So, it seems, the Minister for Agriculture got over his daydream about a compulsory tillage programme.

This may be for the best as compulsory tillage, as it was in the two world wars, has always been divisive.

My maternal grandfather, who was an extensive Roscommon cattleman, deplored the compulsory tillage scheme introduced in 1940.

But it wouldn’t have helped that it was a Fianna Fáil scheme, the same party that instigated the 1930s Economic War with England, which decimated the Irish cattle industry.

Co Meath was very much cattle country in those days

On the other hand, my paternal grandfather had a more benevolent approach but he was a grazing man at heart. Co Meath was very much cattle country in those days.

However, his Offaly brother-in-law was delighted with the scheme, being a true tillage man who went on to build a very large farming business, kickstarted by the compulsory tillage order.

Likewise, say Minister McConalogue decreed that we increase our sheep numbers, with guaranteed prices.

I’d rather a spell in Mountjoy than chase after those woolly escape artists

It might have sheep columnist Brian Nicholson running around Kilkenny, in a green Ireland shirt, crazy with excitement, waving his shepherd’s crook with all the zeal of a modern-day St Patrick.

Me? I’d rather a spell in Mountjoy than chase after those woolly escape artists. However, personally, it would be more pleasing if it was Government policy to increase suckler numbers rather than anything else. More livelihoods would be sustained in the Irish countryside rather than tinkering with tillage.

The wheat price was guaranteed but while the acreage trebled, yields dropped due to reduced availability of fertilisers. Sound familiar?

The 1940s compulsory tillage scheme was, nonetheless, a success. The wheat acreage trebled by 1945 and the total area under tillage crops doubled.

Its goals were very different to today in that it was chiefly about increasing wheat production to the point where 50% of the nation’s flour needs were met. The wheat price was guaranteed but while the acreage trebled, yields dropped due to reduced availability of fertilisers. Sound familiar?

But, today, it is more about reducing our dependency on imported animal feeds, much of which comes from Ukraine.

A whole chicken for €3.50? It’s an insult to the poor chicken, never mind the producer

Grass is our cheapest form of protein and it is right for emphasis on its production for milk and beef. But this does nothing for our be-leaguered and feed-intensive pig and poultry sectors.

A national (and Brussels) interventionist policy to place minimum supermarket prices on these meats would do more than upping native grain production. A whole chicken for €3.50? It’s an insult to the poor chicken, never mind the producer.

It is also worth reminding ourselves at this time that we do not produce any of our flour needs now which is foolish from a food security point of view. As we saw at the outset of the pandemic, bread (after toilet paper) was the first item to empty from the supermarket shelves.

With modern milling techniques and state-of-the-art wheat production systems, we should be growing a significant percentage of our national wheat grist. If they could do it in the 1940s surely, we can do it today.

Discerning tastes

However, nowadays, tastes are far more discerning. A big hunk of grey and mouldy Irish wholemeal bread might have satisfied a 1940s family but it’s a far cry from today’s delightful Cuisine de France bread rolls.

Nationally, we need to lift the tillage area from 7% to 10% to produce more of our own needs

Perhaps we can say that there is, once again, a greater appreciation of the importance of the Irish tillage industry. But the supermarkets are slowly strangling our field-scale vegetable producers.

Nationally, we need to lift the tillage area from 7% to 10% to produce more of our own needs. The Government has helped with schemes such as the protein payment for beans and the straw incorporation measure.

A milling wheat scheme should be next.