asked the Minister for Agriculture if he is now in a position to tell the House the result of the survey of all the tillage land in the country as announced by him at a meeting of the South Tipperary Agricultural Committee and reported in a morning paper on the 30th September, 1948, and which was designed to enable him to tell all land holders what crops were suitable to their soil and the crops they should grow on their lands in the event of an emergency.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Tillage Survey.
The result of the tillage survey is that I am now in a position to tell every farmer in this country the type of crops and the acreage of each crop he would in the event of an emergency be expected to grow on his land.
Would the Minister consider it necessary, or if Deputies consider it necessary would he think it advisable to convey to us in some form or other the manner in which the survey to which he has referred was conducted?
I hope the Deputy does not doubt the cordial welcome. Whenever he requires information from my Department, if he would call at the Department I and all the officers thereof will be unreservedly at his disposal.
Am I to take it that an actual survey of every one of the 300,000 odd holdings in the country has already taken place in order to determine the matters raised in this question?
I do not think an actual survey of each individual holding has taken place, but if the Deputy would care to come and inspect the maps I would be very glad to place them at his disposal with the services of any officer whom he cares to bespeak to explain it to him.
Am I to take it that in the course of making the survey it was necessary to make soil tests?
Very largely, yes.
Would the Minister then say how these tests have been made, in view of his many pronouncements to the effect that the inspectors and supervisors of one kind or another in his Department could only enter on a farmer's land at the invitation of the farmer? How were these tests conducted so as to establish whether or not the soil in question was suitable for a particular crop or otherwise?
I know the Deputy will be glad to hear that the officers of my Department have found very widely throughout the country that invitations to enter upon the land of the farmers are pressed on them.