On the last occasion on which we were assembled, I had reached the point where I had given such approval as I could to the action of Senator Crosbie and of the Ministers when they were considering this matter on their agricultural rounds throughout the country during the spring. I have not given the full examination to the idea that perhaps I ought, but, so far as I see, I think that the implementation of the motion would be an excellent idea. It would permit the segregating of the various farms, the resources of the various owners and the resources of the land as well, because it is not to be expected that a common percentage could be justified all through. In the case of the smaller farms which have been intensively tilled for a number of years, the resources for the growing of wheat are not present. Many of the smaller men with whom I do business would prefer to see a higher price for oats, barley and other crops than wheat. Hence I think that county committees of agriculture should be approached.
With regard to the contracts on beet-growing lines which were mentioned, I think that by that means the exact position could be gauged. The exact acreage could be determined, and the probable return could be assessed. Subject to weather conditions being favourable to the maturing of the crop, one could almost anticipate the exact returns. With the knowledge of the local committee — knowing as it does the farmer, and the loyalty of himself and his workers — it should be within the province of the Government, acting through its committees, to extract the last grain from the soil and put farmers in a first-class position to provide the nation with its needs. I do not like the violent changes of technique which are so often prescribed for us.
As I told the House on the last day, I remember when we were in barley and we were hounded out of it. I see no reason why a thorough search into the resources of the nation should not result in the country providing its own wheat. With regard to the tillage farmers, they have watched down through the years much of their labour go to provide but a very miserable existence for themselves, while everybody to whom they disposed of their grain was leading what one might call a life of considerable luxury.
The idea behind the motion is, by no means, to coerce or compel; it is rather to induce. Personally, I am against much of the compulsion of these times. I am sorry that some of it is essential in the present emergency but, having regard to the losses which tillage has brought in the past, many of our most shrewd farmers shy at tillage programmes. The motion aims at getting farmers, by a guarantee, to adopt what is in the motion — a normal tillage rotation. It implements immediately security, stability and guarantee. On that point of guarantee and stability, the whole course of our Irish land laws, as many of us have known it, was altered considerably by the Oireachtas some time ago. I should be exhibiting a lack of candour if I did not express here and now how pleased I was at observing that, at the last Parnell celebration, the Taoiseach himself, in so many words, appraised the memory of Parnell as the man who brought security to the Irish farmers. This matter may not be exactly relevant now, but the question of having the laws re-established on those old lines would be well worth serious consideration. I think that an excellent chance could be found, if the spirit were strong enough, in the ramifications of the Defence Council, where all Parties are represented. They should be in a position to implement a unanimous agreement on that question of security for the Irish farmers.
The guaranteed prices for the complete rotation are I think reasonable. The cost of production of commodities is allowed and I hope it will be allowed hereafter in the agricultural industry. There is no fortune in wheat growing for anybody. None is needed, but what one wants to avoid is dead loss in cash and the dead loss caused by the deprivation of the soil of its essential fertility. Hence a reasonable and fair price is necessary. On that score, I am in a position to state that from my own farm, and my own home, as far back as 1790, wheat was sold at 37/6d. per barrel. In those times, the costs were nothing like what they are now. Last January, I advocated 50/- as a reasonable price. If the costs increase, the price will have to increase as well but, in this matter of guarantees, we should not permit any breaking of faith with our farmers. It is breaking of faith in that way that makes the agricultural community suspicious. Last year, 41/- was placarded everywhere as the price of millable wheat. When growers came to be paid, they found that they were paid 4/-, 5/- and 6/- per barrel less than the fixed price. The guarantee is now 50/- and I do hope that no effort will be permitted, allowed or condoned that will have millable wheat going into the millers at less than 50/-.
The time to get down to the proper method of maximum production for next season is now and the local committees of agriculture should be approached in all the Twenty-Six Counties. Necessarily, the success of one crop hangs upon the success of the other. The details of the rotation can be easily learned and the county committees have so far not been sufficiently utilised in this matter, while in other countries they have led in a marvellous manner to successful production. I often wonder why more use was not made of them. I sometimes question whether the Government is in earnest. I do not mean in talking and advertising. There has been plenty of that. I mean in regard to the direct touch with the farmers which can only come from the local county committee.
We have a great chance of assistance from local parish councils. If the parish councils elsewhere work as well and in as close touch with the farmer as some of the parish councils I know they would be a great assistance. But what sometimes causes me considerable uneasiness is when I read, as I read recently, that the Minister for Supplies gave a list of petrol distributions and, while every creed and every class got their allotment, not one word was mentioned about the petrol to be allotted to the agricultural instructor, the chief officer, who is the fountain and foundation of all success of food production. Revenue officers, income-tax collectors, clergymen and doctors were in the list. Everything those people do is deemed urgent. One would think that some of them might walk an odd time, take a bicycle, or sometimes a donkey might convey them, but all the time these classes have to get all the petrol.
This technique, to use a word of my friend, Senator Sir John Keane, ought, I submit, be altered immediately. Farmers are to produce all they can, and the most urgent need is for wheat and, in my opinion, the first person that should be encouraged and driven into inspection of every field of wheat in the country should be the chief agricultural officer. The reason for that is that on practically every farm some wheat will die; in one the wheat will be shrivelling up because manures are not to be had, and in another case it will be suggested that it should be ploughed up. Farmers would ask neighbours were they to be at the loss of the whole of it and what course they should follow. If they write to the agricultural inspector it might be days before he would come. I have seen extraordinarily good results achieved by agricultural instructors during the last few months. I impress upon the Minister the desirability and urgency of supplying the agricultural instructor, not only for the future but for the present year, for reasons with which I will deal. I think I am correctly advised that in Canada there is a crop insurance scheme which might well be considered by the State here. It is late for this year, but we should provide our agricultural officer with every possible means that the nation can place at his disposal to go into every field in which there is tillage.
The more places he goes into the better it will be for the country and for the future education of our agricultural population. That applies equally to the growing of barley. I do not know why the petrol that is being distributed is not being retained for these officials.
I am uneasy about the attitude of the Department of Supplies in this matter. Occasionally you will notice in the daily papers that another cargo of foreign grain is chronicled as having arrived and we hear of cheers as it steams up the Liffey. Would it not be very interesting for our non-producing community to see each week an article from one or other of our 26 or 27 agricultural instructors in each of Dublin's dailies giving evidence of what was happening in regard to the crops in the various parishes? In that way you would interest the people and evoke considerable sympathy for the difficulties that confront the agricultural community and the efforts they are making to cope with them. It has been rightly said that if you give the money to farmers they will deliver the goods. I believe that is perfectly true. I know of no reason why it should not be. Sometimes we hear that farmers have the home market. I wonder just how true that is? Our wheat is 50/-. I wonder what is the price of foreign wheat? There is now absolutely no excuse for not offering every possible encouragement to producers. You will do far better by doing so than by compelling the labourer to work for a small wage or the farmer to do work which he does not believe in and which history shows cannot support him or his family. Price should not be the object. If you offered a white loaf in any shop you would have queues bigger than those now seeking tobacco, sweets, or going to the pictures.
In my experience, such as it is, winter wheat alone must be our reliance. I never had much faith in spring-sown varieties and one of our most vital jobs, if not so much for this year as for next year, is the selection of proper seed. It is there the services of instructors should come in. It is of the growing crop that the most minute inspection should be made. No threshed samples should be deemed evidence sufficient to warrant depending upon it. Inspection should be constant and the resources of farmers should be very minutely examined before they are permitted to sell seed wheat. Wherever the farmer wants seed he should be encouraged to go to the agricultural instructor, because seed from one soil might only suit one part, and only the trained eye of the agricultural inspector can correctly guide producers. No person should be permitted to sell seed wheat that has not been matured in the straw. Many of the troubles of the present year are due to the fact that wheat was not sufficiently matured in the straw. I have mentioned that all other crops on the farm count — everything that goes into the farmer's budget counts.
A successful beet crop and a successful potato crop clean the land and contribute to its form for maximum wheat production. The wealth and the wellbeing of an agricultural community rest in the fertility of its soil. A fertile, vigorous Irish soil will stand any test. I wonder if we are catering for that. Possibly we cannot do all we would like. Possibly we were not sufficiently well advised in time, but we should do our best with our limited resources. I do not think it could be stated that you can put too much manure at present on our Irish fields to produce the maximum crops of wheat. I am in a position just at the moment for anyone to come and see fields that have received, perhaps, 1 ton of lime dust per acre, plus 2 cwt. of ammonia and 3 cwt. of superphosphates. If you stand on the hill and look into the valley, you will very rapidly realise where the promise of an efficiently-run wheat field may be found.
In the old days, stall feeding was very profitable and it produced an excellent manure. Considerable supplies of manure may be produced by raising store cattle, but its quality is limited. I am sure everyone knows of the scarcity of manures, ammonia and superphosphates generally at present. There is also only a limited supply of lime, and there is delay in providing lime burners with colem and gelignite. Sometimes, there is difficulty in getting cement dust. I ordered my supply for next year within the past ten days, from the cement factory in Drogheda, as I hoped to be able to draw in material in the long, bright days of summer. I got a reply from the protected cement factory that, as they had ceased production, there was no dust available for the farmers. That was on the 23rd May. On the 26th May, I saw an advertisement in the Dublin papers that cement produced after that day would be sold at an enhanced price, owing to the increased cost of production. The two matters did not blend, in my view, and I felt rather sore, but we all will have pin-pricks which sometimes are very irritating.
It is essential to encourage beet and potatoes, and, in the absence of manures, the prices must go up, if we are to pay wages and keep going at all. This year the beet is a little on the down-grade, and there is danger in regard to the sugar supply. Potatoes at the moment are a hopeless proposition. About ten miles from my home there are extensive areas under potatoes, not more than my own, but there is a fixed price and they are graded from a certain date. Let us see how the farmer was encouraged there. He gets £3 10s. per ton for the estimated quantity of what he grows, cash paid on a certain date in October. When he is delivering he gets a further £3, increased by a grading system as the months go on. Then, before he starts the job at all, he gets a bonus of £10 per statute acre. I asked one of my labourers if he was coming back to me this year, and he said he was not as this other farmer was getting the bonus long before me, so I have to do without him. The price paid here bears no relation whatever to the price paid across the Border.
I cannot see why barley is not encouraged more. It should be £2 a barrel at least, as it is a useful stand-by as food. In the last war we got 50/- for both barley and wheat. Barley is an excellent product and will stand the test for food if there is a real scarcity here. I think it did stand that test before. There is a complaint — I do not know if it is true — that oats is too cheap and that oatmeal is too dear, with the result that there is a black market in oats. Wheat is the thing which the country obviously needs and our producers should be encouraged in regard to it. The most fatal of all human emotions if fear and the fear of getting into difficulties, which many farmers have, has warped their minds completely.
I think this motion is a reasonable one. Some people who do not wish to see wheat grown state that it cannot be grown, or that 50/- is enough, and others say that those who grow wheat want too high a price, and that one way out of the difficulty would be to have no guaranteed prices at all. Those arguments are unreal and unreasonable. Our farmers are able to provide the food for the people if they like, and I suggest that, if this motion is implemented, it will give a reasonable prospect that our people never will go hungry.
