From the looks of the Visitors Gallery, there is not much ploughing going on today.
Tillage Sector: Motion [Private Members]
It is a little early for it.
It is a good day for it.
I move:
That Dáil Éireann:
notes:
— the absolute necessity to support tillage farmers and the rural communities that rely on this sector;
— that the continual trend of low grain prices, increased input costs and poor margins over the last number of years has intensified the income crisis and financial hardship in this sector;
— that farming organisations have estimated that tillage farmers suffered a severe income reduction of between €70 million and €80 million over the course of 2016, with reduced production in excess of 400,000 tonnes;
— the average net margin on tillage farms in 2016 was minus €130 per hectare, as outlined at the recent Teagasc Outlook Conference;
— that severe inclement weather badly damaged and destroyed tillage crops in Autumn 2016, encompassing coastal regions and other counties;
— the refusal by the Government to provide specific ring-fenced funding to offer financial assistance to tillage farmers who have seen their land and crop destroyed by severe weather in 2016; and
— the appalling vista that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine underspent, by €86 million, its 2016 expenditure budget;
recognises the example of the Aid Scheme for Potato and Vegetable Crops Damaged by Frost, which was introduced in 2010; and
calls on the Government to:
— immediately establish a crisis support fund to provide direct payments to farmers who were impacted by severe crop loss in 2016;
— avail of current European Union (EU) State aid ‘de minimis’ regulations that allow the Government to make available tailored support payments for farmers of up to €15,000 per producer over a three year period;
— build alliances at EU level to seek Commission approval for temporary suspension of EU import tariffs on fertilisers to reduce input costs for tillage farmers;
— promote increased use of native grain and Irish malt in the manufacture of Irish whiskeys, artisan products and craft beers;
— implement proposals submitted by farming organisations at the National Tillage Forum; and
— open at once a Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) investment tillage scheme which the Government had promised to commence in Autumn 2016.
As alluded to by the Ceann Comhairle, I welcome the many tillage farmers from the Irish Farmers Association, IFA, who are joining us in the Visitors Gallery today and who have campaigned strongly on this issue. Earlier today they held a protest outside the Dáil to try to get their voice heard, to achieve some progress on the matter and to get a fund in place to support them in their time of need.
Our motion outlines the difficulties of tillage farmers in specific parts of the country and calls for, in particular, a crisis fund to be put in place to support them. It is unfortunate that we have to be here today because we have known about this issue for quite some time. Fianna Fáil has been campaigning on the issue since last September. Indeed, it has been campaigning on the issue since before the ploughing championships. It will have been clear to many of us who attended the championships that there was a real crisis at that stage.
When I raised the issue in the Dáil with the Minister, he indicated that he did not wish to give a commitment on a fund at that stage because he did not want to affect the ongoing salvage operation. The salvage operation concluded long ago and the time for a decision by the Minister also passed long ago. However, it is not too late and this can still be done. Our motion requests that a specific compensation fund is put in place to assist those many tillage farmers who lost crops. It is primarily farmers along the west coast from Donegal to Kerry and in some inland counties who, because of the weather conditions during the harvest season this year, were affected by wet days that ran on in a manner that meant that they could not get into their fields and that their soil was very soft. This meant that they could not harvest their crops. They now need support.
It is particularly necessary because, as the Minister will be aware, it comes on the back of three or four years of poor cereal prices. Farmers have not been making a profit and have been getting by in the hope of a better year to come. Further, this year those farmers, numbering approximately 250, have lost part of their crop. Some have lost up to 50% of their crop; others have lost more. This has placed them in a situation where they have to question seriously whether they can continue in their businesses. Over recent weeks and months they have been questioning whether they will be able to meet the bills that have been falling due. Most of them have not been able to meet those bills. It is therefore crucial that the Government recognises the situation and that the Minister comes forward with a proposal and a fund to assist them.
It is also clear that funds are available to the Minister. Last year the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine underspent to the tune of €86 million, so the excuse of not having the financial wherewithal to do it is simply not correct. There is also no excuse in terms of precedent. This has happened before. There is an example as recent as 2010, namely, the potato and horticulture assistance fund that was put in place to assist farmers affected by the weather back then. Fianna Fáil, with Deputy Brendan Smyth as Minister, put the structure in place. We came up with the funds to try to bail out those farmers in their time of need. The Minister should use that precedent and structure as an example of how to proceed and as a means of delivering for farmers now.
This issue has been discussed by all parties in recent months. It was discussed in detail at the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine. We invited members of the IFA to address us and considered the issue in detail. I remind the Minister that this cross-party committee has representation from all colours and backgrounds in this House. Given that it was an all-party committee, it is important that I am clear about the recommendations of the committee. The committee noted that "there is an urgent need to support farmers...gravely affected by [the] highly unusual weather events" and that "the funds necessitated to support those affected are reasonably small within the funds allocated to the Department". It stated that "[t]he Minister should consider the introduction of a specific crop loss aid package for the tillage sector targeted at the affected farmers".
As an explanation and a defence to not doing this, the Minister has pointed out to the many farmers here today that they can apply to the loan fund which the Minister is setting up instead. Somehow the Minister feels that this fund will help them in their time of need. I remind the Minister that the terms and conditions of that loan fund provide that normal lending rules apply. That type of fund cannot help those who need support - not more credit - right now. In that regard, I point the Minister to what the committee stated on the loan fund. It acknowledged that the loan scheme "may be useful to...farmers but does not sufficiently address the issues concerning the Tillage Sector, specifically, the farmers affected by adverse weather conditions this year".
There is no reason for the Minister not to come forward and act on the back of this motion. I am hopeful that the motion will be passed by the House and ask the Minister to recognise what farmers, including those in the Visitors Gallery, have been saying over the past few months. Will he recognise their circumstances and the will of the House and the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine in calling on the Minister to put a fund in place to support these farmers?
The estimated cost is approximately €4.5 million. Three or four years ago, while in government, Fine Gael was very willing to walk along side farmers when times were good and to try to claim credit when the agriculture sector was doing well. In the past year or two, the farming sector has struggled. These farmers have certainly been struggling over the past few months. It is now that they need the support of the Government. It is now that they need the Minister to come forward with the funds.
The saying "where there is a will, there is a way" is often referred to on farms. Unfortunately, the Minister is saying, "No way". He is not showing the will to make this happen, but it is within his power. We ask him to put the funds in place to support farmers in their time of need.
The year 2016 will probably go down as the most difficult year that farmers in this country ever experienced. From grain to pig men, beef and horticulture - you name it - every sector of our farming industry was not producing enough to meet the costs of production.
We are not here to lay blame for low world prices at the door of the Minister. A small group of farmers, through no fault of their own, had virtually no income in 2016. The grain industry has been under pressure for a number of years. Teagasc figures show that in 2016 the average tillage farmer lost €130 per hectare. This presents serious problems for the grain sector. A group of farmers lost virtually all their grain and straw last year. We ask the Minister to establish a fund for this small group. As Deputy McConalogue stated, there is a precedent for doing so. In the winter of 2010, when we had hard frosts, the then Fianna Fáil-led Government established a fund for horticultural farmers in north County Dublin. Sufficient funds are available to provide the funding required as the Department underspent its allocation for 2016 by €86 million.
No one who was farming 20 or 25 years envisaged that we would end up without a sugar beet industry. Unless we send out a signal that we are serious about grain farming, the same thing will happen to it. We do not want to have an agricultural industry in which only one sector prospers. In 2016, all sectors of agriculture came under tremendous price pressure. We must send out a signal to grain farmers that we are serious about maintaining the grain industry.
The Minister will no doubt argue that the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, is open to grain farmers and highlight the loan scheme that is being introduced. While these initiatives are welcome and will support the grain industry in future, the Government needs to demonstrate to the group of farmers affected that it cares about the grain industry by putting in place the fund we seek.
The Irish Farmers Association produced a survey clearly showing the losses incurred in each county. The problem is localised and specific as the figures will show the Department. As Deputy McConalogue stated, a sum of €4.5 million would cover the substantial losses incurred by the farmers in question. Providing this fund would show that we are serious about retaining the grain industry. It is imperative on us to try to protect all sectors in farming. Harvest 2020 and Food Wise 2025 set a series of targets in agriculture. Unfortunately, there are many clouds on the horizon. The British decision to leave the European Union, for example, will cause serious problems for the agrifood industry. Question marks have arisen concerning the future of the single farm payment because Brexit will create a black hole in the Common Agriculture Policy. This payment makes up a substantial part of the income of all farmers, whether they are involved in grain, beef, dairy or another sector.
All our farmers face major challenges. The decision by grain farmers to come to Dublin to protest outside the gates of Leinster House was not taken lightly. This motion should be passed to acknowledge the position of grain farmers and demonstrate that the Government is serious about maintaining the grain industry. The €4.5 million fund we seek would show grain farmers that we are serious about keeping their sector in business.
I also welcome farmers involved in the grain sector to the Gallery, especially those from my parish. As my time is short, I will get straight to the point. The motion makes a simple request that the Government establish a crisis aid fund of €4.5 million. Having been on the ground and witnessed the devastation caused to the grain sector, the Minister will be aware that this is a real problem and something must be done about it. Given the underspend in his Department's budget last year, the money required for this fund is available and it is within the Minister's remit to sort out the issue if it has the desire to do so. I have known him for a long time and he is a reasonable and practical man. I ask him to remain so.
The precedent established when a crisis aid fund was established for the fruit growers of north County Dublin in 2010 was mentioned. Last year, a crisis fund was created for the large number of people affected by flooding. These were both deserving cases and the grain farmers in the Gallery today are just as deserving. It is not unreasonable to ask for this fund because the grain industry needs to survive. The farmers in the Gallery and the people they represent need to produce a crop in 2017 and many will not be able to do so if a crisis aid fund is not established. The motion will be passed and I ask the Minister to make the fund available and allow everyone to get on with business.
I support the motion. It is the job of government to come to the aid of people when they are in trouble. The grain farmers in the Gallery should not have had to come to the House. A scheme should have been established for grain farmers similar to that established in 2010 for fruit farmers.
Rainfall figures from Met Éireann for September 2016 show County Kerry experienced 28 wet days in that month, County Clare experienced 26 wet days, counties Donegal, Cork and Galway experienced 27 wet days and counties Mayo and Roscommon experienced 26 wet days. These are the official rainfall figures and it is clear from them that heavy rainfall created the crisis for grain farmers. The Fianna Fáil Party has been bringing this issue to the Minister's attention since October 2016 and we requested that he establish a fund on many occasions. Many of those affected live in County Cork, from where the Minister comes, and County Kerry, its neighbouring county. Other farmers in counties Roscommon, Galway, Mayo, Donegal and Clare have also been affected. The approximately 250 people affected need help. Some of them have told us that without assistance, they will go out of business. I plead with the Minister to act quickly. As has been stated, the underspend in the Department in 2016 was almost €87 million. We seek a fund of €4.5 million. This matter should be done and dusted this evening. The Minister should inform the individuals in question that the Government intends to act immediately, put in place the package we seek and ensure the farmers in question can plan ahead for 2017 and 2018.
I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this debate. As previous speakers noted, while every aspect of agriculture is in crisis, grain farmers are in a particular crisis arising from the weather in September and October 2016. Many of the farmers affected have endured serious financial difficulty for some years because of low grain prices. The crisis, which manifested itself almost six months ago, needs to be addressed. Figures have been compiled that show what needs to be done. A fund must be established to address the significant hardship facing farmers in certain parts of the country. While grain farmers across the country were affected by the weather of September 2016, figures have been produced on the amount of money required in specific regions and areas.
The Minister must give serious consideration to this motion, which has been introduced as a priority. We did not take this decision lightly. Many of the affected farmers, having examined their books and taken advice from their accountants, are considering whether to stay in business. They have given their lives to producing good food. All aspects of the grain industry and businesses involved in associated manufacturing are experiencing a major problem. The Minister must establish a fund to ensure the people in the Gallery and farmers nationwide will have a livelihood and the Government will stand by them in a crisis.
I acknowledge the farmers in the Gallery.
Emergency aid is needed for cereal growers affected by the bad weather last year. Over 350 farmers, in the main in the south and along the west coast, have had crop losses of between 20% and 50% and, owing to high moisture and low KPH, payments for salvaged crop were poor. Farmers in many areas also experienced straw losses of in excess of 50%. As many of the farms affected are leased or rented from neighbours it will be difficult for farmers who have not had a harvest to pay their rent and cattle farmers in need of straw are faced with higher costs as they have to travel further to get it.
The tillage sector is important to the growth of our artisan food sector in terms of the demand for craft beers and whiskeys. This is a valuable sector that we need to support. Funding should be available to support farmers. There was an underspend of over €86 million in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine last year and under the single payment scheme 3% of payments were held back for a hardship fund - savings for a rainy day. The rainy day has come and the money needs to be spent. It should be easy to identify from area aid applications and merchants receipts who is in difficulty.
The Minister in establishing a tillage fund would not be setting a precedent because as pointed out earlier in 2010 support was made available for vegetable growers. Last year, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine reviewed the situation and made similar recommendations for an aid package. The hands-off approach cannot continue. The Minister must act. Farmers cannot borrow their way out of this hole. Low interest borrowing is not a solution: direct aid is needed for farmers.
The next speaker is the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Andrew Doyle, who is sharing time with Deputies Jim Daly and Heydon.
I move amendment No. 1:
To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following:
“notes:
— the absolute necessity to support tillage farmers and the rural communities that rely on this sector;
— that the continual trend of low grain prices, increased input costs and poor margins over the last number of years has intensified the income crisis and financial hardship in this sector;
— the average net margin on tillage farms in 2016 was minus €130 per hectare, as outlined at the recent Teagasc Outlook Conference;
— that severe inclement weather badly damaged and destroyed tillage crops in Autumn 2016, encompassing coastal regions and other counties;
— the introduction in Budget 2017 of an adjustment to the current ‘Income Averaging’ system, allowing for an opt-out in an exceptional year; this facility is available for the 2016 tax year, in recognition of the cash flow concerns of farmers;
— the December 2016 payment of €3 million under the Protein Aid Scheme, paid to over 1,000 farmers growing in excess of 12,000 hectares of beans, peas and lupins; this coupled scheme was introduced in 2015 as part of the implementation of the reformed Common Agricultural Policy package in Ireland; and
— the early payment of Basic Payment and Greening payments, which commenced on 17th October, 2016, with balancing payments issuing from 1st December 2016;
and calls on the Government to:
— commence the rollout of the Government’s €150 million Agri Cash Flow Support Loan Scheme, in co-operation with the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI), as a direct response to the challenging situation faced by farmers in recent months;
— ensure availability through this Scheme of highly flexible loans to livestock, tillage and horticulture farmers, for up to six years, for amounts up to €150,000, at an interest rate of 2.95 per cent, made available in line with the European Union’s (EU) agriculture State aid ‘de minimis’ requirements;
— evaluate further measures for the long term sustainability of the tillage sector, pending the drawdown of this fund, and the resulting utilisation of ‘de minimis’ requirements, including in regions affected by a poor harvest in 2016 due to inclement weather;
— build alliances at EU level to seek Commission approval for temporary suspension of EU import tariffs on fertilisers to reduce input costs for tillage farmers;
— promote increased use of native grain and Irish malt in the manufacture of Irish whiskeys, artisan products and craft beers;
— consider further proposals submitted by farming organisations at the National Tillage Forum and convene a follow up meeting of stakeholders to engage in further discussions on the strategic future of the tillage sector; and
— open a Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) investment tillage scheme.”
I welcome the members of the IFA and other organisations who are in the Gallery. I am pleased to have the opportunity to address the House on this very important matter. As a farmer, I acknowledge that 2016 was a challenging year for growers, both in terms of grain price and harvest conditions. My colleague, the Minister, Deputy Creed, will deal with the contention that there has an €86 million underspend last year. Most people who understand how budgeting works will know the facts.
As colleagues will be aware, the Minister, Deputy Creed, recently chaired a meeting with the main stakeholders in the tillage sector. This meeting provided a platform for the stakeholders to express their views and concerns on the challenges they are facing and to discuss the opportunities that lie ahead for the industry. I wish to advise the House of a number of key supports, some of which have been mentioned, that are available to the tillage sector.
On foot of a request from the forum, in direct response to the difficulties being experienced by farmers, one of our chief priorities was to provide low-cost, more flexible finance. In this regard, the Minister announced plans on budget day for a €150 million agri-cashflow loan support scheme. This has been developed in conjunction with the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, SBCI, by leveraging EU and Exchequer funding totalling €25 million from the Department to deliver a total loan fund of €150 million, which will support highly flexible loans for up to six years for amounts up to €150,000. The commitment of national funding of €14 million to this initiative has allowed the inclusion of the important tillage and horticultural sectors. The interest rate applying is 2.95% and the product will be available to livestock, tillage and horticulture farmers. Loans will be provided in line with the EU’s agriculture State aid de minimis requirements. This is a cash flow support facility to improve the working capital position of farmers and other viable primary agriculture SMEs. The loans will be unsecured and are primarily to provide working capital and to pay down expensive forms of credit, such as merchant credit and other short-term financing facilities, including overdrafts. The SBCI aims to make the loans available to the market by the end of this month.
The loan scheme is part of a three pillar strategy among the tax measures agreed with the Minister for Finance for an adjustment to the current income averaging system, which will allow for an opt-out in an exceptional year, including 2016. As an additional support, advance payments were made last year in respect of the basic payment and greening payment schemes. To date, €1.168 billion has been paid to 122,899 farmers under the basic payment scheme. In addition, payments in excess of €195 million have been made to more than 91,000 applicants under the areas of natural constraints scheme. A commitment to the development of the tillage sector is an integral part of this Government’s agricultural policy. Food Wise 2025 contains a number of key actions to increase the role and value of tillage. Most of these actions have been identified and put forward by the industry.
The elimination of fertiliser tariffs and anti-dumping duties is a measure that could help farmers to reduce input costs and in that context we have asked the Commission to consider a temporary suspension of customs tariffs and anti-dumping duties on fertilisers. It is also Minister Creed’s intention that the new targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, measure, specifically tailored to the needs of the tillage sector, will open shortly. This scheme will support grain growers in drying. storing and marketing their grain so as to maximise market returns and details will be made available in the near future. The Minister also intends to shortly convene a follow up meeting of stakeholders at the national tillage forum. In full collaboration and co-operation with the various representatives of this sector, we will continue to seek to identify and target measures for the future development and advancement of this important sector of our industry.
Tá áthas orm deis a bheith agam labhairt ar an rún tábhachtach seo. I welcome the opportunity to speak to this motion. I extend a warm welcome to members of the farming community in the Gallery from my constituency of Cork South-West, which stretches from the Minane Bridge, Kilbrittain, Timoleague and Barryroe area to Ballinascarthy and Ballinacarriga and includes many other areas. I have the honour of representing a constituency, which along with west Cork, is one of the worst affected constituencies in terms of bad harvest last year.
I will not be supporting the motion because it is flawed. It is a motion that gives an open chequebook to 11,000 cereal farmers. We need to look no further than North of the Border to see the result of poorly thought-out and poorly orchestrated schemes.
That is unbelievable.
It is rubbish.
The upcoming election in the North is the result of this type of scheme. I accept this is a populist proposal but it is not very practical. As I said, I will not be supporting this motion. However, I would like to put on the record my concern for cereal farmers who are on their knees as a result of the dreadful harvest-----
Deputy Daly should support them.
Support them.
Please allow Deputy Daly to continue.
Please allow me to finish. It is sometimes helpful to listen.
Deputy Daly should listen to the farmers.
I would like to dispel the myth that grain farmers are large farmers with massive amounts of acres of cereal. They are not. Many of them are small farmers. I have had approximately eight meetings with farmers in my area affected by the crop failure last year. Many of them are owners of small holdings of only eight, nine or ten acres and their entire crop has been wiped out. There is no argument in terms of precedent and other sectors trying to get in on the back of it because other sectors at least got to sell produce this year. Unfortunately, many cereal farmers price did not matter because they had nothing to sell. There is a crisis in this area and the Minister is well aware of it. I have had as many meetings with the Minister on this issue as I have had with constituents in west Cork. I will continue to work with the Minister to ensure that a properly thought-out and developed package of aid is put in place to help these farmers.
I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak to this important motion. As a mixed enterprise farmer, I know only too well the challenges faced not only last year but in previous years by the tillage sector. I believe that the tillage sector has a critical role to play in the future of agriculture in Ireland. Steps have been taken in recent years to aid the tillage farmers and tillage sector. Land mobility budgetary measures and the encouragement of long-term leasing are critical to a sector that has too farmers dependent on conacre. Our efforts in Europe to bring about the elimination of fertiliser tariffs and anti-dumping duties has gained traction.
Those efforts, along with addressing concerns over competition in Europe, should help to bring about a reduction in the cost of what is one of the most expensive inputs of a tillage farmer.
The inclusion of tillage in TAMS II is very important. The Minister will know from previous discussions how urgent it is to get that scheme open as soon as possible. Other measures, such as the protein crop payment under the basic payment scheme, and the first-time tillage measure, included as part of the knowledge transfer groups, are also key supports. They show the Government's commitment to the tillage sector. The previously discussed agriculture cash flow support loan scheme is also critical and will be very welcome when the fund will become available at the end of the month following the open call to financial intermediaries.
Tillage has a critical role to play in our agriculture industry, but not just to feed a growing beef and dairy sector or give more supplies to a burgeoning whiskey and distilling sector. In light of the commitments and challenges we face as a country owing to climate change, tillage has a massive role to play. An earlier speaker touched on the loss of the sugar beet industry, on which I campaigned passionately for a long time. What happened was a dreadful mistake for this country. Measures being brought in under the new CAP indicate the sugar beet industry always was key in crop rotation in the tillage industry. Tillage still has a very important role to play. The measures taken by the Government to date have supported the sector. I welcome the points made in our amendment and I will be supporting them. I refer to the ongoing work of the national tillage forum and the ongoing consultation facilitated by the Minister. We need an holistic approach to the sector not just in respect of the short-term issues currently faced, but also the longer-term issues, to ensure our tillage sector is well provided for. As an island nation, we must not repeat the mistakes of the past and we must ensure that we have a plentiful supply of tillage product in the future for the good of the overall industry.
I am sharing my time with Deputies Carol Nolan and Martin Ferris.
I acknowledge the motion tabled. It is a good one and we will certainly be supporting it. This is because there is no doubt that tillage farmers had a bad year due to the weather in many parts of the country. Between June and September, there were not three dry days in a row anywhere in the west. The bad year has had a huge effect. In addition, there is a crisis over the drop in the prices of grain. Import costs are rising and leaving us with poor margins in many parts of the country. It is a matter of great importance in this country that the family farm survive. It is the bedrock on which our society has been built. Even urban dwellers, or "townies" born and bred, can usually go back only a few generations before finding their farming roots. The income crisis and the financial hardship which is becoming the norm over recent years mean that the younger generation of farmers is less interested in making farming its life's work.
Every sector of farming has had a disastrous year within the recent past. Dairy farmers were on the edge - some still are - when quotas were removed. Beef farmers are deserting the sector by the new time, for the same reason. A bad year generally for tillage was exacerbated by dreadful weather in many parts of the west. There was despair among farmers on watching their grain crops lodging or experiencing such an amount of rain that harvesting was impossible. It could be said that if one drew a line from Cork to Derry, one would note that everything west of it was lost. In these circumstances, we have to be able to step in and ensure farmers do not go under. That is the responsibility of the Government as a matter of last resort. These are circumstances requiring action of last resort so the Government must step in and take action. The safety nets must be built into our systems and policies if we are to protect Irish farming against the ravages of globalisation. A first step in this direction, of course, would be to reject TTIP and CETA, but that is not what we are about tonight. Tillage must be protected. We all remember too well what happened with the sugar beet sector. If we go down the slippery slope, that is where tillage will end up in this country also.
With regard to the future of Irish farming, there must be some political will, a strategy and an agreement allowing the Irish farmer, coming from a small country and depending on international markets, to enter the farming profession with some confidence that the Government will support farming in both good and bad times, but particularly when disaster strikes. It is not as simple as saying that any business or profession is subject to market forces and other circumstances which cannot be totally controlled or determined by hard work and good planning. Farming is always vulnerable to force majeure circumstances and the whims of mother nature, and there is always a possibility of complete crop loss, particularly with tillage. There are tillage farmers in deep crisis now and they need some help. Some of them are renting land in order to grow their crops and they find themselves in dire straits.
Sinn Féin, in its budget submission earlier this year, made provision for a fund to be set aside because it recognised the tillage farming crisis was coming up. The Government amendment to this motion suggests that tillage farmers could avail of the low-interest loans that are being made available, but this is not enough for those in serious trouble right now. The loan scheme has practically used up the provision associated with the de minimis regulation, and the Minister's assurances that he will examine the prospect of ring-fencing some funding for tillage farmers when the loan scheme is over means it will simply be too little too late.
Moreover, how will the Department know, by the time the loan scheme is over, who the farmers were who suffered real crop failure in the autumn of 2016? The only way it will know will be by looking around to see who has gone under. That is not the way to progress. The affected farmers are all victims of a wet autumn and rising fertiliser prices.
This motion calls for the suspension of tariffs from fertiliser imports from outside the EU. This needs to be dealt with urgently. Irish agriculture, now more than at any other time, needs the full backing of the Government. This measure, as proposed, is a low-cost measure, worth under €5 million, but it represents a pragmatic approach to a crisis which could not have been avoided. Nobody is saying the farmer could have done anything differently. It is nature that has put us in this position. The Government needs to step in.
Irish farming has Brexit to deal with and the Government must be proactive on this issue. It is difficult to know, even after yesterday's speech from Prime Minister May, what the British Government has in mind in reality for farming in the North or in regard to the effect it will have on us here in the South. We have to find out what is in store in so far as we can. The Minister and his officials must be seeking information and trying to influence the practical results of Brexit for cross-Border trade and co-operation in agriculture. The reality is that our agriculture sector has, for some considerable time, been in crisis. Irish grain farmers need the support of the Government. We are talking about a small number who are in absolute crisis. Many are present this evening. They are not here because the proposed measure is something they are hoping for; it is something they are depending on. In this regard, I humbly ask the Minister to step up to the mark and ensure these farmers are not let down.
I spoke to the Minister last year about the impending crisis in the west. He said he would deal with it if anyone was in circumstances in which he was able to feed his cattle. The tillage farmers are farmers who have lost their crops. The Minister simply must deal with it. I appeal to him to find the money, put it to one side and ensure the affected farmers are looked after.
Táim buíoch as ucht an deis labhairt ar an ábhar tábhachtach seo anocht. All of the farming organisations have highlighted the severe crisis facing tillage farmers across the country. Tillage farmers have been hit very hard this year with the delayed harvest, poor yields and low prices. According to the Teagasc annual review and outlook for 2017, Irish cereal yields were down 12% for wheat and 8% for barley in 2016 by comparison with 2015, while prices have also reduced. This decline in income is taking place at a time when input costs have increased and the net margin of the average cereal farmer has reduced by €130 per hectare. The result is that farmers will find meeting repayment deadlines or making any additional investments extremely difficult this year. The farmers need the support of the Government. They do not need goodwill but support.
A survey carried out by farming organisations indicates quite clearly that individual growers experience losses running from 25% to close on 50%, with straw loss averaging approximately 50%. These are only average losses. Others are experiencing significantly higher losses. This is not the fault of the tillage farmers, but this once-in-a-lifetime situation has compounded the deepening income crisis on many tillage farms after four consecutive years of low grain prices below the cost of production, increasing costs and reducing direct and greening payments.
There are over 11,000 farmers across this State. We know that hundreds have been affected severely by this crisis. The Government must not sit on its hands while a key agricultural sector is abandoned and left to suffer in this way.
Support must be made available to tillage farmers immediately.
In this context, the underspend of €86 million in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is astonishing. My colleague and Sinn Féin MEP, Mr. Matt Carthy, who is a member of the European Parliament's Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, has consistently raised this issue. He has highlighted the need for an urgent financial package for those farmers impacted by severe weather damage. A low-cost scheme does not address serious cashflow problems in the here and now. For many farmers, the scheme will be too little, too late.
The Government is failing grain farmers by refusing to prioritise this issue as its French counterpart has done. Must other countries lead the way every time? Can we not use some initiative now and again or be ahead for once? Grain farmers in France, who have not suffered nearly as badly as farmers in Ireland have, have been successful in bringing the issue directly to the European Council whereas our Minister and the Commissioner have refused to seek a solution at EU level. This comes as no surprise.
The major problem is that, unlike the French, the Irish Government never officially asked for support. The only way for crisis funding to be provided is if a number of governments ask for it. It is dreadful that we must make this point. The Government should ask for the support. Europe will not just hand it to us. We must make the case for our farmers. The Government needs to act without delay. We do not want anymore excuses, only action.
As we all know, the impact of severe weather in 2016 was devastating for many tillage farmers, with crops almost entirely wiped out in some cases. Without financial support, these farmers will not survive. It adds insult to injury to offer a loan system at a time when the crisis has deepened for many farmers. The Government and Brussels must step up to the mark and support our grain farmers, who will otherwise face financial ruin.
I welcome the farmers who are here as part of their campaign for justice, which is what it is about. I was disgusted by the commentary by a Deputy who is no longer in the House. He tried to compare cash for ash, which was a questionable scheme introduced by the DUP, with an aid package for genuine farmers.
Hear, hear.
That was a disgraceful comment to make and I hope that when the Minister gets to his feet, he will distance himself from it.
I know the farming community because I come from it. I know the tillage farming community because I was brought up in it. Its members would not be present today if they had anywhere else to go. They have come here to beg for justice so that they can survive and live on their farms. Is the Minister conscious of the costs that they incurred last year? The cost of seed was borrowed money. The cost of spraying was borrowed money. Conacre renting was borrowed money. The cost of fertiliser was borrowed money. The interest that they owed to banks on their machinery was borrowed money. However, the Minister of State has the audacity to say that there is an interest loan of 2.95% to help them through this period. He is offering them a loan to repay their debts. He also stated that, in terms of tax, the income averaging system would allow for an opt-out in an exceptional year. How can they benefit from a tax scheme when they cannot afford to pay tax, given that they have no incomes?
Is the Minister aware that, across the south and south west, an effort was made to bring obsolete combines to the west and other places to try to salvage a harvest? Is he aware that most of those who are present today and their families outside Leinster House's gates are struggling to put bread on the table? I have been sitting here for nearly 15 years looking across at Governments that lived in a bubble and did not give a God damn about rural Ireland or people who struggled to put bread on the table and make a living. They did not know the realities of what people on the ground needed and deserved. A small amount of money would get these farmers out of trouble, but it will take a political commitment from the Government and everyone in the House to see this through. That is what we must do and stand by.
Not only did farmers lose their grain harvests, but also their straw harvests. I know farmers who have no income, only costs, as a result of what happened over those months. The Government has a duty to provide justice to the farmers who are here and ensure that they can survive, make a living and put bread on the table for their families and neighbours. The Government should also remember the effect this money would have on the farmers' communities, in that the farmers would have more spending power.
People are appealing to the Minister and I am telling him that he has to do the right thing. He has to stand up for the farmers who are present and give them justice. They might be a small lobby, but they are human beings. They are our people and they deserve justice.
Like my colleagues, I welcome the tillage farmers, who have made strenuous efforts to attend for this important motion. I spoke to them at the protest outside.
I welcome the opportunity to support the motion on behalf of the Labour Party. The motion seeks to address the grave situation and significant income difficulties experienced by tillage farmers in 2016, in particular the 250 or 300 farmers who have suffered losses that imperil the future of their grain farming operations. Surviving a season in which the cost of production exceeds returns from the crop is difficult, but when one has no returns at all, one is in the midst of a catastrophe. A corollary of the losses, for example, the loss of straw, is a significant increase in the price of that commodity for other farmers. This affects all farming sectors. As a former agriculture consultant, I would be concerned about this factor were I still involved in that game.
The overall issue has been addressed in a comprehensive fashion by the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Like a number of the Deputies present, I am a member of that committee. Deputy Deering is an excellent Chairman. We submitted a detailed report to the Minister's Department that recommended an imperative to support those tillage farmers who were gravely affected by the unusual weather events. The committee noted that, while the financing required to put in place a crisis support fund would not be insubstantial, it would have been small in the context of the overall expenditure envelope available to the Department. There is a precedent, namely, the difficulties that arose with potatoes and vegetable crops in 2010.
That many tillage farmers face severe financial difficulties as a result of last year must be considered in light of the fact that the tillage sector also suffered over the preceding four years or so. It is an ongoing problem. There are significant substantive issues to be addressed in the sector and a specific and focused strategy needs to be developed. This will necessitate the consideration of mid to long-term programmes of support.
In reply to the committee, the Minister referred to the difficulties in providing aid in the context of state aid rules. While I appreciate that such issues cannot be discounted easily, it was our collective view that the Minister should consider the introduction of a specific crop loss aid package for the tillage sector targeted at the affected farmers. Deputy Jim Daly referred to the need for a targeted and precise scheme, but the affected farmers have been carefully and clearly identified. The recent Teagasc conference confirmed that there were negative margins for tillage farmers in 2016. The return from the market for producing a serial crop last year was negative across the board. In the course of meeting with the farmers protesting outside the Dáil today, it was articulated that a failure to intervene positively could damage their confidence in future.
That would have a knock-on effect, not just on feedstuffs produced for the wider farming community but also for the malting industry. We have a lot of rural craft brewing industry in that area that could be severely and negatively impacted so this issue has wider connotations than what we are discussing.
Specific targeted cash aid could be provided with direct compensation payments of up to the sum of €15,000, reflected in the state aid de minimis ceiling. Farmers who are in a critical situation at present are well aware that those who have benefitted from such payment could not avail of similar compensation in the event of another crisis within a three-year window. The question at issue that must be addressed here and now is that the three-year window will not worry them as some of those affected will not be in the industry at all unless help is forthcoming at this juncture.
This issue has been ongoing since autumn 2016. My colleague, Deputy Seán Sherlock, who is from the Cork East constituency raised this issue at a meeting before Christmas. We spoke to a number of farmers who were already impacted by the weather at the national ploughing championships. It was pointed out to us that the entire west coast was in severe difficulty at that time, from Donegal down to Mayo, Galway and Clare, into Kerry, Cork, Tipperary, Roscommon and Meath and even a few farmers in Westmeath were affected. They signalled that they were in severe difficulty at that time, which means the situation has been ongoing for the past five months.
The Minister should be able to seek a derogation or exemption pursuant to the agricultural block exemption regulations which permits compensation to be paid to affected applicants where they have sustained damage that arose from a severe climatic event. The Minister should examine the rainfall data for September 2016. One of my colleagues read it out. There were unbelievable levels of rainfall over a 25-day period in the affected areas. High relative humidity was also experienced over the same period so even if a crop was produced it was worthless in terms of recoverability. This is the equivalent of a disastrous situation. One could not recover anything as the condition of the land prevented any attempt at harvesting crops, disastrous and all as they were, but most crops were lost in any event.
It is acknowledged that the €150 million agriculture cashflow support loan scheme may have a useful role in the future for certain farmers but it is clear that it does not sufficiently address the issues concerning tillage farmers at this juncture, which were so eloquently set out by the farmers demonstrating outside the Dáil this evening. Specifically, it is of no benefit to farmers affected by the weather conditions in 2016. One cannot operate retrospectively in terms of costs that have already been incurred.
The joint committee outlined a number of options in its submission to the Department which were predicated on an immediate response to the crisis such as cash aid being made readily available and other medium-term to long-term actions required to help develop the tillage sector in the future. It is likely that a crisis such as that recently experienced will recur.
I wish to address another big issue that has been consistently raised for a number of years by the IFA. I have had my battles with the IFA and will have more in the future. The IFA's national grain chairperson, Liam Dunne, who I greatly respect, has for many years focused on the necessity of a temporary suspension of EU import tariffs on fertilisers to help reduce the significant input cost on farmers, especially those engaged in the tillage sector. Something must be done in that regard. We are now talking about custom duties, levies and tariffs. I note there was a recent reference by the IFA to the complete dysfunctionality of the fertiliser market. The view is that farmers are being held to ransom by the way the European fertiliser industry operates. That is a matter of concern. The description arises following recent brazen attempts by European manufacturers of fertilisers to foist significant price increases onto the backs of farmers. In order to help secure the future of the tillage sector the Minister must consider the temporary abolition of tariffs, anti-dumping duties and levies on fertiliser imports. The Minister must seek to try to achieve that at EU level. I accept he is probably trying to work to that end but it will not be easy and he must try to bring together people who are supportive in that regard. The French have never been behind the door in coming forward. Indeed, they disregard most of the regulations anyhow. I laugh at the manner in which officials from the Department run around the country. If one were to hang a bit of bacon outside the door they would close down the shop, but if one goes to Paris or anywhere else one sees bacon hanging up and everything flying around it and no remark is made. We must bring an end to the nonsense of always kowtowing and bending the knee to the various authorities. I have no time for them.
Well said, Willie.
I can understand why some British people reacted the way they did. They were fed up with the envelope of regulation. I detest it myself because the bureaucrats run loose. They know the price of everything and the value of nothing. In any event, it is time the Minister tackled the issue in order to get the anti-dumping levies on fertiliser imports suspended in their current form. They are clearly set out to protect EU manufacturers of nitrogen and ammonium nitrate but somebody carries the can for that level of protection and in this case it is clear that farmers are carrying the financial burden of €50 to €60 a tonne of product. If it were abolished it would represent significant progress in that regard and send a signal of hope to a sector of the farming community that might well be lost in the next decade if we do not act.
I wish to start by saying we need to identify the ongoing challenge that climate change is bringing to the world, in particular to the world of food production. The year 2016 was the hottest one on record, globally. It was 1° above previous average temperatures. The increased extreme weather conditions, which lead to flooding, heavy downpours, storms and especially the increased flooding and downpours in the west, were accurately predicted a number of years ago. It has been shown that such occurrences are not one-off events but will be repeated. The incessant rainfall in the west, in particular in areas such as Kerry, which saw the highest rainfall in years, is, to quote Liam Dunne of the IFA , "disastrous" for the farming community. He described what happened in Kerry as the crop literally being beaten to the ground and at the end of the season there being nothing left to harvest. Unlike what the Kerry Deputy, Danny Healy-Rae believes, I do not accept that this is an act of the man above, rather it is clear scientific evidence------
Deputy Bríd Smith will do nothing about the weather anyway.
-----that climate change is a consequence of a chaotic and ill-thought out economic system of production we have right across the world. This was not just a crisis for 2016 for hundreds of farmers who are in the Gallery today, there will be a similar crisis in 2017 and it is clear that the farming community, especially those who engage in tillage, need the financial and planning support of the State not just for last year or this year but on a more permanent thought-out basis.
As other speakers have indicated, between €3.5 million and €4 million has been lost by hundreds of farmers but, ironically, for the same reason, 2016 was a very good one for the production of crops internationally. Elsewhere in the world improved crop production has resulted in a drop in the price of grain globally. That does not mean we will get cheaper food in supermarkets or that we will end global hunger, it will just mean that the profits of the big, multinational agrifood corporations will increase and their profits are sacrosanct. Needless to say we will not see a decrease in food poverty or in the poverty of the farmers who are here today.
However, it is not just a crisis of climate change, weather and declining grain prices that farmers must deal with this year, there are many other issues impacting on farming and rural communities. I find it highly ironic that the two parties which have led this country in the past, namely, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, are trying to outbid each other today in their support for those farmers, but at the same time they show little concern about a deal like CETA that is coming down the tracks and will affect small and medium farmers. There has been no critical analysis of how the deal, which both parties uncritically support, will impact on the same communities they are addressing today.
In reality, they show little concern either for the fact that rural post offices are being closed down. Yesterday we heard an announcement by An Post that it would close hundreds of post offices. Another issue of concern relates to a matter we discussed yesterday on the winding down of Bus Éireann and how that will impact on rural transport. Little concern has been shown by the two parties for the impact of all those measures. We need to think hard and fast about why the two main parties which are responsible for what has happened in the State for decades seem to outbid each other when it comes supporting small and medium farmers, but when it comes to the bigger picture they are failing rural communities and the farming community in general.
To add insult to injury for farmers, a report in the Irish Independent, which I am sure was not lost on them, stated that:
Industry sources say that as many as 200 farmers may be affected by the sale of a €2.5bn Ulster Bank loan portfolio to US vulture fund Cerberus last October. Hundreds more could also come under pressure if the anticipated sale of other Irish mortgage portfolios to global funds goes ahead.
The article quoted David Hall, CEO of the Irish Mortgage Holders' Organisation, as saying that "this year we are going to see a very significant increase in vulture fund activity against everybody, including farmers." They are swooping on family farms, the ultimate cause of which is what the Fianna Fáil-run Administration did to this country when it handed it over to its buddies in the banks and to developers and the continuation of the same policy by the Minister for Finance and this Government through giving tax breaks to these vulture funds and actively encouraging them to come to this country. Both parties have resisted any legislation that would have meant that we could see an end to the automatic eviction of farmers. Both parties failed to support an amendment of mine to the Courts Bill before Christmas. I have little expectation that either party will support the anti-eviction Bill we brought to the floor of the Dáil last night. These communities will continue to be hammered by climate change, the closure of rural post offices, the running down of rural transport and the behaviour of the vulture funds and the banks and we are sitting back and allowing it to happen.
I support the indicative part of the motion that says that we need to support the farming communities in this particular crisis but it needs to be flagged that this is not the end of it. We must tackle climate change, part of which is increasing public transport rather than decreasing it, having a sensible approach to food production and cutting out the market madness that allows fluctuation in respect of the production of essential commodities like food. Discussing this and the impact on rural communities is a very important issue for us. We need to look at the underfunding of rural Ireland and the destruction of communities and stop the hypocrisy involved in saying on the one hand that we support them while on the other, supporting the banks, the closure of post offices and the destruction of rural transport.
I understand Deputy Pringle is sharing time with Deputy Fitzmaurice.
I fully support the motion. It is clear that there is a crisis in the tillage sector across the country. This is evidenced by the number of farmers who have come here to listen to the debate. It is a crisis that has been building up for many years. Since 2012, over 100,000 acres have been taken out of tillage farming across the country. Last year, 2016, was the year that crystallised the entire crisis when the adverse weather conditions wiped out many farmers and their production across the country from my county of Donegal down the west coast into Cork. According to the IFA, this has led to an estimated reduction of €70 million to €80 million in income in 2016 with crop losses of up to 50% and some farmers' production being wiped out. This is a crisis on anybody's terms. The Government amendment to the motion does nothing to address that and will do nothing to help farmers address this crisis.
What is needed at a minimum is for the Government to avail of European state aid de minimis rules to allow up to €15,000 per producer to be subsidised directly to them because I do not believe that any low-cost loan facility will be of any use to farmers who simply do not have an income to be able to make repayments on the loan in the first place. What we need is an aid scheme under the existing European Union rules that facilitates and looks after those farmers. We need the Government to take further action in terms of the fertiliser industry and the tariff dumping that is taking place to ensure that input costs for farmers can be reduced so that when they do get a crop, they can make some money out of it. This is what needs to be done urgently by the Government. I urge the Government to withdraw its amendment and support the motion as the only one that can make real difference for farmers.
I thank Deputy Pringle for sharing time. I support this motion. Last year, I was in Mayo, Roscommon and Galway and walked through fields that were soaked in water. I saw farmers devastated and a gaunt look on people's faces who did not know what they were going to do. Those farmers are still paddling their own canoe and nothing has been done for them. There is plenty of sympathy out there. One sees it everywhere, be it on Facebook or in the Irish Farmers' Journal or whatever paper one reads. Everyone is saying farmers are hard done by but I can tell the House one thing. Sympathy will not solve the problem when the little envelope with the window on it arrives from the merchant looking for the price of the spray or grain or the auctioneers saying they want the price of a bit of rented land. Sympathy will not pay that. Sympathy will not pay the banks. Some farmers, particularly young farmers, have borrowed money to get into the world of farming. It was what they and their fathers believed but, sadly, Governments seem to want to forget about it. Farming is the bad relation at the moment.
Farmers seem to be forgotten in all the different sectors across industry at the moment. We are fighting a battle relating to GLAS. On 31 December 2016, 9,500 farmers, some of whom are tillage farmers, were due to get their GLAS payments but they have not received them. Affected farmers also include beef, dairy and sheep farmers. The sad part is that these farmers are too busy at home trying to cater for their businesses. One does not see them up in Dublin too often for the simple reason that they love the land. They have stayed on the land and want to hand it on but, sadly, Governments forget that this is the way it should be.
The Government amendment is an insult to farmers. Day after day, I have heard the palaver that farmers can borrow money and that the Government will give them money. I spoke to bank managers yesterday who told me they had not even got word of it. It could be next September. In case Ministers or Deputies do not know, one sows the grain in April or May. One is not going to sow it next September. That is when one is supposed to harvest it so one can forget about getting a loan to solve one's problems. It has been said that farmers can get into the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS. TAMS might be great and I have no problem with it but it is a percentage. It might be 40% or 60% but one has got to have a few quid in one's pocket if one is building a shed or whatever one is going to do under TAMS.
The reality is that we are not talking about the whole grain industry. We know there are problems in the whole grain industry in this country and indeed in Europe but that needs to be addressed in a European forum and sorted out with the Council of Ministers. It is well known that a section of farmers have lost their livelihoods and have no income. They got no cheque back from the mill. We need to get that into our heads. They owe money. When one walked in the fields, one walked in water. one could not wear shoes where the combines worked. One had to wear Wellington boots. There was regrowth. There is a bit of green for anyone who does not know but, alas, nobody gives a damn because, sadly, most of this is in the west of Ireland from Donegal, down to Mayo, Roscommon, Galway, Clare, parts of Kerry and the end of Cork. There was a problem in parts of Wexford where the fog was coming in. A small percentage of farmers have been affected but when one is a small farmer, one probably does not really matter. The drive is more to make sure that regardless of the guy in tillage, we give the vulture fund or the bankers as much as we can to plant the west of Ireland, drive the people into the towns and forget about our communities, what we are about and where we were brought up. Then I hear a Minister stand up and say farmers got money early.
However, so did the beef man, so did the sheep man and so did farmers who did not have anything other than cutting a bit of hay - they got their BPS. There has been no special treatment for these tillage farmers so far.
Last night the Minister spoke about the loan and the TAMS, but these people need money to compensate them for what has gone wrong. I recently looked at some departmental records. In one part of a county - perhaps in the Minister's county of Cork - the grain might have been perfect, but in another part of the county it might not have been possible to drive a tractor with twin wheels to put it simply. Alas, it does not seem to matter.
I hope the motion works, but I have been here for two years. I will be very clear and straightforward with the farmers, who I welcome here this evening. Let us be honest with them, they should not be brought up to the top of the hill and left there on their own. The reality is that sweet damn all has been done following many motions that have been introduced in this Dáil; they have not solved anything. What Deputy Penrose said about the French farmers earlier was right. When the French farmers kick, everyone listens.
We have contacted the MEPs and brought them to the different places. Those MEPs made it clear that Ireland did not make a case to Europe for our problem. If we do not ask, we will never get. We saw it previously with different problems - we cannot ask those in Europe about slurry, we cannot ask them about the problems with the pigs at the moment and we cannot ask them about this, that and the other. I ask them about the forgotten farmer. I heard last night that the IFA was advised that Europe would not allow it. I have a letter stating that it would allow it. If we do not ask, we are going nowhere. If we are not going to help these farmers, let us be honest and straightforward about it. Looking to 2025, there is an onus on us to ensure the small farmers matter because they are Irish people and we should be proud of them.
Deputy Michael Healy-Rae is sharing time with Deputies Michael Collins, Danny Healy-Rae and Mattie McGrath.
I thank the Fianna Fáil Party for tabling this very important Private Members' motion. I welcome Joe Healy, the president of the IFA, Liam Dunne, the chairman of the IFA grain committee, Neilus O'Connor from Moyvane, vice-chairman of the IFA potato committee, great farmers like Mike Marshall and each and every other person in the Gallery along with the people who are outside because they could not get in here tonight.
I say to the Minister that this is a most serious situation. Farmers endured 11 weeks of rain and misfortune that no one would wish on his or her worst enemy. They are here today, but they do not want to be here. They do not want to be looking for compensation or a package, but they are here because they cannot balance their books at home. I implore the Minister and his colleagues to support the timely motion tabled by Fianna Fáil Members, and I again thank them for it. The Minister should do his level best to put together a package. In the overall scheme of things the amount of money requested is not enormous. It is actually a very ordinary amount of money if we think about it realistically.
I raised this issue with the Minister a number of months ago and I asked him for a package. He offered this interest-free loan and all that. They do not want that; all they want is a package to be put in place. Anyone on the Government side of the House who was comparing what we are seeking to the "cash for ash" is talking trash. I ask the Minister to do the right thing and support this fine group of people who are here today.
I fully support the tillage farmers' request for compensation as a result of the severe weather conditions that seriously damaged their crops last autumn. In mid-September I visited a number of farms in the Bandon, Kilbrittain, Ballinspittle and Kinsale areas where I saw at first-hand what the weather had done to those grain crops. The crops were sprouting in the field and many of the heads of the grain were on the ground. When the weather improved later in September, the harvest was only a salvage operation - these crops were damaged to such an extent.
Noting the severity of this pending crisis, I immediately raised the issue on Leaders' Questions in the Dáil. I called on the Minister to put increased supports in place and make compensation available to farmers who had suffered huge losses. In November in the Dáil I again called on the Minister to make compensation available. Following that I wrote the MEPs from Munster, asking them to represent the tillage farmers in Europe and to raise the issue of compensation with the EU and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. I also spoke at the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine on this issue. On 3 January I wrote to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to request a meeting. I had planned to bring in some of the farmers seriously affected, but it appears that the Minister is either unwilling or unable to meet.
While I welcome the steps outlined by the Minister, they do not go far enough to address the present crisis. While I welcome the introduction of TAMS for tillage farmers, I point out that the tillage farmers are among the last section to have TAMS applied to them. The year 2016 was the fourth year in a row in which many tillage farmers were trading at a loss. Over the past four years the amount of land in cereal production has dropped by 100,000 acres and that is predicted to fall by a further 67,000 acres this year. The Government must step up and support our tillage farmers, as without the support the farming sector will not survive.
I fully support the motion to introduce a rescue package for tillage farmers immediately. I see many of the farmers who have been affected in the Gallery. Approximately 375 growers have been affected, with 140 in south County Cork. It is time to sit up. The Minister cannot continue to say "no" while many of these farmers, including those in the Gallery, are going out of business. It is time to act - saying "No" is not an option.
If the farms are going badly, the towns and businesses are going badly as well. Some, although not all, grain farmers were hit so badly that they got no crop and therefore no income. I ask the Minister to accept the motion. All they are asking for is €4.5 million. The Minister could get it from Europe if he applies to it. There is a special fund that can be accessed when farmers are hit by inclement weather. Perhaps the Minister does not know about it, but it has been used in the past.
Grain farmers were struggling anyway, but the tillage men in Brandonwell, Fenit, Ardfert, Ballyheigue, Causeway, Abbeydorney and throughout north Kerry were badly hit because they got no grain at all. They were swamped for the months of August and September. Likewise the people from Ballygarvan, Bandon, Dunmanway, Clonakilty and as far as the Mizen Head were hit with sea fog and they got no crop at all. These people who are in the Gallery are on their uppers now and have not a bob. They will not be able to continue into next year. Talking about a loan at this stage is only codding them. That might suit later on, but it will not help them now.
Now is the Minister's time. If he rejects this motion, he will pay a high price because many people very close to him are suffering badly. This needs to be targeted at those who are in trouble because some farmers got grain, but the ones who did not, especially those in Cork, Kerry and up along the west, are the ones who need to be looked after. If the Minister ignores the motion or goes against it, he will pay a high price for it. Fair is fair; these people have nothing left and have nothing to start from for next year. The Government amendment is only a cod.
As for the Deputy who said she would like to blame me for the weather, she will not get away with that. That will be for another day to sort out; it is about the farmers this evening.
I also welcome the very dignified protest that took place outside Government Buildings and Agriculture House. I welcome the IFA president, Joe Healy, and the IFA national grain chairman, Liam Dunne, along with na daoine óga, na buachailí óga a bhí amuigh agus na mná freisin.
The Minister should know this because he is a farmer, as is the Minister of State, Deputy Andrew Doyle and the man sitting behind them, Deputy Pat Deering. They must be blindfolded if they cannot see what is happening. Thankfully in County Tipperary we had an excellent harvest, good weather and reasonable crops but we had poor prices. That is fair enough, we can manage with that. Three elements must be right in order to get a good harvest - good crops, weather and prices. Prices at the moment are very bad and the people in the Public Gallery this evening would be ploughing their land in preparation for next year's harvest if they did not have to come up here. They should be ordering fertiliser from their suppliers but they cannot do so because they cannot pay for last year's supply. Surely to God the Minister understands this. We cannot put up with this balderdash from the Government in the form of the amendment it has proposed to the motion. I think the amendment will be defeated and the Government will be forced to act. I hope this happens because the Government does not deserve to be in office. Its members will not listen to the people and support them.
Farming has become a dirty word and farmers are not wanted. We heard Deputy Bríd Smith earlier lecturing us about climate change. It is a wonder that she did not start talking about abortion in the middle of it because that is all she ever talks about. What does she care about the farmers? I know what she would make all right. If scarecrows were scarce, we would be in business. I am not going to say any more about that because she took offence one time-----
I ask the Deputy to confine his comments to the motion before the House.
I will confine myself to the issue of farming. It is the Deputies who know about farming who should confine themselves to the issue and who should look after farmers. The three Government Deputies present in the House were elected by people from rural areas but they will not support them. They went around, knocking on doors to get votes and support but when it was their turn to support the people, they did not do so. They did not go to Brussels and ask for funding. We should not even be asking, with the Taoiseach acting like a lapdog to Ms Merkel for the last six years; we should be demanding the money. The fund is already in place. The French would not stand for it and nobody else would stand for it.
Deputy Penrose made reference to regulations. When we get regulations from Europe, our brave boys in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine add about seven statutory instruments to them and that is all they do. They make jobs for themselves. We have one agricultural officer for every 30 farmers-----
The Deputy has exceeded his time.
-----but only one garda for every 340 people.
The Deputy has exceeded his time. I now call on-----
I accept that. I ask the Minister to pay up and look after the farmers.
I now call on members of Fianna Fáil who have ten minutes between them. The first speaker is Deputy Dara Calleary.
I commend my party colleagues, Deputies Charlie McConalogue, Jackie Cahill and Margaret Murphy O'Mahony for pursuing this issue since last September. I will be brief because much of the argument has already been made.
We gathered before Christmas at the launch of a report on the potential of Irish whiskey tourism. The launch was a celebration of the growth in the number of small distilleries across the country but here we are, trying to defend the men and women who will be the foundation of that industry against the lack of willingness on the part of the Government to keep them in business and to compensate them for recent unprecedented climate change events.
The notion that the EU would block a payment of €4 million in compensation when there are ways of dealing with severe climatic events under European rules is absolutely bizarre. It is even more bizarre when the responsible EU Commissioner is actually one of our own. If we cannot convince our own EU Commissioner and if the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine cannot convince his own former party colleague of the need to do this then there is something seriously wrong in the Department.
This week the Government found €120 million to provide for badly needed pay increases for lower paid civil servants and we welcome that. The Government was able to find €120 million down the back of a couch but it cannot find €4 million to keep people in business and to keep families on their farms. A precedent was created by the fodder schemes and schemes for potato growers. Today, on 18 January 2017, I will quote from a statement made on 6 January 2010:
It is important that [the] Minister ... shows empathy and understanding at this time with growers who face the wipeout of their entire crop. It is estimated that as much as 75% of the 6,000 unharvested acres of the country's potato crops are already devastated, with the remaining 25% under increasing threat. The principle of the Minister intervening during adverse weather conditions has been established during the recent flooding crisis with the fodder scheme.
These were the words of the current Minister, Deputy Michael Creed. The then Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Brendan Smith, who was a very successful Minister, responded not just to Deputy Creed but also to farmers and to their needs. I ask the Minister to do the same.
I ask Deputies to be conscious of the fact that their colleagues are waiting to contribute.
I welcome tillage farmers and their IFA representatives to the Gallery this evening. They are not here for a holiday but because of their concerns. In July 2015, the previous Government, through the then Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney, launched Food Wise 2025, the slogan for which was “Local Roots — Global Reach”. Chapter 5, section 3 deals with the whiskey and craft beer sector and its closing paragraph reads as follows: "The ability of the sector to develop new markets will remain a key challenge and the alcoholic beverage industry needs a strong base of dairy farmers and grain growers supplying inputs to both the brewing and distilling sectors”. Alas, however, it seems that the last place where these two agriculture sectors enjoy recognition or share centre stage is Agriculture House. The tillage sector seems to have been consigned to the back room. In the past 12 months the Government has ensured that should the dairy sector run into a long-term milk price collapse, funding by way of low-cost loans will be made available, which I welcome.
I commend my party's agriculture spokesperson, Deputy Charlie McConalogue for tabling the private Member's motion before the House this evening. It must be acknowledged that there is a grain price crisis in the tillage sector. I am not going to deal with this issue in depth but would acknowledge that the price is market driven. I want the Minister to address the difficulties of those farmers who have been faced with an additional loss of income over and above that caused by low grain prices. These are the farmers who had to replant crops or failed to harvest same. The Minister has a file on his desk, as had his predecessor, detailing representations on behalf of farmers in my area of Cork east seeking both consideration and payment. Tillage farmers in my area took a double hit. Winter crops sown near the coast were storm damaged in late 2015 and early 2016 due to the soft drift created by a sea mist. The affected farmers replanted the land with spring crops but as the Minister knows, they ended up having to salvage same in the autumn, with an additional loss in tonnage. To give an example, an average sized grain trailer which would normally carry over 12 tonnes of grain was going into the mills weighing less than ten tonnes.
I plead with the Minister to take action. He indicated during a topical issue debate on the tillage crisis with Deputy Charlie McConalogue last October that once all the figures were to hand, he would make a decision. The figures are now to hand the Department and officials should be able to devise a method of calculating compensation. What has been the Government's response to the motion before the House? It has tabled an amendment which seeks to kick the can further down the road. The Minister of State, Deputy Andrew Doyle attempted to gloss over the entire issue in his contribution.
This crisis is a welfare issue, not a populist one. In my area, it is as serious as the issues facing those who occupied Apollo House. Families are under severe income strain. How can any of these farmers, the majority of whom run family farms, seek funds from a lending agency when they cannot show any collateral from the previous year's trading?
I thought there was an agreement that Deputies would share time.
Go raibh maith agat.
I do not like to interrupt, but Deputy Margaret Murphy O'Mahony is next, with two and a half minutes.
I am grateful for the opportunity to speak yet again on an issue that has adversely affected the tillage farmers in my constituency of Cork South West. Some of those farmers are in the House today. I welcome them and acknowledge their presence.
I am very proud of my party, Fianna Fáil, which has tabled this motion this evening and which always stands by the farmer. I would also like to acknowledge the great work done by my colleagues, Deputies Charlie McConalogue and Jackie Cahill in the field of agriculture, excuse the pun.
As the Minister knows, the price of tillage grain has not been good for some time. In west Cork, farmers also had to contend with salt being blown in from the sea which resulted in many crops having to be replanted. We also had an extremely wet autumn in 2016. I know the Minister is good at what he does but even I do not expect him to be able to control the weather. What I do expect from him, however, is an appropriate reaction to events that are outside everyone's control, such as the effects of bad weather on farmers' lives. I have had grown men and women in my office who were close to tears because of the loss of their tillage crops.
I, along with my Fianna Fáil colleagues, have been highlighting tillage failure since the ploughing championships last September. The agriloan offered is not good enough. A loan is a loan and must be paid back.
The problems faced by tillage farmers have now escalated, and the providers of seeds and fertilisers seek to be paid for their products and rightly so. The Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine, which is made up of members of all parties, including the Minister's, and Independent Deputies, recognised the need to compensate these farmers. I respectfully ask the Minister to take note of this. I also ask the Minister to open as soon as possible the TAMS investment tillage scheme, which the Government committed to commence in autumn 2016. I acknowledge the Minister of State, Deputy Doyle, spoke about it earlier and said it would open shortly. I ask the Government to please keep its word on it this time.
A precedent was set by my party, Fianna Fáil, when in 2010 under the then Minister, Deputy Brendan Smith, we established an aid scheme for potato and vegetable crops damaged in the severe frost of that year. There was an €86 million underspend in the budget of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in 2016 and there was also an underspend arising from the rural development schemes. In view of this underspend surely there must be money at the Minister's disposal to help these farmers. I ask the Minister, Deputy Creed, to please compensate the affected tillage farmers in my constituency of Cork South West. Please give them the chance to stay afloat and stay in business, and please end the tremendous pressure they and their families are enduring.
I thank Deputy McConalogue for tabling the motion, and I welcome all of the contributions which have been informative and well deliberated upon. I also acknowledge the people in the Gallery who have an interest in this matter.
It is welcome we have an opportunity such as this to debate a particular sector in the agricultural economy which does not very often get the attention in this Chamber it deserves. I acknowledge this is an issue which a number of colleagues in all parties and none have raised since the back end of last year. I wish to take up a point made by a previous speaker, who alleged that governments live in a bubble, notwithstanding the fact his party is in government in another jurisdiction. I have been on the ground on this issue, and I acknowledge the particular difficulties for harvest associated with the weather at the back end of 2016. I was in the north west in Deputy McConalogue's constituency and met farmers' organisations there. I received an interesting presentation from the chairman of Leitrim IFA on Met Éireann's data for the relevant months of the harvest in that neck of the woods. It is a common thread down the west coast in particular.
It is important in this debate that we focus on the specifics of the sector particularly adversely hit by the weather and that we have a debate on the broader tillage sector. I firmly believe it is a sector that faces significant structural challenges and there is no silver bullet to address all of them. It requires the collective wisdom of us as elected representatives, the officials in the Department and all of the stakeholders. It is a critical component of our agricultural economy, which underpins many other aspects of it, particularly in the provision of ruminant feed. At present, we import more than two thirds of our ruminant feed and there is potential in this regard. Reference was made by Deputy Calleary to distilling. Not so many years ago we had four distilleries in the country. We are now heading for 20 distilleries and almost 100 microbreweries. The marketing and branding of all of these as Irish whiskeys or beers is contingent on a fundamentally economically sound tillage sector. This is something to which I am committed.
I do not question the bona fides of anybody else who has spoken in this regard. I met the stakeholders in the tillage industry on 5 October, and I gave a commitment to the farming organisations in the middle of the harvest. I stated we would wait until we had a bigger picture on the immediate crisis with regard to weather-related issues and that we also needed to consider other issues associated with the sector. I have a habit of keeping notes of my meetings. I was looking at the scale of the contributions from farming organisations and others. To nail the unfortunate lie that the Government has done nothing in respect of the tillage sector it is important to reflect on what contributions were made, what was sought and what has been delivered. This is not to state there are not other things that need to be further considered, and in the context of the Government's amendment we are open to doing this. Without naming any of the participants, I picked out six separate contributions on access to low-cost working finance. One of the most critical voices that left a lasting impression on me was one of the merchants present at the meeting in the Department, who stated 80% of the crop was being planted on merchant credit. This was in advance of the budget, when we were considering the most appropriate measures to take with relatively scarce financial resources.
I appreciate that perhaps for political reasons speaker after speaker here has knocked the loan product, but one speaker who knocked it went on to say the industry was built on borrowings for sprays, seeds and agricultural contractors, and it is because of this the loan product, which is not the silver bullet for all of these, will be of benefit because it is possible to substitute higher interest overdraft facilities and higher interest merchant credit with this facility. I confirm it will be launched, as we committed, and will be available by the end of this month.
Among other issues raised, one where we have followed through on what we heard at the tillage forum and delivered is putting €14 million of Exchequer funding into the loan product. I appreciate this may not be always necessary and in so doing we extended it. We had €11 million from Europe and put €14 million of Exchequer funding with it, and in so doing we extended it under de minimis state aid rules to be available to the tillage sector. To state we have not put Exchequer funding into the tillage sector is not accurate. More may be needed.
Another issue raised is the tillage TAMS, and this will be launched, as my colleague the Minister of State, Deputy Doyle, stated, in a couple of weeks. I appreciate this in itself is not the answer to everything but it is one of the asks. The other ask was knowledge transfer, and this is now available for the tillage sector. The question of a compensation fund was raised at the meeting, and I acknowledge this. In our amendment to the motion we have committed to engaging further through the tillage forum with the stakeholders to explore how a scheme in this context might be devised and constructed. It is interesting to hear the range of contributions, because some speak about 250 participants, some speak about 350 participants and some speak about 400 participants. In a roundtable discussion with stakeholders we need to scope out about whom we are speaking and what the terms and conditions would be before we rush headlong into establishing a scheme. In fairness to my colleague, Deputy Jim Daly, who has bent my ears on several occasions, his analogy is not lost in the context of stating if we have a poorly devised scheme-----
It was a disgraceful comment.
We will have to make sure it is focused and targeted, and in this sense the analogy was not inappropriate. As I stated, in the amendment we are committed to dealing with the other issues that remain outstanding, and there are many of them, and much work is under way with regard to support for branding Irish ruminant feed. This is an initiative of the farming organisations and I was involved in ensuring we can underpin the expanding microbrewery and distillery sector. This is something to which I am committed to exploring.
I want to nail as a blatant untruth the idea that I would not support an initiative by others at European Union level to deliver aid for the Irish tillage sector. No matter how often Deputies Ferris or Fitzmaurice repeat the assertion, it is simply untrue.
That is what Europe said.
At the most recent Agriculture and Fisheries Council I was the only person from among the 28 member states who raised the plight of the tillage sector. The unfortunate reality is that we are 1% of European tillage production. The major players in the tillage sector include the French. I have spoken with the French Senate in Agriculture House, whose members are representative of rural constituencies, and it is not an issue that is resonating there. Without the support of the French, the Poles, the Hungarians and the Romanians on a tillage issue, it is extremely difficult to make progress.
I thought we were partners.
In the opposite case, when members who have an interest in the dairy sector - the overwhelming majority - make a case politically, the Commission sits up. We want to explore the latitude that is available to us under state aid rules de minimis. I acknowledge that a precedent was set by Deputy Brendan Smith and I will not go down the road of what other things he did but he did the right thing in this case. We have put in place a loan scheme and it will be of benefit to the sector. We will launch TAMS. The loan scheme will be launched before the end of the month and we have done knowledge transfer. An issue was raised about a compensation fund and our motion specifically opens the door for further dialogue on that matter.
(Interruptions).
I do not question the bona fides of anybody who has spoken on this but nobody has a monopoly on it. As Deputy Calleary reminded me, I have been over there and I acknowledge that it is the job of Opposition to raise the issue but I have to grapple with the complexities of how we do it. I am anxious to do it in the best possible way, that delivers to those who are most adversely affected. That is why the door is open, with the stakeholders' forum, to progress the matter.
I thank all those who have travelled from Donegal, Kerry and Cork this evening to sit in this Chamber and watch the proceedings. The Minister said he had to represent people and to listen to the most vulnerable. I say to him, "Listen to the most vulnerable - they are sitting here". There are between 250 and 350 affected farms and if the Minister wants to listen to the most vulnerable, we should ask them if they want a loan or compensation. The people who have come before us cannot afford to go before a financial institution. It is four years since they had reasonable accounts and they do not have repayment capacity at this moment in time. This is because they have no crop, they yielded nothing and have nothing to sell and this means they cannot put anything down on a sheet of paper. I know what I am talking about as I am a financial adviser and I sat in front of farmers for 20-odd years when they came in to look for term loans for stock. The first thing one looked for was repayment capacity and Deputy Fitzmaurice is right that there are no sales. Nothing came in that envelope and the farmers sitting in our Gallery this evening have nothing to show. In recent years they have been down on the value of their grain or their crop was weather hampered.
We are asking the Minister to support the tillage sector in the same way he asked our colleague to support the potato and vegetable industry. We ask him to come behind us and support the motion but his counter-motion rubbishes ours and rubbishes the fact that farmers cannot step up to the mark. The Minister, his party and the handful of Independents who support them have decided to weed out the tillage sector in this country and to reduce it. The Minister, the Government and the Independents do not have the right to do that. We are looking for €4 million in compensation this evening.
Farmers lost money. It is a small number and it is easily identified. The Minister knows, from his area maps, exactly which people sold crops. It is easy to identify how much money these farmers have lost from their sales figures. We have become so careful that, when 300 people have a problem and a small number get money without which they could not survive, we worry more about the few who might not absolutely need it. One cannot over-refine schemes. Giving loans to people who already have that problem is no good. It is no solution because telling people to invest even more money means they will have to put up matching capital but they do not have the money.
I accept that it might be hard to persuade EU colleagues because the EU is a broad church and the weather conditions were different so doing it under the de minimis rules is probably the way to go. Some €86 million was unspent in the Department last year and when the dairy farmers had difficulty the State came up with €17 million. All we are looking for is €4 million. It is three months too late but, as they say in Irish, is fearr go déireanach ná go brách.
The purpose of today's motion, and the huge protest outside, is to call on the Minister to take action. If he looks up, he will see the Gallery is full so this is not just a Fianna Fáil issue - it is a national movement asking the Minister to take action to help farmers who are seriously in need because of the bad weather last year. These farmers did everything within their power to mitigate their losses. They tried to salvage everything they could and now they are coming to the Minister because it is the last resort. There are precedents for this so the idea that it would be opening a can of worms, and might go further than it should, will not wash. The precedent allows the Minister to take action now.
Yesterday, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, managed to find €120 million in extra spending capacity for this year that had not been there originally but these farmers are looking for €4 million. One wonders whether the Minister could not find another couch to dip his hand behind for an extra €4 million for people who need it. There are additional moneys because there has been an underspend and the Minister himself made a similar plea a number of years ago when there was crop damage due to bad weather.
The Minister says farmers in this Gallery and across the country should go and ask for credit and that this would be a solution to the problem but it would not. These farmers are already struggling to make ends meet with low prices and very tight margins. As the Minister accepts the huge support for this motion across the House, and for the idea that the State should step in and help farmers in need, I ask him to do the right thing. It is within his gift and his choice. If he chooses not to do it, on his head be it.
I thank everyone who contributed here tonight and for the widespread support across the Chamber.
I also want to acknowledge the role played by my colleagues, Deputy Cahill, and Senator Paul Daly working alongside me on the agriculture committee. Senator Daly has also pushed this issue in the Seanad. I particularly want to acknowledge the effort made by the farmers who came here today and are in the Visitors Gallery. They are putting pressure on in order to get the support they need and have genuinely requested.
In his response, I detected a softening of the Minister's stance. It is unfortunate that we have had to push the matter this far. It is also unfortunate that we have not had a fund until now. Farmers, including those here today, who have been affected by the bad harvest have had to face bills sitting on their table. Many of them are considering their financial situation and their ability to remain in the tillage sector. The Minister appeared to say that he is willing to go to the Tillage Forum to consider how a scheme might work. That is what I picked up from his response, but I hope he was not giving some false hope. The matter should not be allowed to drop.
I have no doubt that the motion before us will be passed overwhelmingly. It urges the Government to engage further with the IFA, other farming organisations and with the Tillage Forum to scope out how a fund could be put in place to provide the necessary assistance for those who have lost their crops. I will leave it to the Minister to do that.
Considering the strong support in the Dáil, the fact that our motion will be overwhelmingly supported, and in light of the Minister opening the door to explore this further, I ask him to withdraw the Government amendment. He should not force this to a vote, but take the matter forward by engaging with and genuinely exploring the plight of those have been significantly affected by a poor harvest.
I endorse the motion and thank everyone for their support. I encourage the Minister to deliver a compensation fund scheme.
Amendment put.
In accordance with Standing Order 70(2), the division is postponed until the weekly division time on Thursday, 19 January 2017.