Many members of this House who are interested in agricultural matters will understand that for the last 25 years or so efforts have been made to develop in this country the growing of certified seed and to find an export market for it, in addition to the home market. It is interesting to look back over the last 25 years and to observe the success that has attended that effort. In 1922 the area involved was as small, I think, as about 204 acres. That area has grown steadily every year since. It has now reached something between 13,000 and 14,000 acres. These potatoes are grown in five or six counties—Mayo, Galway, Donegal, Sligo, Monaghan and Westmeath. That sort of development has been regarded, and rightly so, as being very suitable to these districts.
The negotiations which took place recently between the British Government and ourselves in regard to potato prices concern entirely the production of that area. Of course, the whole production of that area, in relation to the production of potatoes in this country, would be very small indeed. These discussions take place annually. They have to take place long in advance of the time when it would be possible to say, with any degree of certainty, what way the crop is going to turn out. While it would be impossible to make any reliable estimate at that particular stage it is, all the same, desirable that some figure should be used. The only way in which one can hit upon a figure is to examine the figure for the previous year or years and discussions in regard to prices have taken place on this occasion on that basis as on previous occasions. Members of the Seanad will also be aware that within the last five or six months we negotiated with the Spanish Government an agreement which concerns 6,000 tons of seed potatoes. That agreement provided for an exchange of potash. I felt somewhat disappointed with the agreement inasmuch as it covered a period of only two years.
In order to encourage the farmers in these areas to extend the acreage under potatoes it would be necessary to be able to say to them: "Well, we have an agreement with the Spanish Government—or whatever other Government with which discussions might take place on the same matter—covering a period of five years and you will be assured a market for such and such a quantity of potatoes at a fairly good price." For one reason or another the Spanish Government was very anxious to secure a much larger quantity of potatoes than we were able to give them though they were not, apparently, anxious to discuss an agreement with us on a long-term basis. There is not, therefore, any matter in this agreement affecting in any substantial way the normal seed requirements of our farmers. If you have regard to the acreage that is sown in potatoes in this country, the figure is round about 390,000 acres; therefore, the quantities involved here would make no substantial impression on that acreage one way or the other. It is, of course, understood that farmers, while they may from time to time change their seed—and from time to time the more progressive ones will go out for certified seed in order to enable them to make that change—neither the agreement with Spain nor Britain, even allowing for the fact that the crop this year is not as good as it was in other years, prevents farmers having a certain quantity of that certified seed available to them.
Undoubtedly, the ware potato crop, referred to by the Senator, is not as good this year as it was last. I am not able to give reliable information because it must be appreciated how difficult it is to say just what the actual position is; but it is right to say that it is not as bad as some would represent it to be. Where the land was wet and heavy and where it was impossible to plant potatoes in reasonably good condition the crop is far below normal. Where the land was dry in the better potato growing districts the crop is by no means as bad as some people would have us believe. I think it is right to say that the public at large and the farmers in general appreciate the danger. I think it is right to say that I never saw an occasion, as the Senator has stated, when the potato crop was being treated with more care. To whatever extent there is a deficiency caused by a poor return I hope it will be made good by that tendency towards saving on the part of all concerned. The prices that are being offered make it an entirely unattractive proposition for the farmers to cook potatoes for feeding animals. With that very noticeable and, in our present state of uncertainty, that very desirable tendency, I believe that there is scarcely any need for us to be unduly alarmed. The potatoes are small. They are very firm and there is no doubt the farmers will find it possible to select from their own crop a sufficiency of seed to provide for themselves in the coming spring.
We are not committed in the matter of quantity under the agreement that has been made. We are committed only in our agreement with the Spanish Government. I have given the Seanad the figure. About half, or perhaps a little more, has already been exported. Our exports to Britain last year were only in the neighbourhood of 11,000 tons. The figure we had in mind during the course of our discussions was somewhat less than that. It was just taken as a figure, as I have already said, and there is no obligation upon us to export any particular figure. I would be glad, indeed, if the position were such that we could not only reach the figure mentioned which was 7,000 tons in those discussions but export a much larger quantity. It has to be remembered, too, that the varieties involved are not varieties in popular demand here. They are varieties grown for this particular trade.
