Lime subsidy for farmers
Deputy Healy-Rae asks for the return of a lime subsidy to help farmers cope with soaring fertiliser and transport costs. The Minister agrees fertiliser costs are very high and says lime use, soil analysis and good grassland management can improve productivity.
I will take the Minister, Leo and Micheál out of the bog for a while. It is clear they are bogged down to the bane. Fertiliser costs are savage and are putting farmers under savage pressure. However, if proper levels of lime were applied to the land, it would increase fertility, make it more productive, and reduce the amount of fertiliser needed to be spread on the land. Will the Minister bring back the subsidy for lime? It was there before. I am asking for this, please, given the increased transport costs for delivering lime and the increased cost of everything. It would help farmers a lot to bring back the subsidy for lime. If the Government is real about reducing nitrate use, this would be one way to help.
Comment on this
I absolutely agree with Deputy Healy-Rae. He is right that the price of fertiliser has gone through the roof. It is not just the price. There are restrictions on availability given what is happening with Russia. My understanding is that this summer we may have a 30% reduction in the amount of nitrate fertiliser applied. How this is going to work will be critical. The Deputy is also right that the application of lime, especially combined with really good soil analysis, water and grasslands management, and moving towards a mixed sward system could give us a very productive grazing system with a much-reduced cost and a better environmental output. Lime could have a critical role in that, so I will ask my colleague, the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, to look at taking up the suggestion. I believe it is a good one.