The honesty of one farmer cut through a lot of the hot air in Dublin Castle last week at the Department of Agriculture’s climate conference.
This honesty and transparency from a farmer that has made numerous changes to how they operate speaks volumes. That same farmer – John Walsh – hosted an open evening this week and not for the first time.
This isn’t a farmer shouting from the sidelines about difficulties in transition while doing nothing.
This is a farmer that is trying to use one of the more traditional “solutions” to reduce greenhouse gases – growing clover on a farm of good land in south Tipperary. He spoke of the challenge that effectively rules out large swathes of the country from growing clover – inadequate soil fertility.
To cut a long story short, he said that you can’t start the clover project unless soil fertility is top notch. We’ve known the clover science for over 50 years and still to this day for some farmers, it can go terribly wrong.
The move this year to spreading more bag nitrogen is a clear farmer reaction to not producing enough homegrown feed and is an effort to replace purchased, often imported, feed.
Onus
There is an onus on all advisers, Department officials and farm consultants to protect livelihoods while implementing change. The challenge that Climate Change Advisory Council chair Marie Donnelly talked about is also their responsibility – moving from 100 farmers doing it to it becoming the norm across farms.
Slow boat to China for windblown timber
Did anyone ever expect to see timber grown in Cavan exported to China? Don’t let a crisis go to waste is one side of the story, but akin to the cattle trade at the moment where live exporters are keeping everyone honest, the same is now becoming a reality on the timber front.
Farmers, mainly private forests that have seen a lot of trees blown down, need a solution before the timber dries out.
The honesty of one farmer cut through a lot of the hot air in Dublin Castle last week at the Department of Agriculture’s climate conference.
This honesty and transparency from a farmer that has made numerous changes to how they operate speaks volumes. That same farmer – John Walsh – hosted an open evening this week and not for the first time.
This isn’t a farmer shouting from the sidelines about difficulties in transition while doing nothing.
This is a farmer that is trying to use one of the more traditional “solutions” to reduce greenhouse gases – growing clover on a farm of good land in south Tipperary. He spoke of the challenge that effectively rules out large swathes of the country from growing clover – inadequate soil fertility.
To cut a long story short, he said that you can’t start the clover project unless soil fertility is top notch. We’ve known the clover science for over 50 years and still to this day for some farmers, it can go terribly wrong.
The move this year to spreading more bag nitrogen is a clear farmer reaction to not producing enough homegrown feed and is an effort to replace purchased, often imported, feed.
Onus
There is an onus on all advisers, Department officials and farm consultants to protect livelihoods while implementing change. The challenge that Climate Change Advisory Council chair Marie Donnelly talked about is also their responsibility – moving from 100 farmers doing it to it becoming the norm across farms.
Slow boat to China for windblown timber
Did anyone ever expect to see timber grown in Cavan exported to China? Don’t let a crisis go to waste is one side of the story, but akin to the cattle trade at the moment where live exporters are keeping everyone honest, the same is now becoming a reality on the timber front.
Farmers, mainly private forests that have seen a lot of trees blown down, need a solution before the timber dries out.
SHARING OPTIONS