asked the Minister for Agriculture whether in order to assist farmers to retain unthreshed adequate supplies of wheat, barley and oats, he will consider a credit scheme based on the security of such stocks of cereals.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Retention of Grain Crops.
Provision for the issue of loans to farmers is made through the Agricultural Credit Corporation and applications for credit in cases such as those mentioned by the Deputy should be addressed to that body.
Is the Minister aware that, owing to Ministerial bungling, there is a probability that oats will be unsaleable and that for that reason special facilities should be given to farmers to obtain credit—farmers who would be unable to obtain credit from the Credit Corporation because of lack of qualification. Surely, some special loan should be granted and, if legislation were necessary, it should be introduced so as to enable farmers to hold their grain in the place in which it can be best held.
If there are facilities there already, there is no reason why further facilities should be provided.
The Minister must know that, if a farmer has not his annuity paid to date, he is not qualified for a loan from the Credit Corporation. If he has already received a loan to purchase stock, he may not be qualified to obtain an additional loan for this purpose.
Exactly the same situation is arising in regard to oats as has arisen in regard to wool. Having prohibited the export of oats during the past three months, a large quantity of oats—a considerable part of it is in the Minister's own keeping, Canadian oats—has deteriorated from oatmeal oats into feeding oats as a result of having got the smell of a bag or something of that kind. These oats are absolutely unsaleable and if not cashed or used before the new oats come in, they will be thrown on the market at any price, with the result that the new oats will have to be sold by the small farmer at a staggering loss unless something is done to facilitate him in holding them back until the carry over is taken off the market. I have been warning the Minister for the past three months that he is walking straight into disaster if he does not do something about this matter.
I shall deal with that on the next question.