Google Ballymaloe Litfest and the tagline reads: “A food and drinks literary festival”. Automatically you expect to find chefs discussing their cookbooks, international food journalists, wine masters and a craft brewer or two.

However, Litfest digs deeper – quite literally. The source of food, our farmers are at the heart of this festival, and our responsibility as cooks to producers is central throughout the Litfest Symposium.

Enter on stage Severine Von Tscharner Flemin, executive director of Greenhorns in the United States. Her name might be a mouthful – but her message is simple: supporting young farmers in America to build a career and livelihood in farming.

“Over the past 10 years, we have been celebrating, documenting and supporting new farmers in the US. We do this in various ways, but the premise is all about connecting individuals.

“This could be through conferences, festivals, workshops, newsletters, blogs. Our reach is varied and sometimes unconventional, and at Litfest, I will be speaking about how we are supporting bright young people who are trying to make a living in the real world.”

Although farming in the States varies massively to Ireland – with differences in production and farm sizes just scratching the surface – Severine says that at the heart of the discussion, there are many similarities.

No matter what country you live in, the big question is how best to make a living from farming. “Access to land, access to skillsets, developing best practises, and learning from enterprise models that work in the real world are all essential elements in farm viability and preparing professionally to succeed. It’s asking, how are you as a young person entering the sector to succeed?”

Similarly to Ireland, access to land is a huge issue across the board. “If you are trying to continue a family business or get into it, the extreme cost of land is working against you.

We can celebrate the good stories, provide good tactics, look at successful approaches, best practises and good business skills – but ultimately, the public has to get on board to support farmers for the future of quality food,” she explains.

Severine won’t be simply flying straight in from the States, informing attendants of her work and flying right out again. When Irish Country Living spoke to her in the run-up to Litfest, she was working in Scotland. Before she hits the grounds of Ballymaloe, she is taking a tour of Ireland, to meet young farmers, understand the work they are doing, gather insights on their concerns and aspirations and the issues they face.

“I have a jam-packed schedule meeting a conventional dairy farmer, an organic dairy farmer, people from the Slow Food movement, Nuffield scholars and even some seaweed producers. I will be coming in, giving an outside observer perspective at Litfest – but by meeting these producers, it gives me a better understanding of the situation on the ground in Ireland.”

She concludes: “Many of those attending Litfest are taste makers, chefs, foodies, people who write cookbooks. We all have “a mutual interest in knowing each other’s trade and craft, about how food comes to look and taste on the plate.”

The Farmer’s Life discussion at Litfest will take place on 20 May at 5pm. The panel includes Severine von Tscharner-Fleming (Greenhorns, New York), Alice Holden (Dagenham Farm, London) and Paddy Frankel (Kilbrack Farm, Cork). Tickets are priced at €16.

>> Favourite five

1Litfest Symposium

Although there are talks taking place right across the weekend, the Litfest Symposium is not to be missed. Taking place in the Grainstore and designed to spark imagination, generate discussion and prompt action, the focus is on the question of our responsibility – as cooks and eaters. The beauty of the symposium is that even if some of your favourite speakers are booked out, you can still catch them there throughout the weekend. Speakers include EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Vytenis Andriukaitis; Brian McGinn, executive producer and director of the Emmy-winning Netflix documentary series Chef’s Table on Netflix.

2Cocktails: locality to mindfulness

Imagine a cocktail bar with no perishables: no ice, no citrus or even fresh fruit. That’s how the multi award-winning White Lyan cocktail bar in East London operates. Ally Kelsey of White Lyan will be joined by Cork-based Andy Ferreira of cocktail bar Cask, who places a big emphasis on farm-to-glass cocktails and, whenever possible, uses locally foraged ingredients. Such a concoction of personalities will no doubt lead to a fascinating talk, with the two bartenders exploring the trend in the bar industry towards minimal or no waste.

3Farm of Ideas with Christian Puglisi

Litfest inspires – and living proof is that Christian Puglisi, who founded his own farm on the back of Litfest a few years ago. Christian Puglisi is one of the most admired and respected chefs in Copenhagen, with his restaurant Relae listed in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants. He will discuss the decision behind the farm that now supplies his restaurants and the impact it is having on their working lives.

4Sunil Ghai, Pickle Restaurant, Cookery Demonstration

One of the hottest chefs in Dublin right now, Sunil Ghai has changed many people’s perception of Indian food in Ireland. At Litfest, he will share some of his sensational dishes. We can already smell the cardamom and cumin from this cookery demo that will allow attendants to experience a bold and contemporary form of cooking.

5Natural Wine: an introduction to organic and biodynamic wines

France’s only female Master of Wine, Isabelle Legeron, and the founder of Raw Wine, the UK’s largest artisan wine fair, shares her thoughts on natural wine. Old-school but cutting-edge wines, her talk is a taster for the Natural Wine Dinner, which takes places on Saturday evening in Ballymaloe House.

Litfest line-up

Litfest runs from 19 to 21 May and tickets are still available for talks and demos. Access to the Fringe Festival line-up is €5 for adults and kids under 12 go free. Tickets for the half-day symposium sessions in The Grainstore are priced at €50 each or €90 for a full day, and a two-day weekend ticket costs €170. www.litfest.ie.