asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will state what steps he is taking to secure imported seed wheat for the coming season, having regard to the unsatisfactory seed wheat position.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Imports of Seed Wheat.
asked the Minister for Agriculture whether his Department are making arrangements for the importation of seed wheat for the 1947-8 sowing season, as the seed stock likely to be available from home sources will be very limited.
asked the Minister for Agriculture if arrangements are being made to import seed wheat and oats for the coming season; and if he will state what those arrangements are.
I have already replied to these questions.
No. The Minister replied to questions Nos. 58 to 61 together.
The Minister will take the whole Order Paper in the next leap.
I have a long stride.
You have, and a rough one.
We want to make some progress and Deputy Dillon during Question Time to-day has interrupted 16 times. If every Deputy is to have the same right and we multiply that by 100, we will not do much business.
My observations as to the Minister's capabilities have been strictly relevant and very cogent.
Not in the opinion of the Chair.
I propose to take questions Nos. 65, 66 and 67 together. Having regard to the acute world shortage of cereals, it is unlikely that it will be possible to import any appreciable quantities of seed grain. Inquiries are proceeding in the matter.
I have seen the wheat that was dished out this year to farmers for seed and I have seen the results. I have taken several merchants from Cork City around with me to see the growing crops and here is what we found. There was one sample of that seed wheat which was sold as Atle. It contained seven heads of Atle, three of Diamante, two of April Bearded, two of Wilhelmina, one of barley, and three of oats. That seed was supposed to go through £2,000 worth of a mill that was supposed to take everything out of it only the proper seed. That was the result. Those particular crops gave yields of between two and three barrels per acre.
Has the Deputy a supplementary question?
The Deputy is making the speech which he made already on several occasions.
Are the farmers to be asked to grow this type of wheat in the coming year? If they are, they will not sow it.
Would it be possible to arrange for the barter of millable wheat for seed wheat in the coming season? Unless you are prepared to give them some encouragement, it is unfair to expect the farmers to go in on such a large scale for wheat production.
Every effort has been and will be made to get seed wheat. I have told the House that there are difficulties, and there are likely to be difficulties in the future. Every effort will be made to do the best we can in that regard.
So far as the criticism which has been levelled by Deputy Corry is concerned, I would like to remind him that the small quantity of seed wheat which we succeeded in the past in importing was sold to farmers more or less on the understanding that they would sell back again to the merchants from whom they bought it. That understanding has not been observed and, as a result of its non-observance, our problem in building up suitable stocks of seed wheat has increased. I would like to remind Deputy Corry that it is the practice of some growers to mix their seeds, especially those who take conacre. Those are difficulties that my Department cannot overcome easily. The House and county committees who have been devoting a lot of their time to a discussion of this matter will, I hope, realise that we are conscious of the fact that the seed position is not satisfactory, but we cannot, irrespective of our anxiety to do so, change that position. We are doing our best and we will continue to do so.
What is the estimate of the production from the 40,000 barrels of pedigree seed that you had last year?
How is the Minister to be sure that the production from the 40,000 barrels will be concentrated in any one pool over which he or the seed merchants will have control?
The Minister must agree that that is an admission that the machinery we have for handling seed is not adequate to meet our requirements.
The Deputy is a practical man and he must realise the difficulty of keeping control over the produce of such seed.