement on the recent findings by An Foras Talúntais to the effect that this country is capable of replacing 300,000 tonnes of imported grain by home produced cereals; and if, in view of the high costs of imported grain to farmers and to the national economy generally, his Department intends to take special steps to encourage more home growing of grain.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Grain Growing.
7.
I am conscious of the need for increasing home production of cereals and other tillage crops. I have already taken steps to improve the present situation by launching a campaign for increased tillage in 1977 at the National Tillage Conference held in Kill, County Kildare recently. This will be followed up by local conferences organised by the agricultural advisory services in co-operation with my Department and An Foras Talúntais. I am also arranging for appropriate press publicity between now and the sowing season and I will use every other means open to me to impress on farmers the desirability of increasing cereals production.
Would the Parliamentary Secretary not think it far more effective for the Minister, rather than making pious statements, indicate to the producers that they would obtain a good price for home produced barley? The price of this when harvested was £63 a ton and the current price is about 20 to 25 per cent over that. If the primary producers were given protection in the sale of grain it would be a far better inducement to them to grow more grain than pious speeches made by the Minister.
As the Deputy is aware, when improved prices obtained in the dairying sector of the industry farmers turned over to grazing land and the acreage under tillage declined. Fortunately there is a movement back again and the wheel is turning the other way. We are expecting a much greater acreage now than we had last year. The growing of grain has shown a steady increase in acreage over the last few years.
That is not correct. The barley acreage was down.
Many farmers heeded the advice given some years ago to devote more to grasslands and the production of milk, so consequently the grain acreage declined. The Deputy should be aware of that. The Minister is engaged in a campaign to encourage farmers to grow more grain. He has adverted to this on a number of occasions. We want to encourage farmers to grow more grain, particularly more barely, and so obviate having to import large quantities of grain to meet our requirements.
Is the Parliamentary Secretary not aware that the size of the cattle herd has dropped disastrously since 1973 and that the use of fertilisers has significantly dropped and consequently there are not as many cattle requiring pasture. Will the Government, with a view to the protection of primary producers, make grants available for farm storage of barley and other grains and also for the more efficient use of the feed grains on the farm?
We are moving into other areas now.
I am not aware of the disasters the Deputy said are overtaking agriculture. Agriculture never did as well as in the past three years under our direction. I should also like to remind the Deputy that a wide range of grants is available under the farm modernisation scheme which caters for most farm building operations.
A number of Deputies are offering and at this stage I should like to ask for brevity on both sides of the House. Let us make some appreciable progress during Question Time.
What leads the Parliamentary Secretary to think that there will be increased acreage of barley or are they just pious thoughts?
There is plenty of information coming to the Department from the advisory services and so on. We have got our finger on the pulse of the farming industry all the time; we are continually looking for information about it. The Deputy should not laugh at that statement because he ignored such facts when he was Minister for Agriculture. We are aware that the acreage is increasing and we are satisfied with the position. It is up to the individual farmer to decide whether it is better for him to grow an acre of barley or keep an additional cow. While we speak of the advisability of providing more acreage for barley we do not stop farmers getting an additional cow if he thinks it will be more beneficial.
Surely the Parliamentary Secretary is aware that talking to people will not mean an increase in tillage. The reason for the decrease in tillage was that it did not pay the farmers. That was why farmers sold their ploughs. Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that in order to return to tillage a great injection of money is needed to purchase machinery? There is not much point in talking about it; action is needed. I can recall when potatoes were thrown on the side of the road.
The Minister is doing his job. In my view the farming community pay heed to the statements of the Minister because they have confidence in him and in the Government.
Having regard to the Minister's zeal with regard to the extension of tillage I should like to ask him if the Government would consider withdrawing VAT from farm machinery?
That is a separate question.