The complete lack of joined-up thinking from our politicians and the leap of faith that some of them want farmers to make are clearly evident when we distil the messages from the energy event held in Gurteen this week.

Promises from Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan that farmers need to get a price premium for food they produce when they farm soils in a sustainable manner sounds great, but what does this really mean? Where are the examples of where this is happening?

Minister Ryan called out Kerrygold as the example of where butter is getting a premium over other butter – so is he now suggesting a premium on top of a premium is achievable?

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Are we saying that the system of grassland farming that predominates in Ireland and has been scientifically shown to be beneficial to managing soil nutrients and carbon stocks needs to be changed?

Every other country in the world is jealous of our food production system and the positioning of our island that allows us take the advantages of the Gulf Stream, with adequate rainfall to grow grass and no exceptionally high temperatures.

Of course the minister is right – sustainable healthy soils are paramount, but we need proven Irish science to back up new theories on how we can make soils better and be crystal clear on how to achieve this before pointing farmers in the wrong direction. Soil is the biggest and best asset most farmers have.

Rising to the challenge

The minister is right – farmers will rise to the challenge of improving soils and farmers can be part of the solution. However, promises of money from the EU for managing soil carbon stocks once EU regulation is enacted in a number of years is hard to bank when you have family commitments and loans to meet.

The cheque that comes in today for food produced on the farm today and pays today’s bills far exceeds the importance of a promise that one day the EU might pay farmers for improving carbon storage in soils.

The minister called out the proposed investment announced last week by Diageo in a new brewery in Kildare as another positive example for the cereal sector. The reality is Diageo is making no commitment to Irish grain farmers, no commitment to taking local product and is not committing to rewarding farmers with any premium.

Re-wetting land

The minister called out partial re-wetting so that grazing was also possible on the land as an opportunity for farmers to further improve carbon storage. For farmers that have been incentivised to drain land for years and years to make it more productive, again this will take some time to change. Re-wetting may well have some part to play in parts of Ireland, but we need a lot more hard science to back this up before flooding thousands of acres of land. In fairness, when we listen to Teagasc boss Frank O’Mara he says science is just now being measured and significant investment in carbon flux towers to measure the annual change in carbon stocks on peatlands, some of which have been re-wetted, is ongoing.

Minister Ryan was strongly stating that CAP payments were going to turn green and the next CAP would be even more green, because the EU was burning so our continent needs to shift how it produces food. Irish farmers should be up for the challenge of creating alternative income streams from on-farm generated energy. Given where the price of energy has gone, no doubt repayment time frames have shortened.

Exporting energy

However, as we heard at the solar workshop in Gurteen, we still need regulation on equipment quality, streamlined planning, clear legal rights and we need to ensure connection to the grid is possible to allow farmers export any energy not consumed on the farm to be sold elsewhere. Also, if a farmer obtaining TAMS funding prevents them exporting energy off the farm, surely it is time to revisit this if we are in the midst of a global energy crisis.

Also, why can’t the emission offset created by a farmer for generating energy on farm be discounted from gross emissions generated by livestock on farm? The minister can work on this immediately. One step forward, two steps back comes to mind.

This week's cartoon

\ Jim Cogan

Suckler and sheep vision starting to clear

Based on the organic payment rate announced this week, the average suckler and sheep farmer could draw down over €25,000 per year through a combination of this new organic payment, existing BPS (average) and an ACRES payment (€5,000). To get that, a minimum stocking rate of 0.15LU/ha is necessary. This situation couldn’t be further from the thoughts of the 400 dairy farmers at the Irish Grassland Association tour on Tuesday to discuss land leasing, second units, nitrate derogations and labour shortages.

The clouds are clearing on what ambition our Department has for the different sectors.