Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am conscious that the Minister of State has responsibility for food, forestry and horticulture. I am not sure if he is taking questions on forestry today but I have one which I might put to him. He has a wealth of experience in the horticulture and forestry sectors as well as the agriculture sector. As a native of Wicklow he immersed himself in agriculture and in the community. He represents ably and with distinction the agricultural and urban people of Wicklow and parts of Carlow. I am also aware of his former position as Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine and I particularly welcome him to the House today.

Ireland has pinned significant hopes on forestry as a way of offsetting emissions from the agriculture sector. However, to date new forest plantings have been running behind target. There are three and a half lines on horticulture in the programme for Government, on page 113. They are significant because they refer to Bord Bia’s Origin Green brand and the strategy from 2016 to 2018 which is extremely impressive. I pay tribute to An Bord Bia for the enormous work it does. I visited its office in Clanwilliam Court a few days ago where the people were extremely helpful and positive. It has an amazing amount of good quality literature about supporting the horticulture industry through the agribusiness, horticulture, cut flower and nursery stock sectors. We perhaps do not hear enough about the organisation. We see it at Bloom but I would like to see it showcased more. I am not on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine but I suggest to those on it that it should invite Bord Bia to talk about horticulture.

Will the Minister of State please set out his plans to get Government back on target in respect of his key objectives for forestry and to promote the diversification of farm activity into forestry where appropriate and suitable, taking into account broad-leaved native species as well as pines, picea abiesand all the trees the Minister of State is familiar with in Irish forestry? There is enormous potential, especially for upland farmers or marginal land farmers to get into the forestry sector, and if the Minister of State is seriously committed to pushing out the targets for afforestation, these are key areas that need to be identified and may supplement incomes for farmers in this critical category.

I was a horticulturalist. I studied it and for many years made a good living out of it. The Irish farmers’ markets are a key showcase for artisan food, salads, organics, soft fruit, nursery stock and cut flowers. There is one in Dún Laoghaire. There are approximately 70 registered, up and running markets. Artisan food is a broad term but many organic products grown in this country go into that end product. There is good scope for developing that area. The horticulture sector is important in the Irish economy. We are exporting vegetation for florists to Britain. This year numerous flights from Dublin carried daffodils to the United States. I am not sure many people know that. This sector could be expanded.

I acknowledge the enormous support Teagasc gives through grants and education in promoting horticulture. We need to dovetail that with the Department of Education and Skills, with experts in training and apprenticeships. There is a concern that not enough trained people are coming into sector at various levels, whether amenity horticulture or food production. There is scope for a group of people who may opt out of education early but who may want to be trained. I have met many who find it difficult to access horticulture training programmes at a lower level than a university degree in agriculture or horticulture. Will the Minister of State look into that?

Within a short time of being elected to the agriculture panel in the Seanad, I took the time to visit Monaghan Mushrooms. It is a highly impressive organisation. I do not know if the Minister of State has visited it. There was a suggestion that it was having difficulty in getting previous Ministers to visit. I am not here to air the issues of a particular commercial company but the mushroom sector is the largest horticulture sector in the country. The Minister of State mentioned a figure for farm gate values. The last one I received from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine was €136 million for the mushroom sector alone, of which approximately 80% is exported to the UK.

I was in the UK last week and went into several supermarkets to pick up Irish products. There was no Origin Green or "grown in Ireland" stamp on them, which surprised me but I knew where they came from because Monaghan Mushrooms has a policy of putting the farmer’s name on the brand. I was highly impressed by the mushrooms now being produced with added vitamin D, which are walking off the shelves of every supermarket in Britain. That is really pioneering and innovative work by Monaghan Mushrooms. It is great to walk around supermarkets all over London and see mushrooms from Ireland. Why, if they are coming through the Origin Green process, is that not stamped on them? There may be a good reason that I do not know. We have a brand and quality and we need to talk about that.

I will not go into the soft fruit sector to any great extent. When I refer to the nursery stock sector, I mean the trees, shrubs and flowers, most coming from Holland and Italy.The cut flower sectors in Spain and Israel are coming into this country because of the huge potential in terms of the soil and the conditions in Lusk, in north County Dublin, which in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s was an area of major cut flower production.

There is great excitement, opportunities and challenges for the agrifood, horticulture and forestry sectors. The biggest concern I have identified from talking to a range of people in this sector is the need to bring people in to take up new training programmes, which will give them the necessary skills at all levels to enter the horticulture sector. There is a synergy among a number of Departments, including that of the Minister's colleague, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Mary Mitchell O'Connor, to see how we can support the industry but, importantly, how we can prepare young people who want to get involved in this wonderful and rewarding industry. We need to look again at the training and how we can bring them into the sector. I thank the Minister. He is a man from the land who speaks of the land and represents the people of the land. There is great expectation of him and I wish him well as Minister.