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CURED CRAFT EAR TO THE GROUND WINTER 2017

IRELAND’S TAKE ON CHARCUTERIE

NEIGHBOURS BALLITORE’S QUAKERS

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Dilemma

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RELIEF FOR IRELAND’S MILKERS

INVASIVE SPECIES // ANIMAL WELFARE // FARMING CHALLENGES // TILLAGE FUTURE // KERRY GREENWAY // CROP SCIENCE // TECHNOLOGY // WORKLIFE BALANCE // PIG FARMING // POITÍN // FOOD // MOTORING

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WELCOME

EDITOR: Conor Forrest DEPUTY EDITOR: Joseph O’Connor EDITORIAL STAFF: Orla Connolly, Tiernan Cannon, Ellen Flynn MANAGING EDITOR: Mary Connaughton CONTRIBUTORS: Valerie Jordan, Aisling Meehan, Dean Van Nguyen, Joe Finegan, Orla Ní Sheagdha CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Jane Matthews DESIGN: Alan McArthur PHOTOGRAPHY: iStock, Photocall Ireland, Finbarr O’Rourke, Jane Matthews, Urban Farm, Verticrop, Evaun Carmody, Gubbeen Smokehouse, IFA, IOFGA, Pat FitzGerald, Second Nature Oils INFOGRAPHICS: Flaticon PRODUCTION EXECUTIVE: Nicole Ennis PRODUCTION MANAGER: Mary Connaughton SALES DIRECTOR: Paul Clemenson MANAGING DIRECTOR: Gerry Tynan CHAIRMAN: Diarmaid Lennon Ashville Media Group, Park West Road, Park West Industrial Estate, D12 X9F9 Tel: (01) 432 2200 All rights reserved. Every care has been taken to ensure that the information contained in this magazine is accurate. The publishers cannot, however, accept responsibility for errors or omissions. Reproduction by any means in whole or in part without the permission of the publisher is prohibited. © Ashville Media Group 2017.

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CURED CRAFT EAR TO THE GROUND WINTER 2017

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IRELAND’S TAKE ON CHARCUTERIE

NEIGHBOURS

BALLITORE’S QUAKERS

THE

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RELIEF FOR IRELAND’S MILKERS

Dilemma

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Hello...

Welcome to our winter issue of Ear to the Ground magazine, coinciding with the 25th series of Ear to the Ground to hit your television screens.

In the wake of a tumultuous 2017 and with Ireland’s agricultural sector looking forward to an uncertain 2018, we reflect on how Irish farmers have fared over the past 12 months and examine the challenges the industry faces in the months and years ahead. In particular, we look at the opportunities and risks for the tillage, mushroom and pig farming sectors, including those posed by Brexit, CAP renegotiations, and the perennial issue of prices.

But there are plenty of positives too, as Ireland’s on-farm entrepreneurs work hard to grow their businesses, expand their horizons, and add value to their operations and local communities.

From charcuterie and gluten-free porridge to cheese and shorthorn cow icecream, as well as a new food trail aiming to boost the reputation of North Cork, we profile several small food producers making waves.

Ireland’s dairy sector has seen quite a bit of expansion in the last year or two, as farmers build up their herds and invest in modern infrastructure in the wake of the abolishment of the EU milk quotas. But there are challenges too, with many farmers in dire need of farm workers as they extend their operations. In our cover story, we take a look behind the scenes of a programme that seeks to retrain people to work as relief milkers, many of whom have no farming experience. Speaking with the programme’s organisers, students who have taken part in the project, as well as Ear to the Ground presenter Helen Carroll, we investigate whether it’s a realistic option to help meet these labour demands.

As in all walks of life, technology is changing the face of farming across the globe, from remote monitoring of calving animals to tractors powered by methane. With arable land at a premium and the world’s population growing, Tiernan Cannon takes a look at the concept of urban agriculture and whether it represents the future of farming.

Elsewhere in the magazine, we examine how farmers can improve their work-life balance, the species of Irish wildlife that find themselves on the brink, and how a new greenway in Kerry is dividing opinions. We also delve into the world of the Quakers, a group known for their simplicity in speech and faith, and how they made a lasting impact on the village of Ballitore in Co Kildare. And, in our regular lifestyle section, we have the latest on books, recipes, Irish poitín and some fabulous new drives.

At Independent Pictures, and on behalf of our colleagues at RTÉ, we hope you enjoy the magazine and continue to tune in to the show.

Liam Lavelle

Executive Producer Independent Pictures

INVASIVE SPECIES // ANIMAL WELFARE // FARMING CHALLENGES // TILLAGE FUTURE //KERRY GREENWAY // CROP SCIENCE // TECHNOLOGY // WORK-LIFE BALANCE // PIG FARMING // POITIN // FOOD // MOTORING

ON THE COVER: Helen Carroll PHOTOGRAPHY: Robbie Reynolds

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CONTENTS

Contents 32

41

IRELAND’S TILLAGE FUTURE A new report examines the prospects for Irish tillage.

42

SPOTLIGHT ON SMALL BUSINESS We catch up with a range of small Irish food producers.

49

SWEET SUCCESS The production of sweet potatoes in Europe has been pioneered in Co Kilkenny.

53

THE ONLY WAY IS UP Could urban agriculture be the future of farming?

59

SOMETHING IN THE WATER? We examine the potential impact of agriculture on our water bodies.

64

CURED CRAFT Irish charcuterie has opened an exciting new chapter.

69

INVADING THE NATION Ireland’s environment is under siege.

74

FARM FENCING Options for land management.

77

ON THE BUTTER TRAIL The Old Butter Roads Food Trail aims to promote North Cork as a premier food destination.

84

THE GREEN ROAD The South Kerry Greenway is proving to be quite divisive in the Kingdom.

88

A TASTE OF ACHILL The Calveys have been sheep farming on Achill for seven generations.

93

A FAIR DEAL Aisling Meehan of Agricultural Solicitors examines the intricacies of the Fair Deal Nursing Home Scheme for Ireland’s farmers.

THE DAIRY DILEMMA

FEATURES

77

05

12

THE OLD BUTTER ROADS

INDUSTRY REVIEW We take a look sector by sector to see how Irish farmers have fared in the last 12 months.

BREXIT AND MUSHROOMS Dean Van Nguyen investigates the ongoing Brexit impact on Ireland’s mushroom industry.

14

A BREAK FROM THE NORM Should more farmers be growing oilseed rape?

18

THE PULL OF PORK Irish pig farming is on the move once more.

21

THE CHALLENGES AHEAD Ear to the Ground looks at the major challenges facing farmers in 2018.

26

29

32

38

FINDING YOUR FEET IN FORESTRY The benefits of forestry are undeniable, but farmers should investigate all of the angles.

BATTLING BOVINE TB The Department of Agriculture has run a Bovine TB vaccine trial among the badger population.

THE DAIRY DILEMMA With Ireland’s dairy sector in need of more hands on deck, Conor Forrest takes a look behind the scenes of a programme that is retraining people to work as relief milkers.

A SAFETY NET FOR TILLAGE A crop insurance scheme could be one way of providing security to tillage farmers.

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CONTENTS

FEATURES 96

A CENTURY OF FORD Conor Forrest discovers more about Ford’s impact on the Irish landscape, and some of the iconic agricultural vehicles it has produced over the years.

102 CHAMPIONING SUSTAINABILITY The Fertilizer Association of Ireland (FAI) is celebrating 50 years in 2018.

109 RACING NATION Irish horse breeding and racing are the most prominent of any racing nation. Joe Finegan reports.

115 A VOICE FOR IRISH FARMERS The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association has been championing the cause of its members for 25 years.

122 AGRICULTURE’S TECH REVOLUTION Ear to the Ground highlights some of the latest technological innovations for farmers across the globe.

126 STRIKING A BALANCE Órla Ni Sheagdha discusses how taking a step back every now and then could improve both your farm and your mental health.

128 FRIENDS AND NEIGHBOURS – BALLITORE’S QUAKERS For some 250 years, a community of Quakers called the village of Ballitore home, their industries and businesses providing employment and a hive of activity within the Griese Valley.

64

CURED CRAFT

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A TASTE OF ACHILL

LIFESTYLE 136 THE POITIN PRODUCERS Once an illegal drink brewed in secret, poitin is enjoying an Irish renaissance.

141 WILDLIFE ON THE BRINK Orla Connolly reports on two of our most vulnerable species.

144 BOOKS 147 RECIPES 152 MOTORING 160 DOWN ON THE FARM Conor Forrest caught up with Monaghan GAA and Australian Rules footballer Darren Hughes, who spoke about life on a busy dairy farm.

136

THE POITIN PRODUCERS

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19/12/2017 15/11/2017 11:17 10:36

INDUSTRY

Industry Review HAS 2017 BEEN A POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE YEAR FOR IRISH FARMERS? WE TAKE A LOOK SECTOR BY SECTOR TO SEE HOW THEY HAVE FARED IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS. Low prices in some sectors, high input costs, inclement weather conditions and a shortage of fodder – 2017 hasn’t been the best of years for many of Ireland’s farmers. Add to that the continuing challenges posed by Brexit, the shadow of CAP renegotiations looming on the horizon, labour issues and further deaths on Irish farms, and the challenges continue to stack up. So how has 2017 been for each of our farming sectors?

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INDUSTRY

Dairy The last year has been a strong period for Irish milk producers, with increased turnover allowing farmers to catch up with financial commitments and shortages in cash flow. Milk prices have been strong, never dropping below 30c per litre, boosted by demand for butter. “If they didn’t make money this year, they’ll never make money,” says Ear to the Ground presenter and dairy farmer Darragh McCullough. “It’s been a great year for dairy farmers, especially the guys that were brave enough and tough enough to expand during the low milk price years.”

Though the first half of the year saw excellent grass grazing conditions across the country, wet weather in the latter part of 2017 has meant that some dairy farmers have had to house their herds for the winter early, with a potential fodder shortage in spring 2018, particularly west of the Shannon. Labour shortages also continue to

Poultry

pose a problem for dairy enterprises expanding their herds in the absence of EU milk quotas.

On a broader note, Ireland’s dairy industry also needs to choose its strategy before further expansion. Speaking at the Irish Farmers Journal Dairy Day in Punchestown last November, a one-day event launched in 2017 and aimed at showcasing the positive aspects of the dairy industry and discussing and developing solutions to the challenges facing Ireland’s dairy farmers, experts noted that the sector should choose whether the extra three billion litres of milk anticipated over the next decade should be focused on ‘low-cost commodities’ or ‘high-value products’.

Speaking at the same event, European Commissioner for Agriculture, Phil Hogan, described the sector as being at a “critical juncture” and that it needs to manage the issue of overproduction.

A lot of farmers are getting into poultry production, primarily younger farmers looking for an additional income or other factors. The last 12 months have been quite positive for the sector, with continued expansion within broilers, broiler breeders, pullets, ducks as well as free range and organic egg production – eggs are considered a superfood now.

“We are in a position within Ireland because of our status that we are exporting eggs out to the likes of the United Arab Emirates and countries like that in the Middle East where they’re not price sensitive, but they are willing to pay the extra margins to buy the highest quality they can get,” says Nigel Renaghan, IFA Poultry Chair, who also notes the benefit of fast food outlets (specifically Supermacs) making the commitment to buy 100 per cent Irish poultry meat, paying more for a local, fresh product.

The major challenge for poultry farmers in 2017 was avian influenza, though Ireland has coped with it well. “We were the only country in Europe to have avian influenza in the wild bird population but not to have it in the commercial sector,” says Reneghan. “I was calling on the Department of Agriculture last year to put the birds in. They listened.”

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Tillage

“As I have been saying consistently over the past two years – rather than rely on the Commission to act, the industry needs to manage the problem of overproduction,” he said. “From our side, the Commission will support this by giving producers better tools to cope with market fluctuations.

The Commission is serious about making these changes for the benefit of farmers. And we are already delivering.”

Dr Judith Bryans, President of the International Dairy Federation, is positive about the industry’s global outlook, noting at the recent IDF World Dairy Summit in Belfast that the global dairy community is one billion strong and feeds some 6 billion consumers. “We believe in dairy.

We have a strong story to tell in terms of nutrition and also the progress we are making environmentally,” she said. “No sector is perfect and there is always room for improvement but we have a vision, we have our goals and we will spare no effort in achieving them.”

Sheep Though concerns have been raised by Teagasc over the viability of some Irish sheep farms, in the latter part of 2017 sheep farmers were in a stronger selling position thanks to a reduction in lamb supplies in factories, with lamb prices reaching as high as €5.10/ kg at the end of November. The announcement from Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed that 85 per cent advance payments (€10 per ewe) under the new Sheep Welfare Scheme would commence on time was widely welcomed, with around 20,000 farmers receiving approximately €16m. Year two of the scheme will be opening and sheep farmers are encouraged to apply.

Minister Creed also highlighted the issue of traceability with regards to exports to new markets, warning that it would have to be revisited should we seek to supply to countries such as Japan.

This year saw the longest harvest on record, running over a five-month period rather than six to seven weeks – the growing season was exceptional weather-wise but things turned from the end of June. Straw was still on the ground in the middle of November, and a lot was lost too, adding to difficulties. Yields were surprisingly good in some places, particularly spring crops, but IFA Grain Chair Liam Dunne describes winter barley as “disappointing” and winter wheat as “mediocre”. Expectations weren’t high for spring barley, our biggest crop, but some of it enjoyed exceptionally good yields.

Malting barley quality was good, but prices were poor. A decrease in fertiliser prices meant that some farmers may have had more in their pocket after the harvest than expected.

“There’s been support coming from the trade for Irish grain,” says Dunne. “The merchants, in particular, made a serious effort to put out a good price. Prices ran from – for the majority of merchants – €140 to €146 per tonne in some cases.”

One of the major challenges facing into 2018 is the sowing of winter crops, with between 70 and 75 per cent sown by the middle of November. Some is down to drop off – Liam notes that farmers will be growing fewer cereals in 2018, instead moving towards the likes of maize, sugar beet or oilseed rape – though weather and ground conditions are also playing a part. Tonnage produced has dropped by 500,000 and there are fears it could drop by the same amount again over the next two years.

Other concerns include the uncertain future of glyphosate in the years ahead, despite its recent license renewal for a period of five years, and the potential introduction of tractor testing, due to be negotiated with a variety of stakeholders including the IFA. Dunne also notes that there is a little more interest in TAMS at the moment as some farmers look at investing, particularly in machinery, in order to remain in the game.

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INDUSTRY

SPOTLIGHT BEEF

Thanks to strong demand towards the end of 2017, beef prices rose to €3.90/kg for steers and around €4/kg on heifers, with farmers advised to demand full value. A nine year-high for the weekly cattle kill was reached in mid-November and demand has been predicted to remain strong into early 2018.

Among the concerns of Ireland’s beef farmers at present is the impact of falling numbers of suckler cows; fodder prices that have in some cases doubled since the harvest, particularly in the northwest of Ireland and the Border counties; issues surrounding the sector’s role in climate change; and the impending Mercosur deal that would see reduced tariffs for certain products from South American countries, with the potential to drastically harm Ireland’s beef industry, particularly with Brexit on the horizon.

Other markets are being explored, such as South Korea, which already imports Irish pigmeat.

Pigs

Hill Farming

The IFA’s Pigs Chair Thomas Hogan describes the last twelve months as “one of the better years” for pig farmers, with more positive margins available. Several hundred pig producers produced close to four million pigs in 2017, with exports in 2016 of around €700 million.

The average factory price in December stood around €1.50 to €1.52/kg. Hogan forecasts a ‘sluggish’ forecast for the first quarter of 2018, noting that traditionally January and February are not as positive, though the market for Irish pigmeat in China should continue to provide a welcome boost.

“One of the biggest challenges we’re facing is our feed costs are probably higher than Europe because we’re an island nation and the costs of imports are higher...”

Hogan notes.

According to Colm O’Donnell, national president of the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA), 2017 got off to a bad start with no GLAS payment received by most hill farmers for the 2016 scheme – many had to wait until late spring to receive the initial 85 per cent advance. “This was solely due to internal technical IT issues inside in DAFM offices that hopefully won’t happen this year,” he notes.

Weather conditions were a major challenge throughout the year.

Very wet months in January and February left ground conditions “unfavourable” for the controlled burning of mature vegetation – hill farmers couldn’t carry out burning before the deadline of the last day of February.

“For hill farmers to properly manage these upland areas there needs to be a derogation available whereby they can burn off the mature vegetation during the month of March when ground conditions are improving to carry out a controlled burn. Unless this happens, the threat of wildfires is inevitable and beyond the control of the landowner who is at risk of becoming the innocent victim,” says O’Donnell. “The continued rainfall over the summer and autumn has left many hill farmers facing into the winter with not enough fodder for their livestock. Many were unable to cut their first and only crop of hay or silage and those that did for the most part got silage bales which are being referred to as ‘lucky bags’. A fodder aid package for affected farmers will need to be put in

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INDUSTRY

SPOTLIGHT

ORGANIC

place by the Minister for Agriculture to help alleviate an imminent crisis.”

O’Donnell describes market returns for hill lamb as unfavourable, with prices for stores “completely on the floor”. The only positive he notes are ongoing trials by the INHFA that are exploring the possibility of re-establishing the market for Mediterranean light lamb, with key stakeholders including An Bord Bia, Kepak, Teagasc and the INHFA. “September saw the first official letters issued by Minister Heather Humphries (NPWS) to farmers with designations on their lands (SAC) informing them that their lands are now official European Sites and listing all the restrictions that the landowner must comply with going forward.

This burden on the title of these lands must be acknowledged by the State who is responsible for designating the lands,” he adds. “While the review of the Areas of Natural Constraint scheme (ANC) is being deferred for at least one year, Minister Creed announced an additional €25 million for the 2018 ANC Scheme which must be targeted at the lands with the highest level of natural constraint. The mountain sheep grazing (MSG) area must see the funding targeted at this category to address the current imbalance in the methodology used to calculate the level of payments for the various land types. Finally, with GLAS due to be paid out in late November/December we hope the hill farmers in commonages won’t be discriminated against where DAFM IT systems are still unable to carry out their function efficiently.”

The global organic sector has seen continued growth over the last year – sales are approximately €70 billion with the US and the EU the two strongest markets. “Ireland also witnessed unprecedented growth with an increase of 23 per cent in sales of organic food recorded, compared with 3 per cent in the regular grocery category. This makes Ireland the second fastest growing organic market globally, albeit starting from a relatively low baseline,” says Gillian Westbrook, CEO of the Irish Organic Farmers and Growers Association (IOFGA). “At the time of going to press, figures are being collated for direct sales of organic produce as a relatively high percentage of organic farmers sell directly to customers.

Consumer confidence in the sector is growing as more organic goods become available through a variety of retail channels. The methods by which organic food is produced appeal to consumers, and complements the overall interest in ‘health and well-being’ which is driving sales in the sector.”

As a result of rising global sales, supply chains are coming under increased pressure and more farmers are being called on to convert to organic production. “In Ireland, we need to build on the current level of production in a sustainable manner and farmers must be supported in their decision to convert to organic farming,” says Westbrook.

“Brexit poses significant challenges to Ireland in terms of agricultural production, but we must not ignore the opportunities available to farmers in a growing organic market in Ireland and especially in Europe.”

Sean and Orla Clancy from Clanwood farm, cooking organic meat for IOFGA at Food on the Edge.

EAR TO THE GROUND 9

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ADVERTISING FEATURE

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10 EAR TO THE GROUND

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21/12/2017 11/12/2017 09:02 10/10/2017 09:55 10:16

MUSHROOM FARMERS

At Great Risk: &

Mushroom

Farmers AS BRITAIN AND THE EUROPEAN UNION CONTINUE TO SQUARE OFF IN BREXIT TALKS, DEAN VAN NGUYEN DISCOVERED THE ONGOING IMPACT ON IRELAND’S MUSHROOM INDUSTRY.

Britain’s Brexit talks with the European Union are well underway, with Ireland playing a key role in the negotiations.

The drama was recently ratcheted up regarding the Ireland-UK border, with significant progress made on avoiding a hard border. But while the Brexit conundrum still feels very much like something that has yet to play out, nobody really knows how this thing will progress, least of all, it seems, Britain’s Tory government.

Among those who have already felt the squeeze on this island is the mushroom industry – some 52 per cent of all the mushrooms eaten in the UK are produced in Ireland. It’s a pivotal market for Irish mushroom farmers, who were hit by the weak Sterling after Britain’s shock decision to leave the EU in June 2016.

“That took us back into a loss-making situation for a short period of time,” says Gerry Reilly, farmer and Mushroom Chair with the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA). “We’re a high volume, low margin business.”

“The guys who are supplying there had to compensate for their prices dropping up to 20 per cent,” adds Leslie Codd from Codd Mushrooms, a business he established with his brother Raymond back in the 1980s; one that has avoided the British market through a primarily domestic focus. “Now, there’s not a 20 per cent margin in this game, not anything like it. So they were certainly under pressure to be able to keep afloat in that period of time.”

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MUSHROOM FARMERS

Reilly believes that around eight farmers have already been forced out of business since the Brexit vote. “The fact [is] they weren’t able to hold on during the period and just closed down,” he says. “We employ in Ireland nearly 3,000 people in mushrooms. 40 per cent of our cost is labour. We feel it’s a terrible thing to let more jobs go.”

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS What exactly a post-Brexit Britain will look like has yet to come across with any clarity. If the UK does leave the EU (Codd isn’t convinced it will happen and, if it does, it might be as “soft” a Brexit as possible), mushrooms entering the country from Ireland may be subject to a tariff. Then there’s the potential of extra haulage costs, with time delays and taxes another possibility.

“It looks to me as though Ireland is faring out worse than anybody, because our only home for mushrooms is the UK and Ireland,” says Codd.

“It doesn’t bode that well.”

So what’s the industry to do?

According to Reilly, the best option is to batten down the hatches. “We have tightened our belts big time in the mushroom industry,” he asserts.

“From the government, we would like to think there’s some sort of support mechanism in extreme circumstances where something happens outside of our control, sudden changes in the Sterling or whatever, we’d like to be included in some sort of package where there’d be emerging funds.”

From the British consumer’s perspective, the price of Irish mushrooms could rise, reducing its competitiveness with British producers.

Reilly suggests the only reason it has yet to shoot up is that some supermarkets are currently absorbing a certain amount of the loss and hoping that Sterling and Brexit sort themselves out.

Regardless, he believes that the quality of Irish mushrooms won’t be affected.

“Quality won’t suffer, we’re still the best at producing high quality because we’re next door to England,” he says. “For example, the mushrooms are still growing on my farm at this moment. You’re talking to me here at 11 o’clock in the day. They will leave my farm as late as 6 o’clock this evening and they’ll be in the shops tomorrow morning in Manchester, Birmingham, all over England.”

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“IT’S A PIVOTAL MARKET FOR IRISH MUSHROOM FARMERS, WHO WERE HIT BY THE WEAK STERLING AFTER BRITAIN’S SHOCK DECISION TO LEAVE THE EU IN JUNE 2016.“ LIMITED OPTIONS Will a high-quality product be enough to convince British buyers to opt for Irish mushrooms? If Britain is pondering reducing Ireland’s reach, their own options appear limited. They could increase operations, albeit without EU grant aid. The industry is also reliant on immigrant labour, which raises more questions given the strong antiimmigration platform the pro-Brexit side ran on. Still, Codd foresees an appetite among British consumers to buy British.

Last June, it was reported that he had inked a deal to form a joint venture to redevelop an existing site near Liverpool.

“It was a move that we were contemplating for some time since the production costs are lower in the UK in relation to compost and transport especially. So Brexit just galvanised that thought-process,” Codd told the Irish Independent at the time.

At the very least, Ireland shouldn’t face stiff competition from producers across Europe. To buy mushrooms in other European countries – say, the Netherlands or Poland – the UK will experience most of the same problems as potentially buying from Ireland: the exchange rate, tariffs etc. Plus, the extra distance means longer travel times, which compromises the quality of the product.

Not only is it an unattractive proposition for British stores, it’s not great business for the growers themselves.

“If I was a Polish grower – and Poland is the biggest opposition to us – I’d think to myself, ‘The UK isn’t really a good market for the future.

Exchange rates could be very bad and there could be a hard border, all sorts of things out there that would put me under pressure’. I’d be looking for my markets in Germany and France or wherever across Europe,” says Reilly.

“As a result, that’s most likely going to cause less people trying to supply the UK, so they’ll be more forced to buy more Irish than anywhere else.”

On the flip side, there’s little chance Ireland could look to European markets to replace a drop-off in demand from our nearest neighbour. “I don’t think there’s any mushrooms exported to mainland Europe,” says Codd. “They’re too expensive. I don’t think Ireland can export anywhere past the UK because of time and too [much expense]. Irish mushrooms would be dear in comparison to Polish and Dutch mushrooms. And then if you add on transport and you take into account they’re going to be at least a day older by the time they get to their marketplace, it’s an unattractive option.”

For all farmers across all sectors, these are scary times as we enter uncharted territory. The reliance of Ireland’s mushroom industry on Britain is a clear crystallisation of the potential cataclysm we’re staring at when the EU’s membership does officially reduce by one. But despite taking some hits, Reilly is confident that Ireland and the UK’s relationship – and the mushroom industry here as a whole – will overcome any Brexit issues and emerge on the other side.

“The first thing is we tighten our own ship,” he says, echoing the sentiment of ‘hope for the best, plan for the worst’.

“We get our own house in order. Every company exporting to the UK should be very, very conscious of making themselves very efficient at the moment and ready for the worst.”

21/12/2017 13:45

TILLAGE

A Break The Norm: From

Oilseed

Rape

ELLEN FLYNN EXPLORES THE OPTION TO FARMERS OF GROWING OILSEED RAPE, AND LOOKS AT THE OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES THAT COME WITH IT.

14 EAR TO THE GROUND

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TILLAGE

Drumeen farm.

Oilseed rape flower.

Well-suited to Ireland’s climate, the popularity of oilseed rape has grown dramatically in over the past few years.

That’s partially due to the increased consumption of rapeseed oil – which has become a staple in Irish households since the mid-2000s – but also its use by farmers as a break crop for rotation systems or animal feed. One benefit to the crop is time.

With planting and harvesting occurring outside of the usual busy periods, it gives growers a workload that can be spread across the year, although the yield will vary.

“Most of the rapeseed that’s grown is used in poultry rations and used in things like cold pressing, and some I think are being used as a coating for fertiliser,” explains John Spink, head of crop research at Teagasc.

There are other options. Prices for rapeseed oil, for example, are currently at a premium – so are growers missing out on a profitable opportunity?

Kilkenny farmer Ben Colchester is one of a number who have recognised the potential of oilseed rape beyond crop rotation. Based at Drumeen farm in Urlingford, his operation was originally a dairy and pigs enterprise before the

Kitty Colchester.

opportunity to expand came knocking.

“In 1990 we were able to get extra land, so we expanded the farm,” he explains. “And we had a lot of different enterprises, including doing turkeys for [the] Christmas trade, and chickens...

We needed protein for the cattle and the sheep, but mainly the turkey and chickens.

So we grew the oilseed rape because of rapemeal, the product from it.”

Rapemeal, which Ben uses to feed his poultry, is made up of about 35 per cent crude protein, almost as much as imported soya bean, which makes it an excellent feed source. As a cereal grower, Ben also remarks that oilseed rape is “fantastic” for the land, providing it with a chance to regain nutrients before the next cereal crop is sown and helping to prevent disease from carrying over. Existing machinery can be used to harvest the crop, while the alternate planting and harvesting time allows him some much-needed wiggle room.

But there were other opportunities to be had beyond soil rejuvenation or animal feed. Ben installed oil presses in 2006 and, by 2008, his daughter Kitty was selling her first batch of rapeseed oil at

WINTER OILSEED RAPE FACTSHEET FAMILY: BRASSICA PREFERRED SOIL: MEDIUM TO HEAVY, FREE DRAINING SOWING TIME: MID-AUGUST TO MID-SEPTEMBER, LOCATION DEPENDING SOW DEPTH: 1.5CM POTENTIAL PESTS: SLUGS, FLEA BEETLE, APHIDS AND PIGEONS HARVESTING: END OF JULY TO EARLY AUGUST Via Teagasc EAR TO THE GROUND 15

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TILLAGE

The Second Nature Oils range.

the farmers’ markets, humble beginnings for what would become Second Nature Oils. Quickly moving on from the market stalls, Kitty now ships her oil to stockists across the country, earning an award for the first ever organic, extra-virgin Irish rapeseed oil in the meantime.

Kitty’s success is the result of hard work and good timing – she explains how rapeseed oil has only grown in popularity as a consumable product in recent years. “[It] wasn’t really heard of in Ireland, there was a little bit of French rapeseed oil in some of the health food stores. But there was no Irish rapeseed oil,” she tells me. Perhaps that spurt in popularity has something to do with consumer awareness – while rapeseed oil may not have been readily available as a standalone bottled product on the shelves before its renaissance, it was almost certainly in everyday products we consumed. “Not as widespread as palm oil, but it is in a lot of things,” Kitty adds.

“But we just haven’t really realised that in Ireland. And I just find that everything in Ireland is about ten years behind the UK and they were bang on with rapeseed oil when I started producing it ten years ago.”

INVESTMENT Despite some interest in the promise of rapeseed oil, there are hurdles. A shortcoming in national infrastructure means that farmers have to export the yield from the oilseed rape that they cannot use as feed or fertiliser coating to presses in the UK. Although it’s a good way to use the product, it does

“A SHORTCOMING IN NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE MEANS THAT FARMERS HAVE TO EXPORT THE YIELD FROM THE OILSEED RAPE THAT THEY CANNOT USE AS FEED OR FERTILISER COATING TO PRESSES IN THE UK.” bring additional expenses. Given the success of businesses like Second Nature Oils, could or should something be done to expand our capabilities or attempt to grow or develop a market?

“It depends on the availability of the market for the crop. What we don’t have in Ireland is any sort of large-scale pressing facility and because of our relatively small tillage area, we couldn’t, I believe, put one in that would compete on [a] scale with the commodity oils like they would have in the UK,” John Spink explains. “In the UK, I think, there’s three main oilseed rape pressing facilities. Each of which would process rape from about a quarter of a million hectares, which is nearly our total tillage area at the minute. So, even if we were to put a pressing facility in, it would be significantly small and therefore wouldn’t compete on scale grounds.”

Perhaps for the moment, then, its best use is as a break crop as part of crop rotation methods, helping to fill the gaping void left by sugar beet.

But is it better than other options?

Not necessarily. “It wouldn’t be,” Ben admits. “I mean, if you have beans or peas, they’re legumes which rape

isn’t. But still, if you have continual cereals... it’s a fantastic break because it will stop disease carrying over.”

Without the market and the infrastructure, it doesn’t really make sense for growers to delve wholesale into the oilseed rape business at the moment.

But that’s not to say there’s no room for future developments. Teagasc is working on developing the market and how Irish farmers can better grow the crop, providing a growing base of information should it be required in the years ahead.

“We’re working on developing those markets, and we’ve got a project funded by the Department of Agriculture where we’re working in collaboration with Waterford Institute of Technology.

We’re looking at the agronomy of the crop and how can we grow it better,” John notes. “There’s some evidence in scientific literature that if the seed fills in hot dry conditions, you get higher levels of saturated fats, so what we’re looking to see is, if we can demonstrate that by growing it in a cold wet country, do you get lower levels of saturated fats and therefore healthier oils?”

Food for thought.

16 EAR TO THE GROUND

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MAKING

BVD HISTORY 28/11/2017 11:13 19/12/2017 29/11/2017 11:19 14:01

The Pull

PIG FARMING

PIG RESEARCH FACILITY

6,000 SQUARE METRES

200 SOW HERD

5,500 PIGS PRODUCED ANNUALLY

T

of

JOE FINEGAN EXAMINES THE OPPORTUNITIES ON THE HORIZON FOR IRELAND’S PIG FARMERS.

Pork he investment of some €3.5 million to build Teagasc’s Pig Research Facility in Moorepark, Fermoy, Co Cork, which opened in May 2017, is a clear indication of the direction in which the pig industry is expected to move. Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed cut the ribbon on the 6,000 square metre building and said at the time: “Pig production is the third largest economic contributor to Gross Agricultural Output (GAO) in Ireland, after milk and beef. It accounts for around 6 per cent of Gross Agricultural

Output and the value of Irish pig meat exports in 2016 was €615 million.”

Let’s take a peek at some figures that matter when it comes to the value of pigs to Ireland. There are over 1.5 million pigs in the country, helping to directly employ approximately 1,300 people and indirectly 8,300 (through mills and feed production etc.). There are close to 320 pig farmers in Ireland, who exported approximately €615m worth of pig products in 2016.

After a tough couple of years following the recession, pig farming is on the move

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PIG FARMING

again, and 2018 should see that trend continue, according to Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) Pig Committee Chair Tom Hogan. “2015 was a disaster for the pig industry really,” he says.

“Last year [2016] saw us break even somewhat on a general level. There is lots of debt around in the industry after some overextension on machinery and plant investments during the lean years.

And although pig processors could have afforded to have paid more per kilo of pig [in 2017], in fairness, it’s been one of the better recent years.

“Production costs [were] higher [in 2017] with a trend being that no basic maintenance was completed on farms over the past couple of years.

However, production has increased over the past year. Pig production tends to be quite efficient, but then again, it has to be because margins are tight, as they are in every industry.”

At the time of writing, the price per kilo of pig has dropped to €1.48-€1.50; the long-term trend is seeing the price slip. Hogan, who sells some 12,000 pigs per year from his own farm, says that feed costs are higher in Ireland than on mainland Europe, and can account for up to 70 per cent of a pig farmer’s expenditure. “The bigger outfits are milling their own feeds, but smaller farmers like myself have to buy in compound feed,” he explains. “It’s a big investment for farmers to install milling facilities. Some small outfits that have fattening facilities may have ceased rearing and selling pigs due to the recession, but they still utilise their facilities to draw an income.”

OPPORTUNITY ABROAD The industry’s positive outlook is driven in part by expanding opportunities abroad.

Take China, for example. While the amount of pork sent to China towards the end of 2017 was relatively small, mainly due to the Asian nation completing much of its business early in the year, the market continues to grow stronger.

“I’d expect them to do the same in 2018,” says Hogan, who has been a farmer for nearly 40 years. “The last quarter of 2016 was strong and that was confirmed this year, which continues to be strong.

Even without the exports to China, 2017 was finishing strong and I’m optimistic that will continue into the New Year.”

Work is being done behind the scenes to increase the industry’s export potential. In 2016, Minister Creed made

“BREEDING IN IRELAND HAS IMPROVED IMMENSELY. THE GENE POOL IS BETTER NOW, AND THAT’S DUE TO THE QUALITY OF THE FEED TOO.“ a trip to Mexico in an attempt to forge stronger trade links. Currently, over €50m worth of agricultural products is shipped to the Central American nation every year, and if the countries can negotiate the finer technical details of exporting meat that figure will rise, with pork representing a significant portion. Promoting excellence in breeding also plays a big part, says Hogan.

“Breeding in Ireland has improved immensely. The gene pool is better now, and that’s due to the quality of the feed too,” he says. “Companies like Elite Sire Ltd., Glenmarshal Sires and Hermitage PIC Genetics are doing great work. Teagasc put a programme in place five years ago and that’s definitely helped too. Their benchmarking policies have also contributed to an increase in performance over the past few years.”

That’s not to say there won’t be challenges in the years ahead. Regardless of the industry, the impact of Brexit is always on the horizon. It has been suggested in the media that local pig trade over the border will be left alone. The reasoning is that it is trade on a very local level – from a village on one side of the border to its counterpart on the other – and it will not affect the EU in general. Time will tell, however.

“Whatever about Brexit, one of the challenges of the pig farmer is finding staff,” says Hogan. “The economy is performing better now, but a few years ago all we could hire were Eastern Europeans. The social hours of a pig farm worker are considerably better than a regular farm worker. Normal hours are roughly 8.30am to 5pm.

Technology advances allow for a low workload at weekends so staffing on Saturdays and Sundays tends to be very flexible. There is a general shortage of agricultural staff anyway. It could be down to pay, but farmer’s margins are quite tight. The Teagasc training programme has certainly helped increase the standard of agricultural worker in this country, but it’s still quite difficult to find the staff to fully man your farm.”

IRELAND’S PIG INDUSTRY

1.5M

PIGS IN IRELAND

1,300

EMPLOYED DIRECTLY

8,300

EMPLOYED INDIRECTLY

320

PIG FARMERS

€615M EXPORTS IN 2016

MARKET VALUE

L

ive pigs weigh, on average, around 110kg. When slaughtered, a pig carcase will weigh around 76 per cent of its live weight – roughly 82kg. Pigs at market fetched around €1.50 per kg in late 2017.

EAR TO THE GROUND 19

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FARM CHALLENGES

The Challenges Ahead FARMING IS A DIFFICULT OCCUPATION IN THE MODERN ERA, WITH IRELAND’S CUSTODIANS OF THE LAND FACED WITH MYRIAD ISSUES RANGING FROM BAD WEATHER CONDITIONS AND POOR YIELDS TO LOW PRICES FOR LIVESTOCK OR CROPS AND ISSUES IN ACCESSING SUFFICIENT FODDER SUPPLIES. SO WHAT ARE THE MAIN CHALLENGES FACING FARMERS IN IRELAND IN 2018?

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FARM CHALLENGES

ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE BREXIT

T

here are probably few people left in the western world who haven’t heard of Brexit – it’s on the lips of every politician, newscaster and pundit across the continent. Described as “the biggest seismic change in the political and financial landscape in our lifetime” by Arla Foods UK MD Tomas Pietrangeli, speaking at the 2017 International Dairy Federation (IDF) summit in Belfast, Brexit could cost Ireland’s agri-food sector a substantial €5.5 billion in the event of a hard Brexit according to a recent report prepared for the European Parliament, impacting Irish farmers across the board, some of whom have already born the brunt of currency fluctuations and uncertainty in the markets.

“As the EU Parliament report demonstrates, Ireland’s agri-food sector and economy are uniquely exposed if a solution is not found during Brexit negotiations to avoid the introduction of WTO tariffs,” said IFA President Joe Healy. “That is why Ireland must have as its top priority no such disruption to our trade flows with the UK and why we must urge negotiators to pursue the retention of the UK in the Customs Union, or a trading arrangement that would a have similar effect. While recognising the sequencing of the discussions, there is a need for progress on discussing the future trading relationship and transitional arrangements.”

It hasn’t grabbed the headlines as much of late compared to Brexit, but the risks posed by antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – where medicines become ineffective and infections become more persistent in the presence of ‘superbugs’ that are immune to treatments – are increasing across the globe. The World Health Organisation has made a plea to farmers worldwide to stop misusing antibiotics for the purposes of promoting growth or preventing disease in healthy animals in a bid to preserve their effectiveness.

The Irish Government has introduced Ireland’s National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (iNAP) 20172020, which contains a number of strategic interventions and activities such as enhanced surveillance of antibiotic resistance and use, reducing the spread of infection and disease, and the promotion of research and investment in new medicines, diagnostic tools and vaccines.

“AMR is everyone’s problem and one that cannot be solved unless we all work together to find solutions. In the area of agriculture, solutions need to focus on optimising animal health, thereby reducing the need to use antibiotics in the first place and ensuring that when antibiotics are used, that they are used in accordance with prudent use guidelines,” said Minister Michael Creed at the launch of the action plan.

However, Bert Stewart, the IFA’s Animal Health Chair, has counselled caution. “The use of antibiotics on farms is already heavily regulated, with products only available under veterinary prescription. Farmers have shown themselves to be responsible end users of all veterinary medicines, including antibiotics.

Antibiotic resistance is complex and can occur naturally, however scientific evidence increasingly recognises that the problem of resistance in humans comes largely from the misuse of antibiotics by humans rather than through animal medicine,” he stated.

SPOTLIGHT:

GLYPHOSATE

T

he long-term future of glyphosate, which is used to kill weeds and grasses that compete with crops and is commonly sold as Roundup, is uncertain at present, even though the chemical’s licence was recently renewed for a further five-year period in Europe, despite a petition signed by 1.3 million EU citizens.

The European Parliament has backed a complete ban on glyphosate for agricultural use by the end of 2022.

The chemical has come under fire amid claims that it is a carcinogenic substance, although the European Food Safety Authority concluded in 2015 that it is “unlikely to pose a carcinogenic hazard to humans”, while Irish farmers have argued that it makes the growth of winter cereals possible.

“Not that people are worried about whether it’s safe or not... there is no question in farmers’ minds about [the] safety of glyphosate, they’ve been using it for 40 years and they know it’s one of the safest products that’s in the book,” says the IFA’s Liam Dunne.

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FARM CHALLENGES

CLIMATE TARGETS

I

reland’s agriculture sector is under pressure given the recent news that the country will miss EU climate targets by a ‘substantial margin’. Speaking to the Citizens Assembly in November, Alan Matthews, Professor Emeritus of European Agricultural Policy at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), suggested increased carbon taxes on farming as a method of reducing emissions.

The Assembly voted in favour of a tax on greenhouse gas emissions from Irish farms, which will form part of a report consisting of 13 recommendations on climate change, due to be finalised in the new year and presented to Government. Irish agriculture is responsible for one-third of greenhouse gas emissions according to Teagasc, but Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed referred to a potential green tax as a ‘knee-jerk’ measure, and the move appears to have already been ruled out by Government. IFA President Joe Healy also took a dim view of the proposal.

“IFA and farmers are conscious of the need to play our part in addressing climate change but a second carbon tax would be the wrong approach,” he said. “Agriculture already has significant initiatives in place and agricultural emissions have fallen by 6 per cent since 1990 while our output has increased by over 40 per cent. However, transport’s greenhouse gas emissions are now out of control, having increased by 130 per cent over the same period.”

FODDER SHORTAGE

SPOTLIGHT:

WORKFORCE Speaking in the Dáil last November, Sinn Féin spokesperson for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Kenny raised the issue of fodder shortages across the country, particularly in the North-West and along the western seaboard, warning of a potential fodder crisis towards the end of 2017 and into 2018. The western part of the country has suffered heavier rainfall than the east since the summer, with wet conditions disrupting farmers’ preparations for the winter months.

“Farmers are in a terrible situation. Last weekend, I saw farmers trying to make silage in pools of water in my constituency. That is happening throughout the country. I know of farmers who made silage in early June but were unable to get a second cut and now the first cut is half gone,” he stated. “We need a backup scheme that gives farmers confidence that if they get into difficulty they will receive aid to get them over the winter.”

In his response, Minister Michael Creed acknowledged the deterioration of grazing grounds and the need to keep cattle indoors in parts of the country and said that he had asked Teagasc to monitor the situation on the ground. The Minister has since put a Fodder Action Group in place in response to concerns in a number of counties, with the first meeting held in Sligo in early December. The Group includes Department, IFA, Teagasc, marts and co-operative representatives. Suggestions coming from the IFA to help tackle the shortage include a transport subsidy and animal feed vouchers.

“Fodder levels are chronically low due to the atrocious weather conditions experienced in the border counties during the autumn months,” said Hugh Farrell, Cavan Chair with the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA). “It is imperative we get to grips with the situation now.”

A

report published by Teagasc in June 2017 highlighted the lack of depth in Ireland’s agricultural workforce, particularly in relation to dairy farming. The sector has undergone dramatic change in recent years with the average herd size increasing to 76 cows in 2016 while dairy farmer numbers remain relatively the same. Teagasc estimates that some 6,000 people will be required over the next nine years.

“The dairy industry needs to rethink its attitude to career pathways, training and accreditation while maintaining an integrated model of formal and informal training, including farm placement,” said one of the report’s authors, Paidi Kelly.

“We need collective industry action to focus on making dairy farming a better career for everyone in the sector, for both farmers and employees. This will help attract more people.”

For more about one effort to increase the labour pool for dairy farmers, check out our cover story on page 32.

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FARM CHALLENGES

SPOT LIGHT: CAP REFORM

C

AP Reform is once again on the agenda, though the reforms will come into effect from 2020 as a result of factors including Brexit and the conclusion of the current EU Commission’s term in 2019. In October, Agriland reported on leaked documents pertaining to the impending reform, which indicated that caps could be introduced on direct payments under Pillar 1, reduced from €150,000 to between €60,000 and €100,000. A greater funding emphasis could also be placed on those people who “rely on farming for a living”, as well as small farmers and environmental projects.

Addressing the International Dairy Federation Summit last October, EU Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan noted the EU’s intention to simplify and modernise CAP, and highlighted the need to invest more in education, training and knowledge transfer.

“This will strengthen the entrepreneurial capacity of EU farmers, streamline dairy businesses and reduce the workload from both a physical and administrative point of view. And – crucially it will also enhance the sector’s ability to produce in a sustainable and climate-friendly way,” he stated.

FARM SAFETY Farming remains the most hazardous occupation in Ireland, with 21 people killed in farm accidents to the month of November, three times the rate of the second most dangerous profession, construction. Speaking at the National Conference on Farm Safety and Health in November 2017, the Health and Safety Authority’s Tom Coughlan described the number of deaths as being at ‘crisis level’.

“Farmers know the dangers really that are on the farm, but I suppose a lot of it has got to do with behavioural changes,” says Maura Canning, who chairs the IFA’s Farm Family & Social Affairs Committee and notes that incidents involving heights and quads are a major concern at present.

“It is a huge challenge for the agricultural ccording to the Irish Cattle & sector to achieve behaviour change in the Sheep Farmers’ Association’s area of farm safety... Behaviour is the huge crime survey, rural crime may one. It’s just really to make them stop and be a bigger issue than people think before they do the job.” realise, noting that approximately The IFA is among a number of 45 per cent of agricultural crime stakeholders working to promote safety goes unreported. This happens for on the farm, including proposals involving a variety of reasons, such as a lack incentives in relation to farm safety and of faith in the gardaí or Ireland’s TAMS II, visits to primary and secondary criminal justice system. schools, presentations at marts, shows “We need the local garda to and the Ploughing Championships, as well know the people, to know what’s as farm safety walks and presentations to going on and to be living close to local groups. The organisation is currently the rural community,” said ICSA working on a health and safety pack for rural development chair Seamus distribution via IFA branches to make the Sherlock, who noted that there farm a safer place for all. are many people in rural areas Maura also links farm safety with other who are afraid in their own homes. issues such as crime and mental health – for “This is not necessarily about garda example, if a break-in happens at night a stations; it is about every citizen farmer could be feeling stressed and under in rural Ireland knowing their local pressure the following day, increasing the guard and having a sense that the likelihood of an incident. gardaí are never far away.”

SPOTLIGHT: RURAL CRIME

A

24 EAR TO THE GROUND

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FORESTRY

The benefits of forestry are broad and undeniable. Among other things, advocates point to the positive impact the creation and management of forests has on the environment through biodiversity and providing a sustainable energy source.

They cite the economic benefits, too, of transforming land that may prove difficult for farming into an alternative source of income. It’s a compelling argument.

Yet, forestry has become a controversial issue. In June of 2016 more than 200 farmers voiced opposition to the surge of afforestation in Leitrim, while the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) voiced fears that entire parishes could be decimated by foreign investors buying up land. “If forestry is allowed to continue like this, it’s going to wipe out rural communities in Leitrim and other counties with disadvantaged land,” said the IFA’s Adrian Leddy at the time. “Not alone will the farmers be wiped out but we will lose local villages, schools and post offices, the whole fabric of rural Ireland will be destroyed.”

This was a fairly barbed statement.

Speaking to Ear to the Ground, Geraldine O’Sullivan, IFA Forestry Executive, adds: “Farmers’ interest in forestry as a land use has waned significantly. Land prices are strong for greenfield sites for investment.

So there are farmers that are trying to sell sites. It is a benefit [to them] but there is a limited amount of land available.”

The IFA has recently published a five-point plan to responsibly revitalise farm forestry with a focus on delivering a long-term sustainable forestry sector that maximises the benefits to rural communities. They include the compensation of all land that farmers are obligated to set aside for environmental enhancement, and the reduction of red tape in the Forest Road Scheme, which requires planning permission for new forest road entrances.

Teagasc is also keen to promote forestry as an activity that could help local farmers who are considering the venture. “Rather than forestry being a threat to farming, I actually think that forestry is a complementary activity – an alternative enterprise – that’ll make rural communities stronger and assist farmers at a farm level to continue farming,” says Steven Meyen, Teagasc’s Forestry Development Officer in the North West.

Meyen believes that land proving tricky to farm on can best be utilised through forestry – a particularly appealing notion to some farmers trying to harness the potential of less than stellar farmland. “You don’t have to

“TEAGASC IS ALSO KEEN TO PROMOTE FORESTRY AS AN ACTIVITY THAT COULD HELP LOCAL FARMERS WHO ARE CONSIDERING THE VENTURE.“ farm those difficult areas any more but you can focus instead on the better parts of the farm. That will improve farm profitability and, therefore, it means that your farm becomes more viable for all kinds of reasons… you’re not putting all your eggs in one basket,” Meyen advises.

“As the farmer is farming, those trees are growing, and when that farmer is thinking about either handing over the farm to sons or daughters, or indeed taking it a bit easier, I would expect that forest will be nearing maturity and that will buy an excellent pension fund.”

This sentiment echoes the words of IFA Farm Forestry Chair Pat Collins, who recently encouraged farmers to consider integrating forestry into their farm enterprise. In a statement, Collins said that tree planting can offer potential benefits to livestock enterprises and create a valuable source of capital for the future. “By taking poorer ground out of agriculture, it is possible to get your farm to work more efficiently, maintain stocking level and reduce management problems associated with farming on poorer ground,” he noted.

Sweetening the deal, the Department of Agriculture’s Afforestation Scheme provides grant aid that covers the cost of establishment, in most instances, and a premium payment for up to 15 years.

The minimum area grant-aided for a conifer plantation is 1 hectare, while the minimum broadleaf area is 0.1 hectares.

POTENTIAL Despite the concerns, Meyen explains that Ireland actually has the lowest forest coverage in the whole of Europe: 10.5 per cent. The average around the continent is 42 per cent. And the potential for forestry here is enormous – Ireland is one of the easiest parts of the world to grow trees.

“We have the best tree growth rate in the whole of Europe for the simple

reason that we don’t have extreme temperatures – not too cold, not too warm, pretty moist most of the time, no extreme temperatures – and therefore our growing season is long… we are extremely good at growing trees and therefore trees that we can grow in Ireland over 30, 40, 50 years will take people in Scandinavia 120, 130 years.

That’s clearly an advantage,” says Meyen.

When it comes to long-term challenges to forestry, Brexit – of course – brings potential issues. Ireland exports 90 per cent of its saw log and 70 per cent of its overall products to the UK. The issue of a hard border, too, could affect the movement of material. But the IFA is confident the demand for timber will ensure that any potential Brexit-related pitfalls will be overcome.

“We’re blessed [in 2017] that, although initially afterwards timber prices did decrease, they have increased recently,” says O’Sullivan. “There was definitely with the Sterling at the start and the concerns of it, definitely caused a little dip in prices, but that has resolved itself. The demand is very strong and prices have increased.”

So while there are challenges, forestry can yield huge benefits for those who examine all of the angles and can make a long-term pledge to the project. As Meyen states, it’s all about people making informed decisions.

“I think that having a forest and having more forest is a positive thing for all kinds of reasons,” he says. “However, it’s really important that you do your homework and weigh up the advantages and disadvantages… when you have weighed up all those different things, that you can make an informed decision. If you do it like that, I believe that forestry will work really well for you and will be very positive both for the farm as well [as] for the greater environment.”

EAR TO THE GROUND 27

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ANIMAL WELFARE

Battling

TIERNAN CANNON SPEAKS WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE’S HEAD OF WILDLIFE, JAMES O’KEEFFE, TO LEARN MORE ABOUT A BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS VACCINE TRIAL CURRENTLY BEING ADMINISTERED TO IRISH BADGERS.

TB

Bovine

EAR TO THE GROUND 29

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ANIMAL WELFARE

As many Irish farmers have discovered over the years, bovine tuberculosis can have a devastating impact on cattle herds. In 1954, when 80 per cent of herds and 17 per cent of animals were infected with the disease, Ireland was forced to implement a ‘test and slaughter’ programme that sought to wipe out the disease once and for all.

The early years of the programme seemingly resulted in rapid progress towards eradication, and in 1965 the country was provisionally declared as bovine TB-free, based on the assumption that the early trends would continue.

This expected eradication did not materialise, however, and between 1965 and 1985 no effective improvement occurred. The dramatic programme of ‘test and slaughter’ had failed to wipe out bovine TB in Irish herds, and so it became clear that a wildlife component was complicating matters.

During the 1980s, badgers were identified as a prominent host for bovine tuberculosis in Ireland, and they remain so to this day. According to a report by Preventive Veterinary Medicine, an international journal for scientific reports on animal health programmes and preventive veterinary medicine, the prevalence of bovine TB in badgers in endemic areas in Ireland is approximately 18 per cent, though these figures are difficult to confirm precisely.

VACCINATION So what’s being done today? Given that badgers tend not to respect fences and property lines, Irish cattle are particularly at risk to the disease by coming into contact with infected creatures. Farmers can take precautions to limit its spread, but ultimately eradication within cattle depends on its eradication within the badger population. It’s a notion recognised by the National Bovine Tuberculosis eradication programme, which seeks to control the spread of TB by culling some 6,000 badgers per year.

Badgers, however, are a species protected under the various Wildlife Acts and so more sustainable methods are required.

One such method is a TB vaccination trial, organised over a four-year period which concluded at the end of December 2017. The trial has seen badgers administered with the Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination in the hope of limiting the disease in cattle herds without adversely impacting badger populations. And while it’s hoped that the success of the vaccine will lessen the need for badger culling, as James

BADGER WATCH Apart from spreading bovine tuberculosis, badgers as a species do little harm to farms in Ireland. They are effective pest controllers, reducing rodent numbers and destroying wasp nests. They have no natural predator here – humans are the main cause of badger deaths.

O’Keeffe – Head of Wildlife at the Department of Agriculture – explains, it won’t eliminate the practice entirely.

“Currently we cull, on average, 6,000 badgers. In the vaccination trials we are doing, we’re vaccinating 1,000 badgers.

In an ideal world, if vaccination proves successful, we’d hope for a situation where we could be vaccinating 6,000 badgers and maybe culling a thousand or less,” he says. “Culling 6,000 badgers is not sustainable in the long run, so we can’t be doing it in ten years’ time. What these trials are doing is quantifying to what degree we can substitute vaccination for the current culling programme.

If the analysis comes out well, you’d hope that in five years time you’d have a certain amount of the previous culling zones turned over to vaccine.”

As part of the trial, badgers are captured using cable restraints and then anaesthetised with ketamine hydrochloride and medetomidine. Next, they are vaccinated intra-muscularly with the BCG vaccine, blood sampled, and then permanently tattooed – the latter allows for estimates of badger population size, movement and survival rates. One would be forgiven for thinking that this process would prove to be significantly more expensive than the act of badger culling, but O’Keeffe points out that, in reality, the expenses work out virtually the same.

“Basically, whether you cull or whether you vaccinate, you have to catch the badger. So that’s the major cost. We spend around €3 million at the moment to catch the badgers. So one would spend that whether you were culling or whether you were vaccinating,” he explains. “If you cull you have to move the animal to a pathology lab to get it assessed. You also

have to get it disposed of as ‘Specified Risk Material’, which are all costs.

Whereas, when you vaccinate them, you have the cost of the vaccine – which is about €8 – and then you can release the badger. So there are certain costs that you can save. It’s pretty much cost neutral.”

FUTURE HOPES At the time of writing, the results of the trial are still unclear. O’Keeffe explains that they are closing down the data stages of the trial at the end of December 2017, and will be analysing the data in early 2018. The hope is that the vaccine will achieve a verifiable reduction in the transmission of bovine TB to the general badger population and, by extension, to cattle herds.

A reduction in susceptibility against infection would have both a direct and an indirect effect on Ireland’s badgers, in that vaccinated individuals are less likely to become infected (direct effect) and so non-vaccinated badgers are less likely to become infected in that they are surrounded by these less susceptible vaccinated individuals (indirect effect).

Of course, the data will need to be analysed in order to see the true impact of the vaccine and whether or not it can be appropriately rolled out nationwide.

“Obviously we can’t say until the trial is analysed to what degree it will be expanded – that’s a decision that has to be taken,” explains O’Keeffe. “But from my perspective, vaccination won’t be replacing culling – the potential of it is that it could be used as a substitute for a large part of the current culling programme, because the culling programme is not sustainable in the long run. We have to bring in some change within the next ten years.”

30 EAR TO THE GROUND

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19/12/2017 12/10/2017 11:27 09:37

COVER STORY

The

Dairy Dilemma 32 EAR TO THE GROUND

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COVER STORY

In IRELAND’S DAIRY SECTOR IS IN DIRE NEED OF A LARGER WORKFORCE AS FARMERS EXPAND THEIR OPERATIONS. ONE PROGRAMME IS RETRAINING PEOPLE TO WORK AS RELIEF MILKERS, MANY OF WHOM HAVE NO PREVIOUS FARMING EXPERIENCE. BUT IS IT A REALISTIC OPTION? CONOR FORREST DIGS A LITTLE DEEPER.

2017, Teagasc reported that Ireland’s dairy industry needs around 6,000 people over the next nine years – 2,000 new entrants and 4,000 to replace those who retire or leave the business. The sector has experienced quite a lot of expansion of late thanks to the abolishment of EU milk quotas, with many farmers increasing their dairy herds and investing in infrastructure and machinery to take advantage. But new challenges are arising as a result, including the need to find workers to man the milking machines. For some, it’s not the most attractive of propositions – dairy farming in particular is quite intensive, different to other farming enterprises in that you’re doing it twice a day, seven days a week.

“Really up until now, family labour has been the biggest source of labour on an awful lot of Irish farms,” says Ear to the Ground presenter Helen Carroll. “But that doesn’t cut it anymore because herds are so much bigger.

I suppose a lot of farmers have to almost put on management hats. It’s a completely different skillset to manage people and employ people while running a family farm.”

So what’s to be done? The solutions proposed from various sources are wideranging. There’s talk of milking visas for non-EU nationals, profit-sharing, or making milking a more viable career with room for progression up the ladder. So far, one solution has made it into the real world in the form of a four-week training course designed to retrain social welfare recipients and others to milk cows, many of whom don’t have any previous farming or dairy experience.

Piloted in Kilkenny and Waterford and supported by Farm Relief Services, Teagasc and the Department of Social Protection (among others, including the Southeast Regional Skills Forum), the programme offers people a chance to earn extra money in a job that offers real flexibility. Anyone is eligible, from full-time farmers who want

“I SUPPOSE A LOT OF FARMERS HAVE TO ALMOST PUT ON MANAGEMENT HATS. IT’S A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SKILLSET TO MANAGE PEOPLE AND EMPLOY PEOPLE WHILE RUNNING A FAMILY FARM.” EAR TO THE GROUND 33

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COVER STORY

to earn extra money and part-time workers to stay-at-home parents in search of a flexible working schedule.

The pay is quite attractive – relief milkers will earn €35 per hour for the first two hours of milking, €11 per hour after that, and 25 per cent extra on Sundays and bank holidays. General farm labourers can usually expect around €11 per hour for a day’s work.

With several pilot courses having successfully run in the South-East, the project has since been expanded across the country, having surmounted a number of challenges including the cost of delivering the programme (such as training fees for farmers and payment for the operators), enlisting farmers with suitable operations, and ensuring that the students were turning up every morning. It’s not too soon by any means.

“From a Farm Relief Services point of view, and this is important to remember, we never had as many people working,” explains Philip Kenny, who manages

the Farm Relief Services district for Kilkenny and Carlow. “The thing is, demand is growing the whole time and trying to keep up with the extra people [required] is the problem. Within Farm Relief nationwide – not only here and in Waterford – there was never as many people working in Farm Relief, and never as many milking cows. Now, we [provide for] all of the other farming [sectors] as well, it’s not only dairy farming, but it’s growing at a massive rate.”

LEARNING ON THE JOB The first step for people who are interested in relief milking is to apply to their local Farm Relief Service office.

Once the ‘T’s are crossed and the ‘I’s dotted, they can be placed on the next available course or, in some cases, receive training separately on a farm while they’re waiting for a spot to open up. Students on the course spend four days per week on the farm with a host farmer, learning the ropes on the job, and one day in Teagasc’s Kildalton College studying topics including the workings of a parlour, handling cattle, body score conditioning and more. At the end, students must complete an exam or assessment to see if they meet the required standards for relief milking.

“We were in Kildalton every Friday and that was great as well because you got to see what was best practice,” says former student and current dairy worker Jennifer Matthews. “They do it by the book, so it was nice to see that aspect of it, and the theoretical side.”

Jennifer grew up a mile outside Kilkenny city, the daughter of the managing director of a car distributor and a nurse, and began working with sheep farmers in her teens, rolling wool, and completing other on-farm tasks.

That sparked an interest in animal welfare and she went on to study animal health and welfare at Harper Adams University in England after school, planning to eventually work with the ISPCA or RSPCA as an animal welfare inspector. Once she got her degree she came home and began searching for work, but couldn’t find anything fulltime. A plan to move to New Zealand was thwarted by a job opportunity in Aberystwyth University in Wales, looking after its flock of 1,500 ewes and lecturing the undergraduate students in animal husbandry, followed by a move to Bristol Vet School where she worked as a lamb welfare researcher, gathering data from all over the UK. Then her father fell sick and she returned to Ireland, working remotely for the first six months before she had to give up her job and find something with the flexibility she needed to help care for him.

“I was looking at jobs in Kilkenny and relief milking came up time and time again,” she explains. “I was in with the career people in the social welfare office and they were going, ‘Oh, how about being a beautician’... the only thing that appealed to me on the list was HGV driver and I thought ‘right, relief milking, I may as well give cows a go’, even though [my background] was entirely [in sheep].”

Jennifer sent a CV to the Kilkenny Farm Relief Services office and got a call back the next day, securing a place on the second pilot course with seven other students. Despite not having experience on a dairy farm, her background within the sheep sector and on other farms undoubtedly helped her to acclimatise.

“I think it would have been a lot to take on if I wasn’t able to drive a quad already and hadn’t had some tractor experience. I was delighted that I actually had some kind of farming background myself,” she says. “My parents aren’t farmers, they think I’m entirely insane!”

The course was full on – Monday to Thursday from 6am to 6pm on the farm, and every Friday learning the theory in Kildalton. The work, she explains, was varied, from yard work and hosing machinery down to cleaning the yard, driving tractors and, of course, milking. But clearly she took to it like a duck to water.

34 EAR TO THE GROUND

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COVER STORY

Helen Carroll with James O’Brien.

“I THINK ONE FARMER SUMMED IT UP WHEN HE SAID HE DOESN’T CARE WHAT TRAINING AN OPERATOR HAS OR WHERE [THEY] COME FROM – IF [THEY’RE] WILLING AND [THEY’RE] INTERESTED HE’D BE GLAD TO HAVE THEM ON HIS FARM.” “I think it was day seven [James] left me for the first afternoon by myself – he was off to the Ploughing match,” says Jennifer with a laugh. “It was good. It is all about taking it in, being willing to learn and then being confident. It’s a job that isn’t going to take you a fierce number of hours, so you can really plan your day around it.

[People] could go off and milk in the morning and come back and drop the kids to school. It’s a good way to work, really, and the flexibility is invaluable for me with my current situation. I would recommend it to anyone.”

Others don’t have any farming background at all. Josh Phelan is a former apprentice mechanic from Kilkenny city who never worked on a farm or milked a cow in his life. Finding his old job monotonous, he sought out something with a little more variety.

“It wasn’t really too difficult to be honest,” he responds when I ask about the challenge of jumping into the dairy sector with no prior experience. “It was more interesting than anything else.

There was a lot of information to take in, especially when you’re only spending one day a week in college... I’d say

Helen Caroll and Philip Kenny.

the practical work was the hardest to get used to, the parlour and that, and trying not to make any mistakes!”

Both Jennifer and Josh worked on a Co Kilkenny dairy enterprise owned and run by James O’Brien, which increased from 70 cows to 120 in 2017 – James is keenly aware of the need for extra help.

“It’s to ease the workload and to have a bit of a lifestyle as well,” he explains.

“Also for your business, you need to have a bit of contingency there as well, because if something happens yourself, if you break a hand or something like that and you can’t milk, your farm business is very vulnerable if you’re not there.”

James first became involved with the pilot programme when his regular relief milker was away on holiday, and he was asked by the local office in Kilkenny whether he would be interested in training a few students. His approach was a patient one, taking Jennifer and Josh through the process stepby-step, doing it at their pace. A good relationship between relief worker and farmer is key, particularly during the learning phase, both in terms of ensuring they’re trained the right way and that the student isn’t put off by the work.

Evidently it worked – both Jennifer and Josh were able to milk on their own after a fortnight. “I definitely got the full experience and it was better that way. [I was thrown into the] deep end but if you have a patient farmer, which luckily I did, it is great,” says Jennifer.

“I got on with James well from the start,” Josh adds. “I suppose when it’s only two of you on the farm working away, it’s better if you get on than not get on! It just took a bit of getting used to but James was fairly patient, in fairness to him he’s a fairly good teacher.”

ONE WAY FORWARD While the initial response to the project’s announcement was mixed, farmers on the ground are welcoming any increase in the pool of labour from which they can draw – vital if they’re to make the most of the opportunities available to the sector.

“I think one farmer summed it up when he said he doesn’t care what training an operator has or where [they] come from – if [they’re] willing and [they’re] interested he’d be glad to have them on his farm,” says Philip Kenny. “There was a big hullabaloo EAR TO THE GROUND 35

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COVER STORY

Helen Carroll, Jennifer Matthews and Josh Phelan.

THE DAIRY ROUTINE Having completed the course, Josh has secured work on James’ farm for the next year, settling into a daily routine. “I come in for about 6 o’clock in the morning and I get the parlour ready and then I either go down and get the cows in the field or take them out of the shed and I bring them in, I milk them, and then they go down to the field for the day,” he says.

“And then I would scrape down the yard afterwards, clean down the parlour and then I’d line their cubicles, feed the bulls and then I feed the calves that he has there at the minute. And then I might put out a bit of silage for him.”

when this thing came out first and people saying [that those] on social welfare were getting this and that and the other thing. It was nothing further from the truth. It was just reported wrong at the beginning. But the long and the short of it is that nobody minds and this whole thing is a good story that there’s extra labour involved in farming, and it’s our job to try and train them and have them suitable for it.”

Since completing the course both Jennifer and Josh have secured work – Josh has at least a year full-time working with James, while Jennifer has worked on a number of farms in the intervening months, as a second milker and on her own, working on a rotary parlour milking 450 cows in an hour (which she describes as an “experience”) and helping another farm to catch up with their cattle database. But the lasting success of the programme will be determined by how many of these workers stay the course – as Helen Carroll says, whether they will still be working on farms in five years’ time.

Part of that will come down to whether the sector can be made more attractive – Farm Relief Services is working on securing year-round employment for relief workers rather than mainly during the peak period in springtime.

“I think it’s laudable, it’s definitely something that is badly needed, and everybody we spoke to was very positive about it. But it’s not going to fix the problem in itself,” says Helen. “There are other moves on to address the issue. Overall it is about how to make it an attractive career for somebody who doesn’t own a farm or hasn’t inherited a farm. That there are longterm prospects, whether it is eventually managing a big farm, or profit-sharing.

That will become more possible as dairy operations get bigger. But we’re at the very early stages of that at the moment.”

“I’m working with James here now at the moment, for the foreseeable future anyway,” says Josh Phelan.

“But sure as you know yourself, you don’t know what the future’s going to hold. We won’t say anything yet!”

36 EAR TO THE GROUND

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21/12/2017 06/11/2017 09:54 08:51 02/11/2017 09:46

CROP INSURANCE

A Safety Net for

Tillage

A CROP INSURANCE SCHEME COULD BE ONE WAY OF PROVIDING SECURITY FOR TILLAGE FARMERS, WRITES ÓRLA NI SHEAGDHA.

As Storm Ophelia raged through Ireland last October, leaving a path of devastation in her wake, she helped destroy any hope of a bountiful harvest for the autumn. The inclement weather that has swept the country in recent months resulted in a salvage operation for many tillage farmers as opposed to a harvest. In October, contractors across the country cut crops that were barely ripe in order to save the produce from being flattened by the ex-hurricane. This poorer yield could result in a huge loss of potential earnings for tillage farmers for 2017, particularly for cereal growers.

The cost of seed, fertiliser, sprays and machinery makes these crops expensive to grow, not to mention the farmer’s time and the contractor costs at harvest time. With weather conditions regularly impacting harvests, there is no denying that there needs to be a system in place to reduce the risk to the farmer in order to make such investment worthwhile.

There has been a lot of debate over the possibility of introducing a crop insurance scheme in Ireland to help protect tillage farmers. The basic principle behind such a scheme would entail growers paying a small fee for insurance cover on their crops in case

of weather-related losses incurred at harvest. There would also be an onus on other businesses who rely on the tillage sector for their livelihood to pay a contribution as well, for example seed and fertiliser merchants. Growers could then be compensated for losses during a bad year from resources accumulated in good years, alleviating the risk involved in cereal growing.

Implementing a crop insurance scheme could play a significant role in stabilising farm incomes. Spain currently has one of the most developed agricultural insurance policies in Europe, insuring over 5.85 million hectares countrywide.

Similar schemes also exist in the US and Japan. Back on home shores, Pat Farrell from the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) notes that speculation over an Irish crop insurance scheme has been sparked by the recent debates on the impact of climate change in the country. “It’s a very divisive issue,” he says. “There has been much debate, but so far there has been no research into the possibility of introducing such a scheme for Ireland.”

STABILISATION Currently, Ireland’s tillage farmers can use income-averaging to stabilise their

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CROP INSURANCE

incomes. Under this system, farmers can elect to be charged tax on the basis of the average of total farming profit and losses over a period of five years up to the year of assessment. Effectively, they pay tax on one-fifth of their profits each year. As farm incomes can fluctuate year-to-year, this provides farmers with a certain amount of financial stability.

Once an election for averaging is made, a farmer must remain on averaging for a minimum of five years. They are allowed to opt out of the regime for a single tax year and revert to normal basis, but any deferred tax from this step is payable over the subsequent four years.

The obvious advantage to income averaging is that farmers who elect to do so can avoid high tax liabilities for profitable periods. However, it also means that they still have a tax liability for years in which they incur losses and they miss out on any loss relief which they would otherwise have been entitled to in subsequent years. The option to opt out of income averaging during particularly poor income years was a measure negotiated by the IFA for Budget 2017, in light of poor harvests in 2016.

Those who chose to exercise this option were further aided by the support

fund that was implemented by the government last summer. In July 2017, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, announced the introduction of a targeted crop loss support measure to assist farmers most affected by wet weather conditions during the September 2016 harvest.

The fund totalled €1.5 million and was available to commercial cereal growers who had lost more than 30 per cent of their harvest in 2016. Payments were capped at €10,500 for growers who had lost in excess of 50 per cent of their crops for the relevant year. For those who had lost between 30-50 per cent of produce this was capped at €7,000 and losses were only covered for off-farm sales and incidental onfarm use of less than 20 per cent.

While the current measures offer tillage farmers a way of regularising their income, they still fall short. The income averaging method only takes into account profits and losses for the years of assessment when calculating the tax charge. There is no compensation for loss of potential earnings due to adverse weather conditions. In fact, tillage farmers often lose out during loss-making years using this method.

This is steadily on the increase in the tillage sector thanks to bad harvests.

The implementation of a crop insurance scheme in Ireland could potentially help to address this issue, though more work is required on how it would operate within the confines of Irish agriculture. While some farmers may already take out private insurance on their crops, premiums are more than likely high given the risk involved for insurers. A subsidised scheme with participation in large numbers from both insurers and farmers across the country could help to reduce premiums and alleviate the risks for all involved. Farmers would need to pay a token premium each year to avail of the scheme, but in return would be compensated for losses incurred due to elements beyond their control, such as flooding or gales.

Similar schemes have already proven successful in Spain and, considering the increased volatility of the weather that has graced our shores of late, it may be an option worth exploring to provide further stability to Ireland’s beleaguered tillage farmers.

EAR TO THE GROUND 39

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19/12/2017 11/12/2017 11:29 11:23

TILLAGE

The

Future of

Irish

Tillage THE JOINT OIREACHTAS COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE HAS MADE A NUMBER OF RECOMMENDATIONS IN A NEW REPORT THAT COULD HELP TO REJUVENATE IRELAND’S UNDER-PRESSURE TILLAGE SECTOR.

A report by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture has been welcomed as the first step towards policies and measures that could revitalise and regenerate Irish tillage farming. The report undertook a comprehensive analysis of Ireland’s tillage sector, examining a range of pertinent factors including crop genetics and GMOs, organic crops, opportunities for sugar beet, the alcoholic beverage market, biomass, Brexit and input costs. The Committee has put forward a range of short and long-term actions, including scientific innovation.

“There will be a need for agricultural innovation in the coming decades to meet the challenges of this century and scientific innovation in its many forms is necessary. An open mind to scientific progress must be maintained,” chairperson Pat Deering, TD wrote in the foreword to the report. “Scientific advancements have catapulted agricultural output upwards over the last century; from mechanisation to the green revolution, agriculture has gone from strength to strength. We should invest in agricultural science and we should maintain an open mind to concepts, which are now only underdeveloped, but in decades to come may form the basis for meeting the ever-increasing global demand for food. The Committee also notes the evidence that agricultural research and development (R&D) is recognised as offering high rates of return.”

Among the recommendations is that the Department of Agriculture examine the possibility

of introducing agricultural insurance schemes, policies that encourage the use of all suitable land for tillage, support for the continued use of glyphosate until a viable alternative is found, that a review of a potential sugar beet revival be undertaken, greater industry support for the use of Irish grain, further promotion of Irish products for export with the help of Bord Bia, and the need to reduce input costs, particularly fertiliser.

“The tillage sector, like other sectors of agricultural production, faces multifaceted challenges. Essentially these problems can be summarised as financial in nature,” the report noted. “A combination of high input costs and poor returns on produce hit farmers on both fronts.

It is incumbent on industry, Government, and the European Union to combat these issues.”

IFA Grain Chair Liam Dunne was among those who welcomed the launch of the report, calling on the Government to put the recommendations into action – political action is key to the sector’s future and profitability.

“The continuing trend of low international grain prices, increasing input prices particularly for fertiliser, high interest rates, coupled with reduced CAP payments has decimated tillage growers’ incomes over the last five years,” he stated. “Minister Creed must now act on the recommendations made in this comprehensive report and at the Grain Forum.”

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Spotlight on

Small

Business EAR TO THE GROUND SPEAKS TO A RANGE OF SMALL FOOD PRODUCERS AROUND THE COUNTRY ABOUT BUSINESS IN 2017 AND THE ROAD AHEAD.

The Merry Mill

Kevin Scully was growing oats for cattle feed when one day his daughter Niamh asked what it was. “Porridge,” he joked; she asked if she could have some, and that’s when the idea for The Merry Mill was born. That was four years ago and, as of March, after a lot of research and development, the business is up and running.

The Merry Mill offers Ireland’s only certified organic gluten-free oats, inspired by the discovery that two members of their extended family had been diagnosed with coeliac disease.

The Scullys grow and process the oats on their farm in Merrymount, Co Laois, producing porridge and oat flour. “There’s a huge rise in gluten intolerance,” Kevin explains. “I thought well, if we’re going down that road, we may as well make sure everyone can eat it, and these oats are suitable for those with a gluten intolerance.”

Oats are inherently gluten-free but must be carefully processed to ensure that no gluten is introduced. The Scullys have their own seed to grow each year and walk the fields four times during the growing season to check for

rogue grains. They have their own combine harvester, which is used on no other grain. Finally, the oats are slowly rolled on a stone ground mill and packaged on-site.

“We’re growing and processing the oats on the farm and selling them.

It’s a sustainable model and we’re trying to be very transparent,” says Kevin. “We’re showing the whole way from the field to the mill to the end user; we show the mill, the packing, the whole food journey.”

According to Kevin, the business has been progressing at a steady pace so far – when we spoke he had just completed

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Kevin and Jenny Scully with their gluten-free oats.

The Merry Mill’s organic gluten-free oats.

his first export to the UK. He’ll be looking to expand in the UK market and aims to increase exports in 2018 and beyond, but also says he’s not unduly worried about Brexit. All of the Scullys are involved in the business, with Kevin’s wife Jenny on administration, and daughters Sadhbh on marketing, Aoife on social media, and Roisin on packaging – Niamh is the ideas generator. Kevin says social media has been a useful tool in getting their message across and adds that down the line he’d like to start trading online too.

As you’d expect, all of the Scullys start the day with porridge. “It’s getting great traction and it’s not boring anymore. People are putting a lot of different toppings on it; it’s a whole different thing from the days when it was made just with water and salt,” says Kevin. “It’s well recognised as a top breakfast. We did a little programme with the local primary school, showing them the harvest and the mill, and nearly 40 per cent of them – eight and nine-year-olds – were eating porridge already.”

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Bríd and Roger Fahy at Linnalla Café.

PHOTO: PAUL LEHANE

Boyne Valley Cheese

Linnalla Ice Cream Café Linnalla is a small ice-cream shop run by the Fahys on Flaggy Shore, Co Clare, a beautiful section of the county’s northern coastline. Looking to increase their farm’s turnover, they started making ice-cream in 2006.

They milk their Burren native shorthorn cows each morning and use their milk and cream to make a range of different flavoured ice-creams. Because the cows graze by the sea, the milk takes on a slightly salty taste, which gives Linnalla icecream its unique flavour.

The Fahys also grow a lot of the ingredients that go into their ice-cream, such as blackcurrants, rhubarb and apples. Some they forage locally, like gorse, blackberries, sloe and hazelnuts; they only import ingredients that they can’t source in Ireland, such as vanilla, chocolate and exotic fruits. All their recipes are free from artificial colouring, flavouring and preservatives, and most are egg and glutenfree. They follow the seasons to make best use of their natural ingredients – rhubarb, elderberry and sea buckthorn in spring; raspberry and strawberry in summer; and hazelnut, apple and pumpkin in the autumn.

All the ice-creams and sorbets are lovingly prepared in small batches; Bríd cooks up the recipes and makes her own honeycomb and purées, too.

There’s almost always a new flavour for visitors to try.

When we speak to the Fahys, they’re heading into the quieter part of their year, though business has been good over the last 12 months. “Business was very good in 2017, numbers were up about 20 per cent on last year and the average spend also increased,” says Bríd.

Café Linnalla is reliant on tourism and the popularity of the Wild Atlantic Way has brought a fresh wave of tourists to the area, though mainly during the spring and summer months. The café benefits hugely from its beautiful location, which is a major visitor attraction – Seamus Heaney wrote of the area in ‘Postscript’ that it would “catch the heart off guard and blow it open”. Flaggy Shore is a popular spot with walkers, too, and Café Linnalla also features in the Burren Food Trails. Still, reliance on tourism presents some challenges.

“We are a small tourist provider in an isolated location so we have to work hard to punch above our weight to be seen,” says Bríd.

“Day coach tourism, which has no interest in a small café like us, is an issue as the volume of buses cause traffic problems and are off-putting to the independent traveller that I rely on. Day coach tourism is the biggest challenge in the Burren today.”

Still, the Fahys have plenty of ideas to continue to grow their business in 2018. “We plan to have more product offering in the café and develop more activities, walks and tours in the area,” she adds.

Boyne Valley Blue.

Boyne Valley Blue.

Goats at Mullagha Farm, Boyne Valley, Co Meath.

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The Finnegan family farms 280 acres of land at Mullagha Farm in the Boyne Valley, Co Meath, specialising in cereals, cattle and goats. The farm has been in the family since the early 1930s, when Michael’s grandfather bought it. Michael and Jenny Finnegan have been running the goat part of the business since 2007, and have grown their Saanen, Alpine, Toggenburg and Anglo-Nubian herd to around 300 milkers today. In 2010, they started making goat’s cheese to help make the farm more profitable.

Boyne Valley Blue is the only blue goat’s cheese made in Ireland and Michael and Jenny believe that the lush grasses of the Boyne Valley give the cheese its unique flavour. Experts seem to agree, as it has won several awards, including gold at the Great Taste and silver at the International Cheese Awards. The cheese is made for the Finnegans by renowned cheesemaker Peter Thomas, who’s also the producer of the acclaimed Bellingham Blue. Michael says that his cheese is in high demand and they can’t make it fast enough.

“The market for our cheese is great. Making the only blue goat’s cheese in Ireland means that all the buyers want it. It’s something

different to have on their books. Chefs like to have it on their menus because it adds a new taste and flavour that people might not have had before,” he explains. “It is a very versatile cheese to use in the kitchen – very good for melting on steaks or burgers and also great for adding to pasta dishes to make a blue cheese sauce. Our new cheese, Boyne Valley Bán, is different as well because it is based on a French-style tomme cheese and there is not much of it made in all of Ireland.”

Given the strong base they’ve built up, Michael is positive about the outlook for his business and sees lots of opportunities ahead. He’s looking forward to expanding the cheese output and reaching more food businesses across the country. He’s also looking to the UK market for export and has already initiated contact. And, as the cheese business grows, he’s looking forward to expanding his goat herd.

That’s not to say there are no challenges, which Michael supposes are the same as other small businesses around the country. But business is good – they’re at a stage now where they need to employ someone.

“Cheese is selling as fast as we can make it, so we need to make more,” he says. “Having to manage staff and pay them will be a big change for us.”

Michael Finnegan with his goat’s cheese.

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RURAL ENTERPRISE Memo’s bestselling perfume, Irish Leather

Crossogue Preserves Kenyan-born Veronica Molloy moved to Ireland to marry an Irish farmer, Tony, 50 years ago.

She founded Crossogue Preserves some 30 years later because she loved making use of the abundant fruits from her garden and the hedgerows of her Tipperary farm, starting by selling her surplus preserves at local country markets. Demand was consistently high and she gradually built up the business. Today, Crossogue Preserves products are stocked by several Irish fine food retailers and exported to select food stores internationally.

They are no longer able to produce all of the ingredients they need on Crossogue Farm, but carefully source quality ingredients locally and further afield. Though the business has grown, all of the products are still made in small quantities in a kitchen on the farm. Veronica explains that it’s this careful production process that helps Crossogue Preserves stand out from the crowd. “We produce our preserves in small batches of 20 regardless of volume, using as much homegrown produce as possible,” she says.

Veronica notes that the small-batch method allows for innovation and experimentation with new flavours and ingredients. Their range of jams, jellies, chutneys, marmalades, curds and coulis includes more than 90 products, and they’re constantly trying new recipes. “Crossogue Preserves has the largest range of handmade products in Ireland, and many are award-winners,” she

adds. “We will continue to develop new products year-on-year whilst maintaining our small-batch method of production.”

Veronica cites the fertile Tipperary land and availability of natural ingredients as key to her products’ flavour. She’s also a member of the Tipperary Food Producers group, an organisation founded to support and champion quality food producers in the county. Her products have received a long roll of awards and accolades; over the past 20 years they’ve been awarded 60 Great Taste Awards. Most recently, the damson and port jelly won Triple Gold, the highest accolade on offer, at the 2016 Great Taste Awards. An example of the business’ more innovative recipes, the lime and tequila marmalade won gold at the World’s Original Marmalade Awards.

The company has grown over the last number of years and hence the number of employees has increased. Despite challenges including cash flow and the cost of distribution, there are plenty of opportunities. Veronica and her team are looking to build the online side of the business and Crossogue Preserves recently launched an e-commerce shop selling directly to the consumer.

“Through our new website, we aim to increase business overall, but particularly on the corporate side,” says Veronica. “We have introduced a high-end range of gift boxes to showcase the range of our products.”

John Molloy, son of Crossogue Preserves’ Veronica and Tony Molloy, launched Memo Fragrances in 2007 with his wife Clara. The pair wanted to reflect their love of travel, fashion and design through scent. The luxury perfume brand is based in Paris and the couple live in Geneva, but John hasn’t forgotten his origins in Tipperary.

Crossogue Farm is also a working stud and the brand’s best-selling fragrance is Irish Leather, inspired

by John’s childhood around horses.

It blends notes of juniper, pink pepper, amber and oil of clary sage to replicate the unique scent of stables, tack and bridle leather.

Memo is all about the feelings and memories that scent can evoke and all of the fragrances are unisex. The Memo range also includes bath and body products, candles and diffusers, as well as books and postcards.

PHOTO: SINÉAD NI RIAIN/NI RIAIN PHOTOGRAPHY.

Veronica and Tony Molloy in their polytunnel at Crossogue Farm.

PHOTO: SINÉAD NI RIAIN/NI RIAIN PHOTOGRAPHY.

FLYING THE FLAG ABROAD

Crossogue Preserve’s damson & port jelly won Triple Gold in the 2016 Great Taste.

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Organic Demonstration Farm Walks 2017 - 2018 A nationwide series of national organic farming open days will take place from Autumn 2017 to Summer 2018.

Teagasc, Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine and organic organisations invite all farmers and members of the public to see organic farming in practice and to meet and speak with the producers and sector’s experts.

DECEMBER 2017 Wed, 6th December | 12pm Tom Dunne, Seefeld Farm, Ballinasloe, Durrow, Co. Laois Beef Finishing

MAY 2018 Wed, 2nd May | 12pm Eugene Flanagan, Driminagh, Loughglynn, Castlerea, Co. Roscommon Suckler to Weanling

FEBRUARY 2018 Wed, 7th February | 12pm Grennan’s Organic Farm, Lismoyney, Clara, Co. Offaly Dairying

Wed, 16th May | 12pm Batt Sheehan, Ballymounteen, Ballynoe, Mallow, Co. Cork Dairying

MARCH 2018 Wed, 21st March | 12pm William Mulhall, Blackwood, Robertstown, Naas, Co. Kildare Suckler to Beef APRIL 2018 Wed, 25th April | 12pm Gordon McCoy, Creevaghy, Stonebridge, Clones, Co. Monaghan Beef Finishing, Sheep, Poultry-eggs

Wed, 23rd May | 2pm Andrew & Leonie Workman, Dunany Flour Organics Farm, Dunany, Togher, Co. Louth Winter, Spring Cereals, Milling Flour JUNE 2018 Wed, 6th June | 2pm Kate Carmody, Beal Lodge, Asdee, Listowel, Co. Kerry Dairying, Hemp, Veg, Fruit, Direct Selling

JUNE 2018 Wed, 13th June | 2pm Gavin Tully, Clonhenritte, Camolin, Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford Cereals, Arable Wed, 27th June | 2pm Frank O’Brien, Ballybroder, Kilbeggan, Co. Westmeath Sheep, Suckler to Beef JULY 2018 Wed, 18th July | 2pm Oliver Kelly, Ballinroan, Kiltegan, Co. Wicklow Fieldscale Veg, Direct Selling Wed, 25th July | 2pm Nurney Farm Organics, Nurney Farm, Carbury, Co. Kildare Fieldscale Vegetables, Protected Cropping, Poultry-eggs, Direct Selling

For more information and directions please see www.teagasc.ie/events

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SCIENCE

Sweet Success

I

JOE FINEGAN LOOKS AT WHAT’S INVOLVED IN GROWING THE SWEET POTATO AND IF, WITH IMPROVED GENETICS, IT’S A VIABLE OPTION FOR THE IRISH ENVIRONMENT.

t was estimated by the United Nations in 2014 that some 795 million people worldwide suffer from malnutrition.

About 780m of those live in underdeveloped countries. As far as statistics go, that one stinks.

Without trying to overhype the work that Pat FitzGerald is doing, it is possible that he is helping in the development of a cure for world hunger. It comes in the rather odd shape of the sweet potato.

Sweet potatoes are one of the top food crops in the world and are included in the top five foods consumed across the globe. This humble plant and its edible root vegetable has a very long list of nutritional benefits but, most of all, it is a tremendous source of Vitamin A in the form of beta-carotene – crucial in fighting blindness. Agencies like the World Health Organisation are trying to get more children in underdeveloped countries to consume more sweet potatoes due its fantastic nutritional values. Indeed, in some African countries, the word ‘sweet potato’ translates into ‘the saviour of children’.

At his base in Co Kilkenny, FitzGerald has been experimenting with growing delicate crops. The sweet potato is one such enterprise. In a nutshell, FitzGerald has been trialling which varieties of sweet potato, among many other crops investigated over the last 10 years, grow best in certain conditions.

“Ireland is probably the least favourable in Europe,” he reveals.

“Everything is wrong here, the temperature, natural heat, natural light – they’re all insufficient. For best results, the sweet potato must be grown in field conditions. We’re still playing around with it, however, and we’re discovering that greenhouses provide the conditions in which it can be produced.

However, we are testing a strain which will be launched [in 2018] – it just has a code name at the moment. We’ve been testing it for five years and we’re almost ready to launch it now.”

TESTING, TESTING FitzGerald, through collaborations with farmers in Spain and Portugal, has set up a more traceable and closeto-hand supply of sweet potatoes for

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the European industry. He is forging links between food producers on the Iberian Peninsula with wholesalers here. “That’s a much more practical way of getting sweet potatoes here,” he says. “Some 75 per cent of fresh sweet potatoes eaten in Europe are imported [the majority of which come from the USA], mainly because proper growing techniques have not been cultured here. We’re trying to change that by working on this Europe-wide project.”

FitzGerald has been conducting sweet potato variety tests (over 80 different strains currently held) in every country in Europe. Each region within each country has its own peculiarities. Results vary widely from Norway to Greece.

He is even conducting research as far away as Qatar in the Middle East.

The intended outcome of these intensive tests is to narrow down which sweet potatoes grow in which region. If a sweet potato will not grow somewhere, FitzGerald will apply some genetic modifications to make it happen.

These endeavours go back years.

After establishing a laboratory on his 300-year-old farm in 2004, FitzGerald began exploring the possibilities of crop science. He originated with a dairy farm but set up a nursery in 1990, first on the original family farm in Stoneyford, then another in Jenkinstown. He began exporting product towards the end of the 1990s, but shortly after began to develop an interest in the plant and crop breeding side of the industry. In 2004, he bought a plant tissue culture laboratory and began operations. He developed his own ornamental plant breeding programme before he migrated organically towards, among other food crops, the sweet potato.

“In the early years I received support from Enterprise Ireland,” he explains.

“I developed my own varieties of

Pat Fitzgerald (right)

“THIS HUMBLE PLANT AND ITS EDIBLE ROOT VEGETABLE HAS A VERY LONG LIST OF NUTRITIONAL BENEFITS, BUT MOST OF ALL, IT IS A TREMENDOUS SOURCE OF VITAMIN A.“

MOST POPULAR VARIETIES

WHITE: MURASAKI (very sweet)

WHITE: BONITA (less sweet, more like an Irish potato)

ORANGE: EVANGELINE (40 per cent higher beta-carotene)

LIGHTER ORANGE: ORLEANS (high in vitamins A, C, E)

PURPLE: (will be launched in 2018)

ornamental grass and began marketing it as EverColor. It’s a range of hardy evergreen grass which we now supply all over the world. I then started the MyPlant range of plants which were developed to protect our production.

On the food side of things, I started with the sweet potato, and now our own research and development departments are in the early stages of testing a crop that might be suitable to the Irish climate and the Irish food industry.”

In 2006, after a great deal of telephone and online research, he began to forge a link with Louisiana State University (LSU). At the time, LSU was trying to develop its own seed breeding programmes further afield and it suited the university to collaborate with FitzGerald. He assisted in introducing their work into Europe and became their sole head licensee for the continent.

“In 2006, sweet potatoes were not popular,” says FitzGerald. “When I’d bring it up at meetings people used to laugh at me, so I shut up to preserve some credibility. Nobody could imagine

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Pat Fitzgerald with Dr Tiago Santos, Nativa company joint venture General Manager in Portugal.

The plant tissue culture laboratory in Ireland.

The nursery.

anyone outside of Ireland benefiting from this crop growing here. On the marketing side of things, Bord Bia were prepared and did provide support, but you have to have a product to market. That’s why I began to source backing from overseas.”

FitzGerald brings up Ireland’s history of being somewhat destructive when it comes to preserving the production of certain crops. For instance, sugar beet is a great crop for Ireland and was grown in abundance until decisions were made to shut down the sugar beet factories.

“Climactic factors are critical,” he advises. “Ireland is suitable for some crops, but not others. Sugar beet worked very well here but we got rid of it. And the knock-on effect of losing jobs in Carlow and Mallow. The point is that within Irish authorities, there’s something wrong somewhere.”

Despite the high level of shoulder shrugging FitzGerald has encountered over the years, his projects have progressed steadily under his own steam. The food side of his business has evolved to include many different types, including wasabi

and yacon, in a varied portfolio. The research is currently focusing on five different alternative food crops, three of which, according to FitzGerald, are viable. He employs Dr Angelica Sandoval Prando to lead the Botanics research team, which also consists of his son, Richard FitzGerald – a biotechnology graduate from NUI Galway. In all, there are around 45 employees under FitzGerald’s leadership, making him a pretty

valuable employer within his locality.

“I’ve just [got] basic horticulture training from Kildalton Agricultural College,” FitzGerald says, but that hasn’t stopped him growing his business with valuable assistance from his wife Noirín. “I’m self-taught – I’ve grown along with the business. I knew we wouldn’t be successful unless we had our own unique products. We’re continuing to strive in that direction.”

SWEET POTATO TRENDS Across the world, the white sweet potato is eaten more than any other type. The white variety is predominantly grown in Asia, while the orange variety is eaten in Ireland. The UN and WHO are promoting the orange sweet potato in Africa to help nourish children and fight blindness.

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19/12/2017 01/12/2017 11:34 16:33

INNOVATION

AS THE WORLD’S POPULATION CONTINUES TO INCREASE AND WITH ARABLE LAND AT A PREMIUM, CLEVER THINKING WILL BE REQUIRED IN THE COMING DECADES TO ENSURE THE DEMAND FOR FOOD PRODUCTION IS MET. TIERNAN CANNON TAKES A LOOK AT THE CONCEPT OF URBAN AGRICULTURE TO SEE IF THE PRACTICE OFFERS A VIABLE GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE OF FARMING. EAR TO THE GROUND 53

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INNOVATION

S

ince the late modern period of human history, the world’s population has both grown exponentially and become increasingly concentrated within urban centres. According to a United Nations report, 54 per cent of the world’s population resided in urban areas in 2014, compared to just 30 per cent in 1950. By 2050, 66 per cent of the world’s population is projected to be urban-based. This trend, together with the continuing growth of the population in general, means that towns and cities will house an additional 2.5 billion people over the next three decades.

Global population is projected to reach 9.8bn in 2050.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a specialised United Nations agency, suggests that in order to feed this larger and more urban population, food production will have to increase by around 70 per cent. This would require additional land to grow this extra food yet, according to FAO and NASA, 80 per cent of land suitable for raising crops is already in use. Given the farming methods most widely in use today, then, it’s extremely unlikely that the requirements of this unprecedented population jump could be met. Some innovative solutions will be necessary.

As it stands, much of the food in the world is consumed a great distance from where it was produced, requiring significant energy consumption for handling, transportation and storage, and resulting in significant food waste from spoilage during its journey. Growing food as close as possible to where it’s consumed is a simple but important solution to this problem, but this in itself presents a challenge. Practically speaking, urban centres tend not to accommodate farming, yet innovations in thinking and technology mean that urban agriculture is on the rise – literally and figuratively.

Plants growing through Urban Farm’s innovations.

VERTICAL FARMING Dickson Despommier is an American emeritus professor of microbiology who has received considerable notice for his ideas on the concept of vertical farming. In his own words, a vertical farm is “a high-tech greenhouse that is stacked on top of itself, transforming it into a multi-storey growing space.”

Despommier has espoused the idea that vertical farming can

AQUAlab aquaponic system design at Belvedere College.

take advantage of unused urban spaces in order to supply enough food yearround for a growing urban population in an environmentally-friendly and sustainable way. He suggests that this is not all that different to the greenhousebased agriculture that already exists and thrives in places like the U.S. and Canada, with the difference simply referring to the scale of the operations that vertical farming would allow for.

The practice remains very much in its infancy, but its potential is clear. It can cater for the widespread production of crops within limited space, in a controlled indoor environment that lessens the chance of contamination, and allows for particular growing plans to be tailored for specific crops, depending on their requirements. Crops grown in this manner can grow faster than in outdoor fields and, perhaps more importantly, they can be grown

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INNOVATION

VertiCrop’s high rise production.

all year round. In theory, the facilities required can be built almost anywhere.

Yet for all its potential, vertical farming faces a number of challenges before it takes off in a truly significant way. One major problem is that it is deeply dependent on constant supplies of electricity, which itself is reliant on fossil fuel sources. The energy charges, as well as the costs of the technologies involved, mean it is more cost-effective for vertical farms to produce quicker-growing crops that yield a high market value, such as herbs and baby greens. Root vegetables and grain might not yet be a viable option.

It’s perhaps for these reasons that commercial vertical farming hasn’t gained much traction in Ireland. For a real glimpse at its commercial potential, one generally needs to look abroad.

Vancouver-based firm VertiCrop, for example, manufactures growing solutions that enable producers to grow a variety

of salad crops, vegetables and flowers in a controlled, eco-friendly environment.

The firm’s vertical farming technology grows plants in suspended trays that move on an overhead conveyor system.

Each rack moves around in a computeroperated environment that controls room temperature, lighting, fertilisation, irrigation and the recapturing of the water used. The system is designed to provide maximum sunlight and precisely the correct nutrients to each plant.

According to the firm’s president, Clay Haeber, a 50 by 75 foot space using VertiCrop’s technology can produce as much food as a 16-acre traditional soil farm. If vertical farming can truly produce results like this, it’s an exciting prospect given the lack of extra fertile land available to feed future generations. Moreover, as Haeber suggests, consumer habits might change as a result of vertical farming

practices. “I see the neighbourhood grocery stores making a reappearance with a rooftop greenhouse,” he says. “I also see the consumer wanting smaller, fresher portions [that are] consumable in a few days, and having a willingness to visit a local grocer more often.”

URBAN FARM Although commercial vertical farming hasn’t taken off in Ireland, urban agriculture on a smaller scale is beginning to appear in places. Urban Farm, for example, is a Dublin city-based start-up that seeks to disseminate knowledge about the circular economy and sustainable living, offering cultural events and workshops on urban agriculture, biohacking (changing your lifestyle to boost your body’s biology), cooking, food sharing and waste management.

The firm has been involved in a number of sustainable projects and EAR TO THE GROUND 55

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INNOVATION

“ACCORDING TO THE FIRM’S PRESIDENT, CLAY HAEBER, A 50 BY 75 FOOT SPACE USING VERTICROP’S TECHNOLOGY CAN PRODUCE AS MUCH FOOD AS A 16-ACRE TRADITIONAL SOIL FARM.”

VertiCrop technology in action.

initiatives since its inception, including several rooftop farms throughout Dublin city centre. One of these endeavours, the Belvedere College Urban Farm Project, sees students from Dublin city’s Belvedere College growing crops, farming fish and cultivating fungi in a glass-roofed science laboratory called the GROWlab.

The GROWlab features an aquaponic farm, which can be described as a closed loop system wherein fish feed and grow, producing waste products that are then used as an organic food source for plants.

In turn, the plants provide a natural filter for the water the fish live in, creating a balanced cycle. Alongside the GROWlab, the college also uses the school’s rooftop as a garden and farm space. The rooftop project promotes the greening of vacant space and has a great number of benefits, including improving the air quality and the ability to produce food.

Of course, this school project is small and limited in scope. It does, however, illustrate the potential for such farming practices to be undertaken and expanded into larger, commercial projects. It grows fresh produce throughout the school year, taking advantage of developments in aquaponic and hydroponic (plants that are grown in a nutrient-rich basin of water as opposed to soil) systems, yielding multiple crops including 140 varieties of potato, heirloom tomatoes, peppers and leaf crops. It shows that small urban spaces, subject to the right investment and planning, can be used for extensive, high-quality food production.

Urban Farm’s projects are driven by its founder, Andrew Douglas. When we spoke, Douglas was visiting urban agricultural projects in Nepal, looking for new ideas. Douglas constantly plans for new projects and initiatives like, for

example, making use of coffee waste.

Coffee is in abundance in urban centres and its waste products, when disposed of in landfills, break down to produce millions of tonnes of methane and CO2 emissions. Douglas aims to turn this harmful waste into something useful.

“I plan to establish our first Urban Oyster Farm, which is a mushroomsfrom-coffee-grounds enterprise in the city,” he says. “[It involves] basically collecting waste [coffee] grounds from city centre restaurants and cafés, which we’ll use as a substrate to grow exotic fungi in the heart of Dublin city.”

Simply discarding coffee waste both damages the environment and also misses an opportunity to produce a high-value food crop. Coffee grounds are full of essential minerals and necessary elements for oyster mushrooms to thrive on, providing an opportunity to produce gourmet mushrooms in a cost-effective and sustainable way. Initiatives like these illustrate that there is potential in urban agriculture, and not just beyond Ireland’s borders. Though far from being a significant commercial force in Ireland, the signs are there that these types of practices are beginning to gain a little traction, as Douglas points out.

“A lot of commercial farms are already using hydroponic systems under glass,” he says. “There are no commercial aquaponic set-ups in Ireland, but this will change over the next few years as entrepreneurs see the value and possible returns from this method.”

As the global population rises, demand for food increases and the availability of arable land diminishes, commercial food producers may well begin to see urban agriculture as an effective solution. Companies around the world are beginning to paint a picture of what these urban farms might look like, and small, city-based projects like Urban Farm are illustrating that sustainable food production, though there are challenges to surmount, is indeed a real possibility.

56 EAR TO THE GROUND

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ENVIRONMENT

Something in the

IN THE WAKE OF A REPORT PUBLISHED RECENTLY BY THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ON WATER QUALITY BETWEEN 2010 AND 2015, ORLA CONNOLLY LOOKS AT THE POTENTIAL IMPACT THAT IRISH AGRICULTURE IS HAVING ON IRELAND’S WATER BODIES. EAR TO THE GROUND 59

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The pollution of Irish water bodies has been brought to the fore of public perception in recent years, largely due to the work of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the result of emissions and outputs from a variety of sources including industry, urban living and, of course, agriculture. The EPA recently released a report detailing the quality of Ireland’s rivers, lakes, groundwater and other water bodies between 2010 and 2015 – according to the report, the two most suspected causes of pollution in rivers are agriculture and municipal sources, accounting for 53 per cent and 34 per cent of cases respectively.

“If you think about it, agriculture is responsible for about 67 per cent of the land use in the country – you would not be surprised that it does have the slight and moderate pollution that’s associated with it because the more land you use, the more likely it is that you’re going to have an issue,” says Andy Fanning, Programme Manager for the EPA’s Office of Evidence and Assessment.

On a national level, the report revealed a rather static water quality over a six-year period, though water bodies identified as being seriously polluted at the beginning of the study showed significant improvement. Only six river water bodies were assigned the ‘bad’ status under the Water Framework Directive 2010-2015, compared to 19 in the 2007-2009 period, the result of a concerted effort through the ‘red dots’ programme. However, national targets have yet to be met.

“Originally there were a series of plans across the country and those plans added up to a national target of about 13 per cent improvement, which wasn’t achieved,” Fanning explains.

“What we ended up with was basically a very static water quality, nothing particularly improving nationally, and nothing particularly getting worse nationally, in a general scheme.”

Worryingly, the report also revealed that the number of pristine water bodies, those which are of the highest quality, has declined, something the EPA is keen to highlight. “What we found there was that we are down to only 21 sites at our highest standards, which is a Q5,” he adds. “That was down from, at the beginning of the period, about 40 down to 21. But this is a continual trend that we’ve seen over the last decade.

So this is kind of warning bells from the EPA, these are the canary in the mines which are showing a decline.”

AGRICULTURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT Irish agriculture prides itself on its green, sustainable reputation, championed by Origin Green, the national sustainability programme. But while the Water Quality in Ireland report focuses mainly on the status of water bodies across the country and less on the factors that affect this quality, there is evidence from the Water Framework Directive to support the claim that agriculture is having a negative impact. According to Fanning, agriculture is responsible for causing damage to almost 800

water bodies as a result of a process known as nutrification. Nutrification is a common result of intensive farming, a practice characterised by high output on agricultural land for the purpose of making farm produce more widely available at lower costs. To do so, intensive farming uses chemical fertilisers, pesticides and insecticides, which are linked with health implications for humans but also environmental drawbacks such as the pollution of water systems. Elevated levels of nutrients including phosphorus and nitrogen are a significant factor in our freshwater, transitional and coastal waters.

“Once you get too much nutrients into the water it causes too much plant growth, so the plants take up the nutrients... then what happens is they grow during the day so you have a lot of oxygen during the day and none at night-time,” Fanning explains.

“These kind of wide variations happen and it displaces some of the species that would be living in the water, [which] would be intolerant to the fluctuations in oxygen and nutrients.”

In Durrow, Co Laois, a sub-species of the native freshwater pearl mussel – specific to that area – has experienced a dip in population numbers. A recent survey discovered very few juvenile numbers among the population and quite a few empty shells, which local teacher Sean Conroy, who has charted the fate of this once abundant species for years, links to intensive farming practices.

“It’s the only animal in Ireland that lives longer than the human,” he told Ear to the Ground last November, noting that the mussel can live to around 120 years old. “Intensive farming practices, increased forestry and cutting down of the forests, siltation of the waterways etc. – all of these things are contributing to the demise of the pearl mussel.”

TAKING MEASURES

Native freshwater pearl mussel in Durrow, Co Laois have experienced a dip in population numbers.

So what’s being done to answer the canary’s call? Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government Eoghan Murphy recently launched a programme of measures to address Ireland’s water quality issues over the next four years.

However, another initiative that has the

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ENVIRONMENT

River Nore, Inistioge

potential to contribute to the return of Ireland’s pristine water bodies is GLAS, the agri-environment scheme which is a part of the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020. Over 50,000 farmers are now part of GLAS, which sees the implementation of a number of measures to enhance water quality, such as the fencing off of nearby rivers from livestock and the installation of wild bird covers on the farm.

“If you locate wild bird covers at the bottom of your field, close to a stream, you can get a benefit for having it there because it can act as a barrier to too much nutrient making its way into the river,” Fanning says.

“Whereas, if you put it at the top end of your field, it won’t act as a barrier.”

Fanning notes that these measures aren’t just positive for the environment – there are benefits for farming and farmers too. “Good nutrient management planning is a key measure for farmers.

It’s about making sure the nutrients are being taken up by your crops, whether it be grass or otherwise, rather than making their way into the rivers,” he adds.

Farmers themselves are changing their tack. Kilkenny farmer Tom Dunne operates a tillage and beef farm not far from the banks of the River Nore.

Having switched to organic farming nine years ago, Tom decided to change the way he farms, taking a more ecologically friendly approach. “Organic farming is about working the soil and working the climate,” he said. “Like, before, you would be... come the first week of April you’d probably get out and spread

“THE TWO MOST SUSPECTED CAUSES OF POLLUTION IN RIVERS ARE AGRICULTURE AND MUNICIPAL SOURCES, ACCOUNTING FOR 53 PER CENT AND 34 PER CENT OF CASES RESPECTIVELY. “ your nitrogen. But now I have to time my slurry spreading, I have to time my dung spreading with the climate and the temperature, soil temperatures.

I’m certainly growing as much grass and forage as I want and I’m growing equally as much grass as I was when I was spreading fertiliser and doing modern soil farming, if you like.”

Rewind 25 years, when the EPA had just been set up and concerns were being raised regarding another eye over farmers’ shoulders, and things were quite a bit different. “Farmers were probably at their worst in the nineties as regards mass production, growing an extra tonne of barley per acre, adding an extra 200-weight of nitrogen or fertiliser to force growing it. If we needed to control diseases or whatever, spray; control weeds, spray again,” he explains. “It probably wasn’t good policy in the long-term. I think we’re easing slightly away from that at the moment and it’s for our betterment. We love to sell ourselves as a green nation

and we feel we have better produce than any other country in Europe or the world because it’s green. But we still are producing very intensively, finishing huge numbers of cattle in tight quarters indoors, milking huge numbers of cows – very intensive, probably being done well but at the same time it’s not entirely green. I certainly – from my point of view – can call myself a green farmer. I’m working to a lower scale, less is often more sometimes, and I feel I’m playing my part in green Ireland.”

Building on this, the EPA is aiming for further engagement with the farming community, stemming from the belief that farmers are better placed to identify any potential pollution issues than an outsider.

“Farmers will know their land best and hopefully they’ll be able to work out what’s the best measure, rather than someone trying to tell them what the best measure is,” Fanning explains. “That’s the intention now [and] over the next few years.”

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ENVIRONMENT

Preventing Pollution WORRIED ABOUT HOW YOU CAN PREVENT POLLUTION FROM FARMING ACTIVITIES? INLAND FISHERIES IRELAND HAS DEVELOPED A SIMPLE SIX-POINT PLAN TO REDUCE THE RISK OF POLLUTING THROUGH STRONG FARMYARD MANAGEMENT.

3 2 6

If you’re using a silage pit, avoid leakage by making sure that it’s properly sealed.

1

Slurry should be spread in dry weather – avoid doing so when heavy rain is forecast.

Avoid spreading slurry close to a body of flowing water, and always be aware of the slope of the surrounding land.

4 5

Don’t allow any effluent to enter rainwater gullies.

Don’t clean silage tanks beside water bodies.

Opt for round bales as an environmentallyfriendly method of storing silage.

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Ireland’s Environment An Assessment

2016

Provides the national evidence base about the condition of Ireland’s natural environment and the challenges and opportunities associated with its protection and management.

ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS

www.epa.ie/irelandsenvironment/

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IRISH CHARCUTERIE

T

here’s a distinctly unusual feel to the land around Tara. Rewind several centuries and the locals might tell you that it’s one of the many entrances to the Otherworld, a passageway between realms frequented by all manner of mystical creatures and beasts. These days, however, the surrounding woodlands are home to a more mundane creature – pigs.

Eoin Bird and his mother Miriam Cremin are the brains behind The Wooded Pig, which produces free-range meat raised in the ash and oak forest on their farm in Tara, Co Meath – charcuterie with an Irish twist. Based on a mixed farm featuring livestock, tillage and native woodlands, Eoin explains that he got into the business of curing meats because he wanted an outlay on his farm without feeling constrained by the small size of his holdings.

“I never wanted to be limited by our land or have to buy more land. Having travelled a bit and seen charcuterie was becoming very popular in Ireland, it seemed like a good idea,” he tells me. “Also, because we have forestry, it’s a pig’s native environment and it’s cost effective to put them there as opposed to taking over our tillage land.”

The pair farm rare-breed pigs that grow at a slower pace, allowing the pork to develop a deeper flavour that lends itself to the curing process. The animals are free-range and fed barley grown on the land and, when reared, they’re processed on the farm in a purpose-built artificially-controlled environment that regulates the temperature and humidity.

Getting regulatory approval is the biggest hurdle Eoin says they faced at the beginning; scaling the business is the challenge now. The Wooded Pig produces a range of chorizos and garlic, pepper and fennel flavoured salamis, and demand is high. At the moment they’re working with about 20 retailers but are reluctant to take on much more for now, for fear of being unable to keep up with the demand.

Craft Cured

A NUMBER OF FARMERS ARE TAKING A LEAF OUT OF THE CONTINENTAL BOOK ON CURING MEATS, STARTING AN EXCITING NEW CHAPTER OF IRISH CHARCUTERIE. VALERIE JORDAN CAUGHT UP WITH SOME OF THE COUNTRY’S LEADING FARMER-CHARCUTERERS.

64 EAR TO THE GROUND

IRISH CHARCUTERIE

Dexter charcuterie.

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IRISH CHARCUTERIE

Eoin Bird and Miriam Cremin with their pigs on their farm at Tara.

“It’s a long game: we buy piglets at eight weeks and it’s eight months before I have saleable product. Keeping the whole cycle going is a challenge and if you try to expand, it’s capital intense,” he says.

“Luckily the product is popular and there is a market for charcuterie here.

There’s a bit of a movement on it and I think in a few years it might be similar to the craft beers market.”

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THE WOODED PIG PHOTOS: JOHNNY BAMBURY PHOTOGRAPHY

DEXTER DELIGHTS The trend for Irish-produced charcuterie has also made its way further south.

Take Eavaun Carmody, who explains that people thought she was “the mad woman from Dublin in the big house” when she decided to farm a herd of Dexter cows at Killenure Castle, Co Tipperary. Bred by Christopher Dexter for Lord Hawarden, who once owned Dundrum Estate, they’re a mix of the Kerry cow and the ruby red Devon.

Often known as the poor man’s cow, the breed was close to extinction in Ireland when Eavaun decided she had to return the Dexter to its origins.

Those early days were difficult. Eavaun couldn’t initially get anyone to help her, but eventually convinced her restoration builder to get involved and they scoured the country for the last remaining Dexters. She admits she knew nothing about farming back then, though six years later she’s quite knowledgeable.

“Dexter cows don’t really want to be on farms – they want to be in the wild or on commonage. They’re quite wild and because they’ve never been commercially farmed, they taste as they would have tasted 250 years ago,” she says. “It’s a very earthy, gamey taste. They’re like a bovine equivalent of a mountain lamb or goat. It’s the only native Irish breed that the connoisseur really enjoys.”

Eavaun only intended on maintaining a very small herd, but that changed when she got a call from La Rousse Foods. Today she has 800 cows and supplies meat to some of the country’s top restaurants. Chefs love the tender, sweet, nutty meat and the ‘spider’ marbling to which the Dexters are predisposed. Sustainability and using as much of the animal as possible is at the heart of the business; as well as offering a range of beef cuts, they produce dripping and make bone and leather goods. Producing charcuterie is part of their ethical ethos too, using artisan and traditional methods of production

The woodland herd.

to bring something very different to people’s platters. Renowned French charcuterer Olivier Beaujouan of On the Wild Side cures the Dexter for Eavaun and Killenure. Clearly it’s been a success – she now gives him five or six animals a week, 50 weeks a year.

“I felt the charcuterie would be commercially successful – there wasn’t a lot of it available in Ireland. We do chorizo, bresaola, salami, and ours is obviously beef and we’re the only ones doing that,” says Eavaun. “Charcuterie is a natural marriage between a heritage beef and a heritage curing process. We don’t use any artificial ingredients and we don’t push the animals on, and that shows in the quality.”

Fingal Ferguson.

SMOKE ON THE GRASS Evidently there’s something of a march on Irish charcuterie of late, but Fingal Ferguson of Gubbeen Smokehouse in Schull, Co Cork, has also been making chorizo and salamis for years. His family was, he believes, the first to smoke cheese in Ireland. They’d drive their cheeses to artisan food producer Chris Jepson in Goleen, who smoked them until he retired, at which point he contacted the people who had gotten him into smoking meats to make an introduction.

“Building a smoker was my teenage project. I fell in love with the curing and, like most teenagers, tried to smoke anything I could get my hands on,” Fingal jokes.

IRISH CHARCUTERIE Fingal’s homegrown chorizo.

Hard at work in Gubbeen Smokehouse

Evaun Carmody with her Dexter cows at Killenure.

Perhaps charcuterie was in his blood.

Fingal explains that things were always being pickled, cured and fermented in his family, which, along with a strong Spanish influence and several trips to Italy, led him to try smoking and curing his own meats, including pork. The family farm was predominantly dairy, so Fingal and a few friends set up the “piggy co-op”, a system where ‘approved’ farmers deliver pigs or entire litters, ensuring the quality and consistency of the meat.

“You need very good pigs and sadly the Irish pig has had some ups and downs.

The majority of what we’re using comes from the piggy co-op and friends who rear for us to particular standards,” he says.

“There is a difference between indoor pigs

and free-range pigs. An outdoor-reared animal is slower growing; it’s usually from a traditional breed that’s designed to be outdoors. That slow element of growing leads to a redder meat, a lower pH and lower moisture content.”

But that’s just the beginning. Fingal explains that you have to be a master of many skills when it comes to processing the meat, and need a little imagination.

“We’re using the whole pig – cheeks, loins, legs, bellies and fillets,” he says.

“You have to make a variety of things. It’s easy to use the key cuts – but what do you do with the rest? You have to be inventive and make several products.”

Things are undoubtedly going well down in Schull. Gubbeen Smokehouse

has been working from a more modern facility for two years now and is making up to 50 products. The charcuterie isn’t currently exported; Fingal says they can’t make enough for the Irish market at the minute. “As things get bigger, you’ve more staff, more costs. So you’re always chasing your tail,” he explains.

“But we’ve been very blessed that the restaurants have put our names on the menu. Ireland is a small country and I’m grateful for that connection between the chef and the producer. And we’re blessed with how people have responded to us.

That will always encourage us.”

Fingal is delighted to see so many new entrants into the industry of charcuterie and cured meats. It’s perhaps a validation of his time and efforts, and more widespread knowledge of an Irish industry is undoubtedly good for business. But there’s also a chance to share experience for the good of all of Ireland’s charcuterers. “Having grown up in farmhouse cheeses, if my parents and the other cheesemakers hadn’t banded together, Irish farmhouse cheese wouldn’t have developed the reputation that it has,” Fingal notes. “It’s fun now that you can see so many people getting into this industry. And I think there is room for everybody. There’s a market for us all.”

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INVASIVE SPECIES

IN JULY 2017, THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION ADDED 12 NEW SPECIES TO THE EU LIST OF INVASIVE ALIEN SPECIES. OF THESE 12, THERE ARE A NUMBER OF SPECIES THAT HAVE CAUSED CONSIDERABLE DISTURBANCES TO IRELAND’S LANDSCAPE, BUT NONE AS DANGEROUS AS JAPANESE KNOTWEED, WRITES ORLA CONNOLLY. EAR TO THE GROUND 69

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An invasive species is a non-native species that has been introduced by human intervention and that has the ability to threaten native wildlife and cause damage to its new home. In Europe, there are currently around 1,800 alien plants, animals, fungi and micro-organisms in their respective environments. Their numbers are rapidly growing, with a major impact on animal health, crop yields, fish stocks, infrastructure, and the navigability of rivers. Here in Ireland, invasive species currently causing trouble include the grey squirrel, giant hogweed, Asian clams, water hyacinth and Japanese knotweed.

The grey squirrel has taken centre stage in recent years thanks to its role in the decimation of wildlife populations, particularly the native red squirrel that has been living here since before the last ice age. The grey squirrel was introduced from North America roughly a century ago and quickly spread around the country, earning a reputation for causing damage to forestry and woodlands, particularly beech, sycamore and elder trees. Not only do the two species compete for food sources, which invariably sees the grey win out (greys are larger and more robust), but the latter are also a carrier of the parapoxvirus (also known as squirrelpox), which is deadly to our native red squirrels.

But not all worrisome invasive species have four legs and a tail. There is another that could potentially be an even bigger threat to the Irish ecosystem, a plant known as Japanese knotweed. Introduced to the country

“THE GREY IS ALSO A CARRIER OF THE PARAPOXVIRUS (ALSO KNOWN AS SQUIRRELPOX), WHICH IS DEADLY TO OUR NATIVE RED SPECIES.“ sometime in the 1800s, Japanese knotweed has since spread to homes, waterways, farmland and transport routes in every county in Ireland.

“None of the Japanese knotweed that we have in the British Isles [has] grown from a seed. What has happened is, from that single plant, all the other Japanese knotweed plants in the British Isles have come,” says Dr Amanda Greer of Envirico, a company that specialises in the removal of invasive species like Japanese knotweed.

The plant can grow to between two and three metres in height and seven metres in breadth, and can dominate an area to the exclusion of most other plant life. While it may look innocuous, its aggressive root growth can undermine buildings, clog rivers and even destroy bridges and roads. Cities are by no means immune – Google has recently launched a project to remove the destructive plant from the area around its base on Barrow Street in Dublin’s Docklands, promising to finance the weed’s removal. The process isn’t cheap – removing Japanese

knotweed from a property can often cost between €30,000 and €40,000 and, with twice-yearly spraying, can take up to five years. However, it is strenuously advised that the public refrain from trying to eradicate the species from their land without the help of professionals.

You’ve probably seen the signs erected across the country reading ‘Japanese Knotweed, Do Not Cut’ – well-meaning attempts to remove the plant could have the opposite effect. This advice stems from the plant’s fastspreading method of reproduction.

Once the plant has been cut, a new plant will form from the discarded stem and root itself in the soil, creating a new plant while the original continues to thrive deep below the surface. “Any little bit of it that breaks off and any little piece that you leave on the ground will stimulate growth. It will just grow into a new plant,” Dr Greer explains. “If you pick it up and throw it somewhere, the piece that you’ve left within the ground will grow into a new plant and the piece that you’ve thrown to the side will just continue to grow.”

Farmers (and others) should be particularly cautious of where they walk on their land. Greer notes that Japanese knotweed can often protrude from the ground and, if walked over, the plant material can be transferred easily to the bottom of footwear. Even the smallest part, less than a gram of that ground material, will grow into a new plant ten days later. As a result, any move to cut down or dig out Japanese knotweed could result in spreading it further across the surrounding region, aided in some cases by water bodies such as rivers.

“You should leave it where it is rather than going digging around, because digging around is the most sure way to spread it,” says Dr Greer. “Any part that breaks off and floats downstream, when they land, they’ll just produce new Japanese knotweed plants.”

Farmland in close proximity to affected waterways suffers significantly due to the ability of Japanese knotweed to reduce the carrying capacity of the water body until there is no room for the water itself. Unsurprisingly, this can cause devastating flooding to the surrounding land. While waterways aren’t heavily affected by this problem at present, Envirico’s Brendan Phelan notes that farmers in rural communities that aren’t

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IRELAND’S OTHER INVASIVE SPECIES

ZEBRA MUSSEL Introduced to the Shannon Estuary in the 1990s, and has since spread across the country. Zebra mussels can attach to a variety of hard surfaces such as boats and buoys and have been known to block intake pipes or cooling systems. Female zebra mussels can release up to 1 million eggs every year.

Dr Amanda Greer with Ear to the Ground presenter Helen Carroll beside a knotweed infestation.

“JAPANESE KNOTWEED HAS NOW SPREAD TO HOMES, WATERWAYS, FARMLAND AND TRANSPORT ROUTES IN EVERY COUNTY IN IRELAND.“ surrounded by water might not fully escape the wrath of the destructive weed.

“It can destroy farm buildings such as slurry tanks and it can uproot foundations. They’ve had to demolish structures in the UK and that could possibly end up being the case here in Ireland,” he explains. Within the farming community, Japanese knotweed is also and often spread, unknowingly through hedge-cutting, due to the fact that farmers are rarely aware of what the plant looks like and how it can quickly spread. “If there’s the tiniest piece of leaf or hedge on the tractor or on the hedge cutter itself, when the tractor pulls into the field or onto the

road, it can lose these fragments. So it can easily spread that way,” he adds.

In response to the news that 12 new species would be added to the EU list of invasive alien species, along with Japanese knotweed, Karmenu Vella – EU Commissioner for Environment, Fisheries and Maritime Affairs – was upbeat about the European community’s ability to tackle the problem. “This shows we are serious with our commitment to protect biodiversity in Europe,” she stated. “We are acting on a problem that costs us over €12 billion every year and requires a coordinated approach across the EU. Together with the Member States, we will continue to identify and address the most damaging species.”

However, in order to fully eradicate the problem, Dr Greer would ideally like to see Irish local authorities and farmers being awarded funds to contribute to the expense of fighting Japanese knotweed, which will take a concerted effort and substantial funding to eradicate the plant from Ireland. “It would be great to see farmers being given some relief to tackle it on their land,” she concludes.

GIANT HOGWEED Posing a public health hazard, giant hogweed is native to Asia but is now an invasive species in Ireland, Britain, continental Europe and North America.

Toxins in its sap can cause blisters on the skin, it shades out other native species, and increases riverbank erosion.

MUNTJAC DEER Originating in China, the distribution of muntjac deer in Ireland is still unknown.

The species overgrazes forestry understory (plant life below the forest canopy), helps spread bovine TB and parasites, strips bark from trees, and tramples vegetation.

GIANT RHUBARB Predominantly found on Ireland’s western seaboard, with a particularly heavy infestation on Achill Island. Native to South America, giant rhubarb has large leaves that can prevent the growth of native plants by blocking sunlight. The plant spreads rapidly and is difficult to eradicate – each flower head produces more than 250,000 seeds annually.

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FARM MANAGEMENT

Farm

WE TAKE A LOOK AT SEVERAL FENCING OPTIONS FOR IRISH FARMERS, AND THE SAFETY MEASURES YOU SHOULD TAKE INTO ACCOUNT.

Fencing Solid, stockproof fencing is a must on any farm these days, protecting boundaries, maintaining grassland management, and prevent livestock from escaping.

Electric fencing is a popular choice, relatively easy to install and maintain.

Single strand fences are useful for containing cows and cattle, while doublestranded fencing will also be suitable for calves. If you’re trying to control sheep or lambs, electric fences with four or five strands could be considered, but should be maintained on a yearly basis. Galvanised wire offers a longer lifespan, while poly tape fences are more commonly used for temporary fencing.

Safety is key when it comes to erecting electric fences – while a quick shock is

CHOOSE YOUR POST • PERMANENT: Often worth the extra spend in the long term, with a decent lifespan and a strong fencing system. Wood posts do have a tendency to degrade over time.

• PORTABLE: These are easier to transport and install, and come in a variety of materials such as plastic and fibreglass.

“IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR SOMETHING A LITTLE MORE NATURAL AND LONG-TERM, CONSIDER PLANTING A HEDGEROW, WHICH CAN BOTH KEEP STOCK IN OR OUT AND PROVIDE A VALUABLE HABITAT FOR LOCAL WILDLIFE.”

generally harmless, prolonged contact (such as becoming entangled in an electric fence) can result in serious injury or even death, with the risks increasing if you have a pacemaker or receive a shock to the head or neck.

Warning signs should be posted and any visitors to your farm made aware of the potential dangers.

The earthing system is one of the most important aspects, preventing a loss of power. Check the instruction manual that comes with the fencer for further details.

Non-electrified fencing can be a little more difficult to erect, and requires fencing posts, sheep/stock (or similar) and barbed wire, and is ideal for larger livestock. This type of fencing requires plenty of support and enough tension in the wire to avoid slacking in several years’ time. Mesh wire can be used to protect forestry plantations against rabbits.

If you’re looking for something a little more natural and long-term, consider planting a hedgerow, which can both keep stock in or out and provide a valuable habitat for local wildlife.

According to Teagasc, good-quality

plants should be used when planting a hedgerow, such as hawthorn, blackthorn, holly and hazel. Factors to consider in its placement include traffic through that location and any access points required, and the soil should be cultivated before you begin. Maintenance should be a priority in the first few years, controlling grass and weeds, and keeping animals away by erecting protective fencing.

“The secret of planting a hedge successfully depends mainly on using good quality plants, cultivating the soil prior to planting, controlling grass and weeds and keeping browsing animals away for the first few years,” Teagasc states in a guide to planting hedgerows.

When putting up a fence, opt for good quality materials such as creosoted posts and high tensile wire. Spending a little extra at the start will save on maintenance and provide increased reliability.

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19/12/2017 10/10/2017 12:25 10:38

FOOD TOURISM

On the

ButterNorth Trail Cork in

CONOR FORREST TAKES A LOOK BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE OLD BUTTER ROADS FOOD TRAIL, A RECENTLY LAUNCHED INITIATIVE CELEBRATING AND PROMOTING FOODS GROWN AND PRODUCED IN THE MUSKERRY, DUHALLOW AND AVONDHU AREAS OF CORK.

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FOOD TOURISM

R

ewind the clock nearly 300 years and Cork was the centre of the butter trade in Ireland and the UK. Supplies were hauled into Cork city from the surrounding countryside, destined for the Butter Exchange in Shandon and then distributed across four continents. At its peak in the late 19th century some 500,000 casks of butter worth around £1.5 million (€202m today) were passing through the doors of the Butter Exchange every year.

These supplies wound their way into the city through a network of trails from across the county, which became known as the butter roads. One of these pathways, running from Millstreet to Blarney and into Cork city, has inspired a new North Cork food tourism venture that brings food producers, restaurateurs, eateries and tourist destinations under the one umbrella, known as the Old Butter Roads Food Trail. The project covers a large area, north of the River Lee from its source in Gougane Barra down to the Butter Museum in Cork city, including the towns and villages of Millstreet, Boherbue, Kanturk, Mallow, Doneraile, Fermoy and as far north as Mitchelstown.

“Calling it a food trail is the wrong thing at the moment, because it’s not,” Máire Ni Mhurchu, the group’s chairperson, clarifies. “It’s really a cooperative of members who have come together. It started out two years ago now at a Christmas meal when I was out with the staff of my business, Activity Days, down at The Square Table Restaurant in Blarney where they specialise in using mostly local foods. I was saying isn’t it an awful pity we don’t have any way of celebrating the foods of North Cork and the Northwest Cork area. And the idea grew from that.”

Having got talking to Fáilte Ireland and the Local Enterprise Office, a group of interested people came together in 2016 to form what would become the Old Butter Roads, officially launching on the May bank holiday in 2017 with the help of Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed, who lives in the area. For now, it’s solely a community effort, without assistance or backing from the government, Fáilte Ireland or any other external agencies, though the plan is to develop official food trails as seen elsewhere throughout the country in the months and years ahead. Events held during the year will help to boost the Old Butter Roads’ profile, ranging from walks and talks and mid-summer banquets to music festivals and events at the Butter Museum, highlighting the provenance of food in the region, particularly the importance of butter.

“The butter is actually a symbol of the area because the butter road ran from Millstreet through Blarney into the Butter Exchange in Cork from about 1770,” Máire explains. “And that old road is still there.”

ON THE TRAIL Those who have stepped forward to join the initiative come from a variety of backgrounds, ranging from gin producer Ballyvolane Spirits, gluten-free beer brewer Don O’Leary and Longueville House to vegetable growers, butchers and egg farmers. The project is bringing together people who would never have joined forces before, introducing businesses that can work together to increase their status and revenue, and highlighting food enterprises that might otherwise go unnoticed beyond a certain border.

Take Hegarty’s Cheddar, a family-run business that is producing a traditional, cloth-bound cheddar in Whitechurch, North Cork. Dan and John Hegarty are brothers and fifth-generation dairy farmers who wanted to add value to their enterprise and increase their income to support two families, and began experimenting with cheesemaking around 2000. Two years later their first cheese hit the market, though Dan explains that it took between four and five years to perfect the process – their cheese takes a year to mature so any mistakes during the production process can take a while to identify and fix.

These days the business continues to go from strength to strength, with John in charge of milk production on the farm and Dan overseeing the cheesemaking. Their cheese is made by hand the traditional way, milling and salting the curds, and wrapping it in muslin and lard, starting production when the cows go out to grass and finishing when they come back in. The business employs one person full-time, bringing in three or so French students from cheesemaking colleges to help during peak production – in August and September they work six or seven days a week making cheese.

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FOOD TOURISM

“In the springtime, the protein in the milk would be alright for making cheese, though it wouldn’t be great. Coming into the late summer/early autumn the milk is super, it’s very consistent, you’ve more fresh cows coming into us.

That’s when we’d really get motoring,” Dan tells me. “Every year we get a bit better and we come up with a better idea and we do something different.”

One of the entrepreneurs persuaded

by Máire to take part in the Old Butter Roads, Dan has already seen the benefit of a boost in profile – sales are up and they’ve begun supplying their cheese to a few more restaurants. “It’s great because we were kind of the lost people.

Traditionally the West Cork people are the people who got the cheesemaking going,” he explains. “The Butter Roads is [helping] us to get a bit of an identity together. And there is such a long history there of taking milk and making it into a product. And then there’s meeting the other producers and the restaurants – it helps sales, it’s great actually. In our business, sales are everything, trying to keep those sales up and keep it going.

We’re the happy cheesemakers!”

LOCAL FOOD Farmers’ markets have been getting a boost too, with markets in Mallow, Fermoy, Macroom and Killavullen benefiting from a greater awareness.

The latter is a community market set

PHOTOS: DAVID KEANE PHOTOGRAPHY

PHOTO: MÁIRE NI MHURCHU

The Old Butter Roads horse and cart outside The Old Blarney Post Office.

A horse and cart was used to deliver milk churns, the symbol of the Old Butter Roads, to businesses involved in Blarney.

up in 2002 in the surroundings of the Nano Nagle Centre in Killavullen, a scenic village in the Blackwater Valley.

About 25 stallholders sell their wares at the market twice a month, offering fresh organic vegetables, potatoes, preserves, apple juice, flowers, jewellery, candles and plenty more besides. Among them is Noreen O’Brien, a former chef who retrained as a horticulturalist and began growing vegetables on the family dairy farm in nearby Doneraile, selling seasonal organic vegetables, quiches, preserves and chutneys to punters at the market. But Noreen explains that it isn’t just about selling wares – there’s an important social aspect too that places local food at the heart of the community.

“We put on different events during the year. Last year we put on a meal in the meadow just to highlight local food.

We got all of the producers to make something and we put on meals for I think 67 people,” she says. A sevencourse menu featured local food from

“CALLING IT A FOOD TRAIL IS THE WRONG THING AT THE MOMENT, BECAUSE IT’S NOT. IT’S REALLY A COOPERATIVE OF MEMBERS WHO HAVE COME TOGETHER.”

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PHOTO: MÁIRE NI MHURCHU

FOOD TOURISM

local producers. “We all chipped in and served. It was a great affair and it was lovely for everybody to come and see what we were doing as well,” she says, noting that the Old Butter Roads is an extension of that awareness campaign.

“It’s about switching people on, it’s about letting people know that we’re here.

A greater network of people working together makes such a difference... I would certainly say this year there have been more people coming to the market.”

“I do think we’re still in our infancy and we have lots to do,” Noreen adds.

“But I definitely think people are interested. People are certainly interested in the idea of butter-making, those oldfashioned ways of doing things... because we live in such a crazy, busy world right now. It’s so disconnected, not only from ourselves but from everything else, that... people are interested in just turning back time and switching onto something that’s just [about] slowing things down.”

The topic of local food and its importance within the wider food landscape is something that Tim McCarthy is also firmly passionate about. Tim is a fifth-generation butcher with McCarthy’s of Kanturk, an artisan butchers that was founded by the family in 1892 and has gained a stellar reputation in the intervening years, supplying quality meat products both around North Cork and further afield – their black pudding was served to Queen Elizabeth during her visit to Ireland in May 2011.

“Without it you have nothing,” he says of locally produced food. “It’s all local with us. Everything – we have our own abattoir... the pigs could be coming from 15 or 18 miles [away], cattle we could go down as far as Milford which is still only 15 miles. So they’re all coming from quite a close locality.”

Tim draws a distinction between the use of ‘local’ as a marketing tool by the multiples who are looking to sell a certain perception and actual local food production in areas like North Cork.

“The use of the word has become very liberal,” he states. “They’re giving you the perception of it but your traditional butcher on the side of the street or your cheesemaker getting the milk from the fields – that’s what local means. Local means you know exactly where it came from, you know the farmer that produced it and you know his father before him. You know the field that the cattle came out of. That’s the level

Dan Hegarty on his farm at Whitechurch.

Ciaran Cotter, Derryvillane free range pork.

Noreen O’Brien gathering produce for market.

Owens natural milk and yoghurt from the family farm in Killavullen.

Dan Hegarty delivers cheese to chef Martina Cronin at The Square Table, Blarney.

we like to take our production to.”

For Tim, the Old Butter Roads project is championing this cause, setting North Cork apart from West Cork – which has itself developed a strong brand in recent years – and highlighting the northern region as a premier food destination. “What we are trying to do is basically make people aware of the quality and the history and the provenance of the food in the area.

And by joining restaurants, joining the Old Butter Roads together with the producers... there’s a good network, a trail that will evolve out of it, because you’ll have people coming and they’ll be looking for the churn, the symbol of the Old Butter Roads,” he notes.

“Immediately it’s a community of likeminded food producers and restaurateurs and eateries and destinations in the area. They mightn’t have the ponytails and the double-barrelled names that they have in other areas, but there’s a

“IT’S ABOUT SWITCHING PEOPLE ON, IT’S ABOUT LETTING PEOPLE KNOW THAT WE’RE HERE. A GREATER NETWORK OF PEOPLE WORKING TOGETHER MAKES SUCH A DIFFERENCE... I WOULD CERTAINLY SAY THIS YEAR THERE HAVE BEEN MORE PEOPLE COMING TO THE MARKET.”

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FOOD TOURISM

Mossy Buckley, an organic grower at the market.

PHOTO: DAVID KEANE.

Stefan Buzoianu from Fermoy, local honey producer.

KILLAVULLEN FARMERS MARKET PHOTOS COURTESY NOREEN O’BRIEN

Johnaton Owens with his sister Jennifer. Johnaton produces raw milk and yoghurt from the family farm in Killavullen.

Tim McCarthy presents a hamper of Old Butter Roads goods to Cork County Council Mayor Seamus McGrath at the launch last May. McCarthy’s black pudding wrapped in puff pastry served with Picalilli, apple puree and Annabelle Farm leaves.

lot more tradition and history in it.”

That historical backdrop is a key selling point for the Old Butter Roads – it’s not simply a marketing campaign with a vague connection to the area. The butter roads are a real and integral part of the region’s history, particularly in relation to its food, lending an authenticity that can be hard to find these days. Tim highlights historical points of interest like the Kerryman’s Table several miles outside of Millstreet, a flat rock where the workers would stop to break bread on the way to the Butter Exchange for centuries.

“They’ll all become points of interest in the future as people become more and more interested in our food culture, our food heritage and our food history,”

says Tim. “The old trails and tracks – people would go up and down them, they could take three days to get from Ballyvourney to Cork and three days to go back. And they’d go off, sell the butter, and that would be their money then until they’d sell off the cattle... There’s a lot of concepts, food concepts, that are developed. This is real history. This is what a lot of families lived on for hundreds of years, back in the areas of the butter roads.”

Big plans are in place for the project, with Máire noting that a five-year strategy is being produced to help develop the region, increase revenue for local producers, and to develop food trails linking those involved. The

MORE THAN A SYMBOL The milk churn is the symbol of the Old Butter Roads, once rolled for hundreds of kilometres by farmers on their way to the Butter Exchange. The plan is that, eventually, every participant will display a churn at their entrance, highlighting their participation in the project.

main event will be a festival each May, the month of the butter years ago, held in different towns across North Cork during that month to help promote the entire region. It’s very much a longterm vision on the part of those driving the project forward, with the hope of creating a lasting positive effect.

“We realised there are butter roads all over the county. In other words, the butter roads were linking everybody together,” says Máire. “Butter is a very authentic product and everybody involved is dealing with real, authentic products – we’re not rebranding something that’s coming in from outside. It’s the locally grown produce of the area that we’re celebrating.”

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19/12/2017 01/12/2017 12:26 16:37

ADVERTISING FEATURE

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C.O.W. or Cow’s Own Worth was officially launched in 2017 as a new online profile as part of the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation’s (ICBF) dairy HerdPlus package. ICBF, in conjunction with Teagasc and stakeholders, has developed C.O.W. which is a useful management tool to rank dairy females on expected profitability within the herd. Farmers can quickly identify under-performing females to cull, thereby retaining the most profitable cows in the herd.

Farmers investing in on-farm data recording practices such as milk recording, serve recording, pregnancy diagnosis and health (e.g. mastitis and lameness) events will benefit most from this service. The ICBF operates a centralised database that is in a unique position to gather all necessary information and formulate a decision support tool ranking cows on expected profitability.

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date from available inseminations or pregnancy diagnosis). Some past managerial or environmental disturbance can affect an animal’s performance within the herd for the rest of its life but is not transmitted to offspring. For example, a heifer that was over-fed while being reared might have too much fat in its udder and not yield as much milk as its EBI figure promised. The parity of the animal and its expected next calving date also impact on the future profitability of the cow, so both of these will be included in the new support tool. From the farmer’s point of view, a high-EBI cow that is calving early next spring is more valuable than

a cow with the same EBI but is calving down two months later. Similarly, a second lactation cow is worth more than a fifth lactation cow even though the two might have the same EBI figure.

C.O.W. offers future prospects to improve herd profitability by adding value to existing services. Other benefits of this management tool include a reduction in the time, effort and resources farmers spend on culling and retention decisions while getting more value from their data recording strategies. C.O.W. can be calculated for spring-calving milk recording herds and is available online at www.icbf.com to customers by logging on to your dairy Herdplus account.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PHONE ICBF ON 023 882 0222, EMAIL QUERY@ICBF.COM OR VISIT WWW.ICBF.COM. EAR TO THE GROUND 83

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GREENWAY

PHOTO: MARIE-LAURE SÉGUIN/ FLICKR (CC BY-SA 2.0).

ELLEN FLYNN TALKS TO FARMER DENIS O’CONNOR AND BUSINESS OWNER ALAN LANDERS TO FIND OUT WHAT THE PROPOSED SOUTH KERRY GREENWAY MEANS FOR THEM AND THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES.

The Green Road The Waterford Greenway near Dungarvan.

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GREENWAY

T

he development of suitable greenways – trails through the countryside that cater for walkers, cyclists, wheelchair users, skaters and more – across the country can mean a lot for small businesses looking to expand their client reach, acting as a boon for local tourism and related industries such as craft shops, hotels, B&Bs, cafés and restaurants. But in order to make way for this new boom in industry, something else has to give way. And it’s no different for the South Kerry Greenway, a 32km stretch announced by former Environment Minister Alan Kelly, running along the old Great Southern & Western railway line. All along the proposed route beginning in Glenbeigh and finishing in Renard, landowners are facing Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs) in order to facilitate the route running through their land. Normally a ‘lastresort’ option when the council fails to secure land through other means, CPOs can understandably result in bad feelings and resentment towards such projects.

Landowners are understandably put out by the Greenway’s development, as it takes little thought for the added time and labour landowners will go through once the route is finished. The CPO route is one taken in circumstances where councils are unable to secure an agreement from the landowners along a particular proposed route; CPOs can be the only way to secure land without delaying a project.

“My particular case is that the route is running straight through the middle of my farm,” says Denis O’Connor, one of those whose land is facing a forced purchase for the project. “Our farms are working farms and the council’s approach of cutting the farm in two without leaving the farmer with some reasonable means of getting over and back with livestock and silage and the rest is simply unworkable. It is placing an unfair burden on the farmer and making his enterprise far less viable.”

As well as the added labour comes a potential hike in insurance, with farmers fearing that harm could come to tourists who might make their way onto working farmland, perhaps encountering a nervous animal or dangerous machinery. No measures have been offered to landowners and farmers to deal with these upcoming issues, leaving even more bad feeling towards the project.

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Denis comments that he and other landowners would be much more amenable towards the project if more satisfactory negotiations had taken place, which would enable both parties to come to a suitable compromise. “The main point we want to get across is that we are not opposed to the cycleway and in many cases are actively for it, but we also need to preserve our livelihood,” he explains. A boost in the tourism industry is great for any area, but is it still useful when it puts what’s already there under strain? “They don’t actually care if we’re farming or not farming. So [far] as they’re concerned the land is lying idle,” Denis remarks. “But that is not the case; it’s not idle.”

Nor has the Greenway’s opposition been idle. A group of about 30 landowners and workers in the area have objections to the Greenway cutting through their land and have made these objections known to the council, as well as providing various alternatives to the route, to no avail. “They didn’t even look at it. They didn’t even consider it,” says Denis. “They have the attitude that they own the land, and we’re only occupying it. There’s no sense of cooperation, there’s no joined up thinking.”

THE OPPOSITE SIDE Farmers rightly have concerns over the Greenway’s development and what it means for their land, but there are two sides to every story. Those in favour highlight the potential positives for local businesspeople – shop owners, B&B proprietors, hoteliers and restaurateurs in the area are all likely to feel the benefits of increased sightseeing traffic.

A picturesque destination for tourists, South Kerry is well known for its beautiful coastline and mountainous landscape. But the recent recession, combined with urbanisation, has left many of these beautiful villages and towns desolate with closures. Young people move to cities for education and work prospects and don’t come back.

Alan Landers is the second generation owner of a B&B in Cahersiveen, and has high hopes for the Greenway and the potential for increased footfall, having seen the effects of greenways in Waterford and Mayo. “There are no jobs in South Kerry as such, industry is pretty much non-existent,” he says. “There’s a lot of closed doors on the main street of Cahersiveen. So it would be nice to see some of those reopen, maybe as a different business; a cafe or a restaurant.”

Alan Landers by the Valentia River viaduct along the old Great Southern & Western railway.

“FARMERS RIGHTLY HAVE CONCERNS OVER THE GREENWAY’S DEVELOPMENT AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR THEIR LAND, BUT THERE ARE TWO SIDES TO EVERY STORY.” That’s not to say he can’t understand the landowners’ position. “I can understand where they’re coming from.

It’s difficult if you own land and you see someone taking it away from you,” he notes. “A lot of farms here would be small holdings. And I think without the grants and stuff that are available to farmers, I honestly think their business is not viable. But we need support as well, we need help and that’s the grant that we’re looking for effectively, and it’s in the form of the Greenway.” That’s not to say that it should be at the cost of the landowner. “The inconvenience on the Greenway should be to the cyclist, not to the landowner,” he states. “If it does run through the middle of a field then there is a problem for farmers getting access to animals or whatever. But the farmer should be accommodated in that regard.”

Alan hopes that the Greenway will be seen in a different light in due course, with farmers taking advantage of the boost in industry coming their way, even setting up

small businesses of their own. However, the bad feeling left by CPOs won’t be quickly or easily diminished, especially as Tourism Minister Shane Ross announced in May that he was accepting submissions for proposed greenways throughout Ireland. In previous commentary regarding the development of greenways it was promised that “there wouldn’t be another foot of greenway paid for in the country until they sorted out the proper way to deal with the farmers and the landowners, the stakeholders they call them,” remarks Denis. “How [the Government] deal with the landowners when acquiring the land for the Greenway is at fault.”

Minister Ross has also announced further funding of €4.5m for the Galway to Dublin Greenway, with elements of the route running through Kildare and Meath, and €1.6m to complete the work on the Waterford Greenway. The reaction from the farming community was unsurprising – the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) accused the Minister of “throwing landowners under the bus” for what is essentially a “noncritical infrastructure project”.

The issue is by no means black-andwhite – a boost for local businesses like cafés and B&Bs could come at the cost of Ireland’s landowners; a failure to develop these projects could result in a further withering of rural enterprise.

Is there a balance to be struck, or will everyone simply have to make way for the greenway?

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ADVERTISING FEATURE

Farm Forestry – a growing enterprise Irish farmers are discovering the benefits of planting forestry on their land.

An increasing number of farmers are planting forests as a land use option. In 2016, for example, over 600 farmers established new forests on their land; farmers have also received, to date in 2017, almost €70m in premium payments. Those landowners who planted during the 1980s and 1990s are now enjoying the financial rewards of their investment, with the value of timber sales by private owners estimated to be in the region of €26 million in 2016.

Planting trees alongside an existing farming enterprise can also bring environmental and productivity benefits to an active farm. Trees, hedgerows and woodlands have always been highly valued by farmers for sheltering livestock

and crops, and for providing wind belts for farm buildings and houses. As new forests grow and mature, they can yield practical and environmental benefits, and ultimately financial benefits. New forests can be designed and managed to provide firewood, either for the farm family itself or for local sale. Meanwhile, native woodlands planted near streams and rivers protect water quality and provide a rich habitat for wildlife.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine provides grant aid that covers the full cost of establishment and premium payments each year for 15 years, the details of which are available at www.agriculture.gov.ie/forestservice/ grantsandpremiumschemes2015-2017.

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The following represents some of the reasons why farmers invest in farm forestry: • Under the Forestry Programme the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine covers the full cost of establishment; • An annual premium is paid for 15 years; most new forests attract 510 per hectare per year income tax free; • Forestry is compatible with the Basic Payment Scheme and under certain conditions is also compatible with GLAS; • Where land is underutilised, forestry can help use the land closer to its productive potential without reducing farm output;

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• Price volatility is a feature of agriculture commodity markets. Forestry on the other hand is insulated to some extent from market fluctuations because, if prices are low, you can decide to wait before harvesting the timber; • Forestry is good for the environment. It has a role in protecting water quality and in climate change mitigation through carbon sequestration and by replacing fossil fuels with a renewable source of energy.

The benefits of forestry are being realised by an increasing number of farmers and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine would encourage landowners to contact their local Teagasc forestry advisor or registered forester to find out more about farm forestry. www.teagasc.ie/crops/forestry/ www.agriculture.gov.ie/forestservice/ grantsandpremiumschemes2015-2017/

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ACHILL MOUNTAIN LAMB

THE CALVEYS HAVE BEEN HILL SHEEP FARMING ON ACHILL ISLAND FOR SEVEN GENERATIONS AND, SINCE THE 1960S, THEY’VE BEEN BUTCHERING, MARKETING AND SELLING LAMB MEAT UNDER THE ACHILL MOUNTAIN LAMB BRAND. MARTINA CALVEY TELLS EAR TO THE GROUND ABOUT THIS REMARKABLE FAMILY BUSINESS.

a

Taste of

Achill

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ACHILL MOUNTAIN LAMB

I

n 1960s Ireland, lamb meat wasn’t typically found on dinner plates.

Mutton sourced from ewes or two to three-year-old wethers was used instead, and it would be years before lamb meat would surpass them in popularity at the table, aided by one Martin Calvey.

Born on Achill Island, Martin was an only child and lost his father at a young age. His family had been hill sheep farming there for decades and, as a young man, he also worked as the local postboy. In the 1950s, tourism was taking off on the island and professionals, usually from Dublin, would travel there for weeks or months during the summer, often renting homes from the locals who would temporarily decamp to an alternative house nearby. Martin got to know these visiting families when he delivered their post and parcels, and regularly found himself answering their queries about where to find and buy various products. He realised that these people were looking for something different when it came to meat, something other than the mutton or wethers so common at the time. This was, his daughter Martina explains, what we refer to today as market research.

Looking for new ways to generate income, Martin decided to rear his lambs for the purpose of slaughtering. He took up butchering and established his own abattoir on the island in 1962. With the money he had put aside from his postal run, he opened up a butcher shop kitted out with cold rooms and state-of-the-art tools, and began supplying the owner of one of the earliest and best-known hotels on Achill. The lamb proved popular with guests of the hotel and other holidaymakers, who would often order a butchered carcase to take home with them at the end of their stay.

“Right up until the ‘90s mutton was on people’s plates. Today we might think that lamb meat has always been available, but that really wasn’t so. You have to consider the history and the context of what my father did – it was really very creative and original,” says Martina.

Martin Calvey Snr and his son Martin and grandson Peter herd sheep across Keel Strand Achill to mountain commonage.

PHOTO: MICHAEL MCLAUGHLIN

EXPERTISE It was a very different product that Martin brought to market. Achill Island is home to the Mayo blackface sheep – a particular breed that has evolved to cope with the island’s physical environment. The mothers live outside all year round, moving through expansive areas of mountain, bogland and lowlands. As such, the muscles of the lambs are worked so that the meat is very flavoursome. It’s lean but still has sufficient fat for flavour.

Ever since, the Calveys have been building the business – rearing, slaughtering, butchering, marketing and selling Achill Mountain Lamb. Martina confirms that the reputation Achill Lamb has today is a result of the family’s hard work. For example, their abattoir, while fully compliant, still functions as it would have when it was established in the ‘60s. “Everything is done by hand. In some of the larger plants, you have machines for the various processes but the carcase of a mountain lamb is very different to the carcase of a lowland lamb,” she says. “It’s more delicate and you can’t use machines. We have expertise in this and we know what suits that carcase, so everything is still done by hand.”

That expertise runs throughout the entire process, which begins in the field by selecting the right animal, an ability gleaned through decades of farming and butchering.

“My dad is a farming-butcher and a master butcher. The difference is, he’s not just cutting the meat but he’ll walk into the field and can select the animal that’s fit for the plate, that’s fleshed out sufficiently. A butcher’s lamb. It’s an expertise – it’s second nature to him; in reality, it’s first nature [as] he’s been doing it so long,” Martina adds. “And the reason our lamb meat has the reputation it has is the consistency and the quality – we only slaughter what’s fit to slaughter. We have standards and that’s because we are both farmers and butchers. We know exactly where our lambs and the lambs of local farmers roam and graze and what they graze on. There’s no additives, preservatives, we don’t gas flush and we don’t vacuum pack. We sell it entirely fresh. Only one family has handled the product from start to finish and we can guarantee its purity.”

EAR TO THE GROUND 89

PHOTO: MICHAEL MCLAUGHLIN

ACHILL MOUNTAIN LAMB

“CALVEY’S ACHILL MOUNTAIN LAMB IS ALSO LOVED BY MANY OF THE COUNTRY’S TOP CHEFS FOR ITS RICH, ROUND FLAVOUR, AND THEY VALUE ITS CAREFUL HUSBANDRY AND ONE-STOP FAMILY TRACEABILITY.”

Today, the Calveys also have an online shop, and doing their own butchering allows them to offer superior customer experience. If someone comes in search of a lamb carcase, they’ll query their needs, find out how many they’re cooking for, how many people are in the house, and then cut, pack and portion accordingly. “For example, with the leg we can give it whole, we can split it into the shank and the fillet, we can butterfly it, we can bone and roll it and so on,” Martina says.

Calvey’s Achill Mountain Lamb is also loved by many of the country’s top chefs for its rich, round flavour, and they value its careful husbandry and one-stop family traceability. It’s no surprise that it has received numerous awards, most recently a gold medal from Blas na hÉireann and two stars in the Great Taste Awards. For almost 50 years the family also owned and ran their own restaurant – Martina’s mother Angela is a trained chef – and they continue to diversify. Calvey’s Equestrian was established in the early 1990s and they have plans to develop a visitor centre on Achill Island. Though still in its early stages, Martina explains that people are fascinated by the Calvey story and they plan to incorporate that, along with various sheep-related experiences and farm stays, into the centre.

That’s not to say that it’s all plain sailing – the seasonality of both the lamb meat and tourism businesses represents many challenges. Lambs born in late 90 EAR TO THE GROUND

April come into season in July, but by Christmas or January they’re getting a bit wild in flavour, so the Calveys end the season then. “It is different when your business is operational 12 months of the year,” says Martina. “We understand that. When we take out insurance, for example, we must pay for 12 months of the year yet the business is only operational for six or seven.”

Martin Calvey on Achill Island, herding his Mayo blackface sheep.

THE NEXT GENERATION The Calveys are now well into the next generation and many of the ten of Martin and Angela’s children are involved in the family business.

Martina says they love their product and they do what has to be done to keep the show on the road.

“I have brothers and sisters involved in farming, butchering, the abattoir, deliveries. We do our own marketing, advertising and PR ourselves. We have grown up with Calvey’s Achill Mountain Lamb all our lives. It’s a part of us, like one of the family. For example, we don’t question doing more than nine to five, and if there’s an event on, even a wedding within our extended family, well, somebody has to stay at home,” she says. “The passion comes from my father.

He is an inspiration. He was 76 the other day and he’s still working hands-on in the abattoir, still out at six in the

morning checking on sheep and horses.

He doesn’t stop the whole day. Honestly, he’d put people half his age to shame. He obviously loves Achill Island and is a great ideas man, positive with a real can-do attitude. He lives by determination and hard work.”

The Calveys also source butcher lambs from local farmers – keeping their business going for Achill drives the family too. “I love where I’m from. I love the product. I love that we get to work with other farmers in the local community. It’s a real showcase, not just of us as Calveys, but of the whole community and where we come from,” explains Martina. “So many of our traditions in Achill are gone and hill sheep farming is probably the oldest tradition that has survived. The fact that there is a fully compliant, functional abattoir on Achill Island is remarkable.

It’s only when these things are gone that people realise their worth. It has a community benefit and it’s really important that we keep it alive.”

PHOTO: ACHILL MOUNTAIN LAMB.

Calvey’s Achill Mountain Lamb.

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LAW

Finding a AISLING MEEHAN OF AGRICULTURAL SOLICITORS EXAMINES THE INTRICACIES OF THE FAIR DEAL NURSING HOME SCHEME FOR IRELAND’S FARMERS.

The Fair Deal Scheme has been topical recently, given that the Rural Independent Group successfully brought a motion calling for the immediate reform of the Fair Deal Scheme earlier in 2017. Furthermore, the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) – most notably Maura Canning of the Farm Family Committee – has been lobbying for certain changes to remove the discrimination against small businesses and family farms.

Minister Jim Daly gave a commitment in September 2017 to introduce a change to the Fair Deal scheme that would mean a three-year cap on the time a charge on productive farm assets would apply.

The Minister outlined that he is awaiting a legal opinion from the Attorney General on the proposed changes. He said he will then bring the proposed changes before Cabinet for approval.

The changes will require an amendment to the Nursing Home Support Scheme Act 2009, thus it may well be some time before any revised scheme is in place.

The average cost of care in a private nursing home is approx. €1,000 per week. The weekly cost of care for individual public, private and

Fair Deal voluntary nursing homes is published on the HSE website. Unless a farmer can afford to pay for this himself/ herself, they will need to look for State Support under the Fair Deal Scheme.

The Nursing Home Support Scheme Act 2009 introduced the Fair Deal Scheme, which provides financial support for a person who requires long-term residential care.

There are two steps involved in an application to the Fair Deal Scheme: • A care needs assessment that determines whether or not a person needs care services.

• A financial assessment determines the level of financial support and the farmer’s contribution to the cost of care.

CARE NEED ASSESSMENT The Act provides that there must be an evaluation of a person’s ability to carry out the activities of daily living, which would include an assessment of the ability to bathe unaided, to feed unaided, to dress unaided, ability to communicate, cognitive ability, mobility etc.

FINANCIAL ASSESSMENT There are two types of financial support provided for in the 2009 Act. • State Support, which means a payment made by the HSE to assist a farmer in meeting the cost of the nursing home.

• Ancillary State Support (Nursing Home Loan), which means the HSE gives a loan to the farmer to make up the balance of the cost of care.

NURSING HOME LOAN The financial assessment will work out the farmer’s contribution to the cost of care. The HSE will then make up the balance i.e. the State Support. The farmer will contribute 80 per cent of his/her assessable income (e.g. old age pension, rent from leasing out his/her land etc.) and 7.5 per cent of the value of any assets per annum. Assets include any assets transferred in the five years before the first application for the Fair Deal Scheme. The first €36,000 of the farmer’s assets, or €72,000 in the case of a couple, will not count in the financial assessment.

Where the farmer’s assets include land and property so that they do not have EAR TO THE GROUND 93

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the cash equivalent to pay their portion of the cost of the nursing home, the 7.5 per cent contribution based on the assets may be deferred and collected from the farmer’s estate at a later date. This is known as the Nursing Home Loan.

This will be collected on the death of the farmer and will be a debt owing from the farmer’s estate. If there is not enough cash in the estate to pay this debt, it may be necessary to sell some of the land to pay back the debt owed to the HSE. The Revenue Commissioners are responsible for the collection of the monies advanced under the Nursing Home Loan and the monies must be repaid within one year of the death of the farmer. However, if the farmer’s spouse is still living in the house and does not own any other house, a deferral of the repayment of the Nursing Home loan may be applied for.

ASSET VALUE CAP The farmer’s principal private residence will only be included in the financial assessment for the first three years. This means that the farmer will pay a 7.5 per cent contribution each year based on their principal residence for a maximum of three years (i.e. 22.5 per cent). This is known as the three-year cap.

It is important to note that at present there is no three-year cap on farms or business assets except in the case where the farmer/business owner becomes ill or disabled suddenly and there is a family successor identified. The successor must be a relative of the farmer and regularly and consistently applies a portion of his or her working day on the farm. Thus, if a farmer has leased out the land they own when they apply for the Nursing Home Scheme, the three-year cap does not apply. Equally, if a farmer’s health deteriorated over a period of time, the cap does not apply.

For the three-year cap to apply there must be a sudden illness preventing him/her from continuing farming, such as a stroke, heart attack etc.

The Fair Deal Scheme can have serious implications on the viability of a family farm for the next generation, thus farming parents should ensure that they are properly informed so as to protect those assets in the event that they would require nursing home care in the future.

Aisling Meehan is a solicitor, chartered tax adviser and qualified farmer specialising in agricultural law and taxation. E-mail aisling@agriculturalsolicitors.ie.

Disclaimer: This article is intended as a general guide only and professional advice should be sought in all cases. This paper was compiled on the basis of information available on October 23rd 2017. Whilst every care is taken to ensure the accuracy of information contained in this article, the author and/or Aisling Meehan, Agricultural Solicitors does not accept responsibility for errors or omissions howsoever arising.

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Founded by Paddy Lacey in the 1970’S Paddy Lacey Tractors and Machinery Sales and Services has been very successful importing and exporting all makes of tractors and farm machinery, while at the same time taking great pride in supplying a prompt reliable service to a local and countrywide farmer client base.

Conveniently located just minutes from the M11, the business has grown over the past 40 years, gaining a reputation as one of the leading suppliers of used tractors and machinery in Ireland.

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PHOTO: BARRY SKEATES/FLICKR (CC BY 2.0)

MACHINERY

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A Century

of

Ford FORD IRELAND HAS CELEBRATED 100 YEARS OF OPERATION IN IRELAND, RECALLING ITS ROOTS IN ITS TRACTOR PLANT IN CORK BACK IN 1917. CONOR FORREST DISCOVERS MORE ABOUT FORD’S IMPACT ON THE IRISH LANDSCAPE, AND SOME OF THE ICONIC AGRICULTURAL VEHICLES IT PRODUCED OVER THE YEARS.

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M PHOTO: JOHN SHEEHAN

y first real introduction to the fantastic world of vintage farm machinery came standing by the wayside of a parade through the village of Castledermot, Co Kildare quite a few years ago. A wet and windy September evening, it nonetheless drew crowds from the surrounding towns and countryside, eager to get a glimpse of the renovated machinery that was once the height of agricultural sophistication, tilling land, loading straw and towing livestock thanks to the power of miniature explosions.

My grandparents were both of and from farming stock, and there was always machinery lying around – several old and well-used Massey Fergusons in the wilds of northwest Cork, and a slightly more modern David Brown favoured by the branch in Kildare, not to mention a variety of ploughs, trailers, and plenty more to investigate and repurpose for imaginative endeavours. For my own part, I’ve always had a soft spot for the older Ford tractors, something indefinably enticing about the recognisable blue-andwhite paint job. A staple of vintage events the length and breadth of the country,

many Fords were built beyond Ireland’s borders, but every now and then you’ll come across one stamped with a plate denoting its origins in Cork.

REBEL-BUILT The former Ford plant in the Rebel County stood by the edge of Cork city’s marina. Once a hub of activity as its production line relentlessly massproduced agricultural vehicles, and later cars, the site has long since fallen silent and little more than memories remain. Here the Fordson tractor was manufactured in two spurts during the early 20th century, a machine that emulated the Model-T’s impact on personal transport, revolutionising the world of farming with low prices, a reliable design, easy handling, and widespread availability. According to a report in the Cork Examiner in 1919, a demonstration went down very well with local farmers. “Many were the expressions of wonder and amazement that came forth from the vast assemblage as it quietly and vigorously sped from headland to headland and turned up the sod to the tune of one acre per hour,” the newspaper recorded.

Opened to great fanfare in April 1917 and the first Ford plant to be built outside the US, the Cork factory’s roots

William Clay Ford Jr. with Ciarán McMahon at the Henry Ford & Son Ltd. office in Cork.

stretch back decades previous. Henry Ford himself was of Cork descent – his father William was born in the village of Ballinascarthy, 40km west of Cork city, and emigrated to Michigan during the Famine in 1847 (the second generation to do so). Henry grew up on a farm but his interests lay far beyond farm work in engineering, later working with the Edison Illuminating Company and designing and building a variety of automobiles. His first experimental tractor was finished in 1907 but it would be nine years before he launched a prototype (the Model B) in 1915.

The following year he completed the forerunner for what would become the Fordson tractor, powered by a 22hp engine and capable of running on gasoline, kerosene or alcohol. With a three-speed transmission, early Fordsons weren’t supplied with brakes – operators depressed the clutch to stop the tractor instead.

While Ford was ultimately a very savvy businessman, there’s little doubt that his roots in Cork played some role in the decision to locate a factory there. On his one and only visit to Ireland in 1912, he and his wife Clara and son Edsel spent some time in Cork city before travelling to the family homestead in Ballinascarthy – it seems the poverty he saw in the region weighed on his mind on the long boat trip back across the Atlantic. In his own words, he hoped that the new plant would ‘start Ireland along the road to industry’, though the demand from the British Government for the use of Fordsons in the war effort likely played its part, with an order placed for 6,000 tractors. By 1929, Cork was the largest tractor plant in the world and was making a huge socio-economic impact on Ireland’s wider industrial landscape, but also on the Leeside.

“It was huge at the time. If you think of it, back 100 years ago in 1917, Ireland was in huge poverty and slums, particularly in Cork,” explains Ciarán McMahon, Ford Ireland’s managing director. “The Great War was [almost] over and there was little industry, it was all based around agriculture. Hence the tractors. So there were low-paid jobs – if you could get a job at all.”

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1918 Fordson.

VINTAGE FEAST While the road through Castledermot is undoubtedly a spectacle for any enthusiast of vintage Ford tractors during its annual vintage threshing weekend, Michael Hoey’s farm in Co Dublin is something of a Mecca. One of the forces behind Country Crest, a substantial agri-food operation just outside Lusk, Michael is also a keen enthusiast of the vintage variety. His collection spans a variety of tractor brands including Massey Ferguson, International and several Zetors, but row upon row of gleaming Ford models quickly catches the eye. “We always had Ford tractors on the farm from when we were children,”

he explains. “My father had Ford tractors and I 1958 Fordson Dexta suppose we grew up with them and that’s what we learned to drive on – the Dextas and then the 3000s and the 4s and the 5s and whatever else, and it went from there. That’s where the passion came from, for collecting them.”

Michael’s collection didn’t spring into life until 1998 when he was given the chance to buy a Ford 7000 from an estate in Wales. Now sought after as a collector’s item, the 94hp machine, produced in the UK between 1971 and 1975, sparked a bug that has resulted in an ever-growing collection of history on wheels. “I think now the 7000 has become an icon. There was a friend of mine looking for one this year for his son, and it took him months to find one. Where a few years ago you would get them quite handy. And they have gone up in price now as well, they’ve got very expensive,” Michael tells me.

PHOTO: HANNU MAKARAINEN/FLICKR (CC BY-SA 2.0).

PHOTO: BERNARD SPRAGG/FLICKR

With 1,000 people employed from the get-go, McMahon describes the factory as a ‘turning point’ for the city, at its height employing 7,000 people, and providing work for some 20,000 over its lifespan.

Tractors produced in Cork were exported around the world, many bound for the UK or Russia, though a large portion remained in Ireland. Throughout the following decades, the factory also produced all of the other main Ford vehicles sold in Europe 1927 Fordson F from the 1930s right up to the 1970s and ‘80s, including the Model A, Model BF and Model Y, the Prefect, Anglia, Escort, Cortina and Sierra. The last Model T produced across the world, an iconic vehicle that brought motoring to the masses and came in any colour as long as it was black, rolled off the line in Cork in December 1928. “The legacy is huge, and the memory and the legacy that has been left by Ford in Cork is really widespread,” McMahon adds.

PHOTO: EMMANUEL HUYBRECHTS/FLICKR (CC BY 2.0)

“HENRY FORD HIMSELF WAS OF CORK DESCENT – HIS FATHER WILLIAM WAS BORN IN THE VILLAGE OF BALLINASCARTHY, 40KM WEST OF CORK CITY.“

“[They’re] all classics really. Classics from the point of view of tractors that were around in the sixties, seventies and eighties when we were growing up, my brother and I. That’s why I started collecting. Massey Ferguson, International, John Deere, a few Zetors, and then, of course, the Fords.”

The latter make up a substantial part of his collection, with a variety of Ford models spanning several decades.

I ask Michael about his own personal highlights and there’s plenty to choose from, including a Ford 3610 in four-wheel drive, and a lovingly restored Ford 2600 with a Fritzmeier cab. For some, it might be akin to picking between your children.

But Michael doesn’t take too long to choose, and shows me an impressive double tractor, a Fordson derivative EAR TO THE GROUND 99

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William Clay Ford Jr. with his wife Lisa and two sons Nick and Will, sitting in the life-size Model T sculpture in Ballinascarthy.

with warmth in his voice. “The amount of money that the vintage tractor movement, especially in Ireland, generates for charities is massive. Every day, every week, every weekend, old tractors are being used to generate cash for very deserving charities. It’s great to be able to generate a few bob back into society.”

PHOTO: JOHN SHEEHAN

known as a Doe Triple D, developed in response to a need for more horsepower in the 1950s and ‘60s. “This farmer in the east of England, George Pryor, came up with this idea of marrying two tractors together and putting an articulated piece in the middle. That would double his horsepower and also it would give him huge traction because you had the weight sitting on top of the wheels,” he explains. “The production of these went on until the ‘70s and they were a very unusual beast. We’re fortunate enough to have one, a 1966 that started life in Kelso on the Scottish border on a tillage farm. We got to buy it in 2007 and we have it fully restored now.”

So what’s the draw for Michael? Where does the drive or the passion come from?

After all, the restoration process can sometimes be painstaking as you trawl through the collections of tractor part providers, or private sellers on DoneDeal.

“First of all, it’s trying to find them, and then trying to find the parts for them. And then getting them restored. It’s the whole piece really,” Michael says after a short pause. “And trying to find a part that’s not available. Fords are generally very easy to get parts for, some of them. Massey Ferguson and John Deere are too...Trying to find genuine old parts is difficult now.”

But the community spirit that exists around and perhaps because of the vintage societies is a big part of the attraction for Michael, groups of like-minded people who use their passion for old vehicles as a force for good, holding local events with proceeds benefiting a variety of worthy causes across the country. “The vintage movement in Ireland – they’re great people, they really are. You see in lots of different hobbies that people can be very competitive and very on each other’s backs. Whereas in the vintage movement all you have is camaraderie and people look out for each other,” Michael explains

PHOTO: JOHN ALLEN

“WILLIAM CLAY FORD JR, THE EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN OF FORD MOTOR COMPANY WORLDWIDE, TRAVELLED TO CORK TO TAKE PART IN THE CENTENARY COMMEMORATIONS LAST APRIL.“

William Clay Ford Jr.; his distant cousin Hazel Ford Buttimer from Ballinascarthy who still owns and works the Ford family farm; and Ciarán McMahon of Ford Ireland.

CENTENARY CELEBRATION These worlds collided during the Ford 100 celebrations throughout 2017, a series of commemorative events two years in the planning ranging from vintage exhibitions and the launch of the Ford Quercus Scholarship programme with University College Cork (UCC) to a civic reception for all of the Ford Export employees who had ever worked in the plant, and a black tie gala dinner attended by the Ford family. William Clay Ford Jr, the executive chairman of Ford Motor Company, travelled to Cork to take part in the centenary commemorations last April and paid a visit to the family homestead in

Ballinascarthy, which remains in the Ford family through Hazel Ford Buttimer. “They really appreciate and they really associate with that West Cork region and Ballinascarthy in particular as being where it all began, and where Henry Ford’s greatgrandfather originally emigrated from,” says McMahon.

Vintage and Ford enthusiasts across the country dusted off their pride and joy and put them on display too – a total of 862 Ford, Fordson and New Holland tractors rocked up to an event organised

by Braid Valley Vintage Enthusiasts at Nutts Corner in Co Antrim, showcasing a wealth of tractor history and raising money for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Members of the Blue Force Tractor

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William Clay Ford Jr. with a display of Ford and Fordson tractors at the Ford family farm.

Club, based in the UK, took a 5,000mile trip around Ireland and the UK to commemorate the anniversary and raise funds along the way, travelling in style in two new T6 New Hollands.

And thousands attended the Ford 100 Fest at Ballinascarthy in August, jostling for a chance to see one of the largest collections of Fordsons ever assembled in one place.

“We’ve seen fantastic examples of tractors that were built in the plant in the last couple of months when we had all of our events, when we had tractor collectors and enthusiasts,” says McMahon. “And as part of our 100 celebration we had about 200 Fordson tractors in Ballinascarthy, which is the homestead of Henry Ford, back in August where we teamed up with the West Cork Vintage Ploughing and Threshing Association. Some of the old tractors that were built in the factory in 1920/21 still had the plates on them that said ‘Henry Ford & Son Ltd. Built in Cork’. There’s a huge association with the farming community in Cork through Ford.”

As the dust settles on Ford Ireland’s 100th anniversary, McMahon reflects on the future path of the company.

Times are changing in the world of motor vehicles but, he stresses, the company hasn’t strayed too far from the original vision of Henry Ford.

“Our long-term vision is that yes, we will still be selling cars, however, it also means in the future that we need to be at the centre of making

PHOTO: JOHN SHEEHAN

MACHINERY

people’s lives better and change the way the world moves... I suppose it’s funny because when Henry Ford founded Ford in 1903 he changed the world forever from horses and carts to motor cars,” he explains. “A lot happened in the year and we’re very proud of what we’ve done, we’re very proud of the 100 years that we’ve celebrated and hopefully there’ll be another 100 years in the offing.”

FINDING THE RIGHT PART On the hunt for a specific vintage Ford tractor part? Try searching on eBay, DoneDeal or Adverts.ie, or check out bricks and mortar suppliers such as: • John Conaty, Kells, Co Meath (Sylvan Tractor Spares) • Cliffords Tractor Parts, Tralee, Co Kerry • NC Tractor Spares, Sixmilecross, Co Tyrone • RS Moynan Tractor Spares, Ballacolla, Co Laois

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FERTILIZER ASSOCIATION OF IRELAND

Championing Sustainability

THE FERTILIZER ASSOCIATION OF IRELAND (FAI) IS CELEBRATING 50 YEARS IN 2018. EAR TO THE GROUND LOOKS AT THE WORK OF THE ORGANISATION OVER THE PAST FIVE DECADES AND THE CAUSES IT HAS AND CONTINUES TO CHAMPION.

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S

ince its formation in 1968 under the stewardship of Dr Tom Walsh – celebrating 50 years in 2018 – the key mission of the Fertiliser Association of Ireland (FAI) has always been the promotion of efficiency and the economical and environmentally sustainable use of fertiliser on Irish farms. With a membership drawn from across the agricultural spectrum, from farmers and agribusiness to government officials and researchers, former president and current secretary of the Association Jeremiah Murphy explains that those three pillars have long been at the heart of the organisation – an organisation that has always focused on what’s best for farmers and farming.

“We always had the mindset that the best use of fertiliser was good for the farmer, good for the environment and it should be used in an environmentally good fashion in that sense,” he explains.

Murphy has been involved in the Association since 1986, including a stint as its president in 1995 – “a long time ago!” he laughs. While the nitrate directives issued by the EU are currently at the forefront in the promotion of sustainable agriculture, Murphy points out that the FAI has always been way ahead of the curve in this regard.

“We did do a printout back in 1991 which is the first edition of the fertiliser Code of Good Practice,” he says. “We updated it in the late nineties and that would have been the precursor of the Blue Book produced by the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine in relation to the voluntary code of practice [regarding] fertilisers and manures and waterways.”

That Code of Good Practice revolves around the ‘optimum production of quality food while at the same time minimising nutrient loss through leaching, runoff or losses to air, and thereby prevent any avoidable rise in nitrate and phosphate levels in water’. Apart from the price of nutrients, the impact on water quality can be substantial. Increased levels of phosphorus and nitrogen in the water can lead to eutrophication, which basically means an increase in nutrient levels in the environment that results in algae and aquatic plant overgrowth, depleting levels of oxygen in the water and preventing it from sustaining other forms of life.

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FERTILIZER ASSOCIATION OF IRELAND

DIRECTING NITRATES Initially founded in Dublin, the organisation currently meets in the Midlands near Abbeyleix. The governing council is comprised of 15 members drawn from all aspects of the industry including fertiliser companies, the Ground Limestone Producers Association, Teagasc, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the IFA, the Agricultural Consultants Association (ACA) and various co-ops and general agricultural merchants across the country.

PJ Browne, current president of the FAI, feels the organisation is wellplaced to meet its objectives with this talented team, which brings a variety of perspectives to the table. “They know what they’re talking about and they know what’s needed for Ireland to achieve its objectives and targets for the years ahead,” he explains.

Among these objectives is making submissions to the EU Nitrates Directive, a directive in place to help curb the excessive use of fertiliser on farms. This is reviewed every four years and suggestions on how to improve the directive are invited from all organisations across the industry, including the FAI. “We made submissions to the last three nitrate regulations in 2010, 2014 and the new one that’s pending in 2018,” Jeremiah Murphy confirms.

“Our contribution was appreciated and recognised and they have adapted a lot of the proposals that we have suggested.”

Under the current Nitrates Directive, all farmers in the EU are limited to a maximum organic nitrogen loading of 170 kg/ha. Ireland’s dairy farmers have availed of a derogation that allows them to farm more intensively up to a limit of 250kg/ha of organic nitrogen, recently extended by four years. This is critical for achieving Food Wise

Dr David Wall, FAI council member

ABOVE, TOP AND LAST PAGE: Spring field visit on May 4th 2017 to Teagasc’s Kildalton College, Piltown, Co Kilkenny regarding the precise application of fertilisers and a tour of Teagasc’s open source sustainable demonstration farm.

“AS WELL AS DEVELOPING NEW TECHNOLOGIES TO ASSIST FARMERS, FOR THE LAST 11 YEARS THE ORGANISATION HAS BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH TEAGASC’S FETAC-ACCREDITED CROP NUTRITION MANAGEMENT COURSE.”

STEPS TO OPTIMUM FERTILISER USE • Determine the crop’s requirements through soil testing and cropping history.

• Take care at all stages of collecting, storage and applying animal manures.

• Apply the correct amounts at the right times, right rates and in suitable conditions.

• Sow winter cover crops to stabilise soil nutrients and avoid runoff.

2025 targets for the sector although it hasn’t been without criticism. Under the derogation, farmers are required to adhere to stricter nutrient management and soil testing regulations in order to protect water quality. Soil scientist and senior researcher with Teagasc, Dr David Wall, outlines just what is at stake if Irish farmers fail to do this.

“Ireland’s Nitrates Derogation is reviewed by the EU every four years,” he explains. “This is contingent on evidence that Irish farmers are adopting best nutrient management practice as set out in the Nitrates Directive – NAP – and also on positive trends in water quality.” In Ireland, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) monitors water quality across rivers, lakes and other bodies of water and reports these results to the EU every three years. At present, levels of water quality are high but Dr Wall cautions against dropping these standards. “Overall Ireland has high levels of water quality compared to our EU neighbours, however, we cannot afford to let this slip or our Nitrates Derogation may be lost and grass-based production systems would be compromised,” he warns.

MEASURES Members of the FAI are striving to avoid this scenario through their research in

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FERTILIZER ASSOCIATION OF IRELAND

The Fertilizer Association of Ireland (FAI) crest

nutrient efficiency and soil quality, led

by Dr Wall (an FAI council member), with the aim of developing more soilspecific nutrient advice for Irish farmers.

The research is focused on identifying new fertiliser technologies to increase nutrient efficiency as well as looking at indicators of soil quality and resilience.

Soil fertility is particularly of interest.

“Currently the soil fertility status of Irish farms is at an all-time low in terms of pH, phosphorus and potassium status. Nationally, soil test results from farms indicate that only 1 in 10 soils have the optimum soil fertility status – correct levels of pH, P and K in combination,” he states, adding that these low levels impact on our ability to meet agronomical targets. “Low soil fertility is an impediment to achieving increased grass and crop productivity on farms and to achieving the Food Wise 2025 targets set out by the Government.

As soil fertility declines it is likely to contribute to lower profitability and viability of many farms in future.”

The fertility of soil is dependent on the quantity of lime present. Insufficient levels result in higher acidity in terms of pH balance, interfering with fertility levels. Consequently, this has an impact on the efficiency of fertiliser and manure application, resulting in more waste. Thanks to contributions

A summer outing to Scotland in 2015.

from the Ground Limestone Producers Association, the FAI is steadily working to address this issue – FAI president PJ Browne describes their work as “instrumental in the whole nutrient wheel in Ireland” by providing lime to resolve pH issues. The FAI has also developed an app to help farmers calculate phosphorus and potassium fertiliser requirements in order to achieve optimum crop yield.

“The farmer would put in his yield and that would automatically calculate for him what the off-take in P and K values are for that crop,” Browne explains.

“He can more accurately estimate how much he has to put back on to achieve that yield or maybe higher.”

LEADING THE WAY These are only a few examples of a broad body of work, tools and resources developed by the FAI over the past five decades. As well as developing new technologies to assist farmers, for the last 11 years the organisation has been associated with Teagasc’s FETACaccredited Crop Nutrition Management course which is run by Mark Plunkett.

The six-day course takes in between 30-35 people across the industry every year who want to brush up on the vital aspects of crop nutrition.

The majority of participants work

for fertiliser companies or co-ops but students are also welcome to sign up.

Work is also being done to foster youth participation, and the Association runs a wide range of events throughout the year, not just for the younger generation but to provide information to the farming community at large.

In May 2017, for example, Kildalton College hosted the Association’s annual Spring Field Day, which took the theme of the Precise Application of Fertilisers.

“We had various demonstrations and boards and stations dotted around the college on the day which typically presented how to properly calibrate your fertiliser spreader and different problems that can arise with fertiliser spreaders. For example, wear and tear and what this can do to the spreader,” says Browne. Between 60 and 80 people turned out on the day – its success means that there are plans in the pipeline to take the show on the road to a number of colleges in 2018, forming part of the FAI’s 50th anniversary celebrations.

That Golden Jubilee will also be marked by the annual Spring Scientific Meeting, taking place at the beginning of February – the Association’s first engagement of their half-century year.

“We’re planning some very exciting papers for that event,” Browne confirms. “We’re going to theme it on the sustainability of Irish farming, because that is becoming such an issue now, surrounding the issue of water quality and greenhouse gas emissions.”

Sustainability has always been at the forefront of the FAI’s work, even more so now as concern mounts over the depletion of natural resources.

“Some fertiliser is not infinite, it’s definitely finite, especially the likes of phosphorus, and we have to become more responsible as to how we’re going to use fertiliser. We have to become craftier in achieving higher yields and higher productivity without damaging the environment,” Browne warns, adding that greenhouse gas emissions in particular will be pertinent in the near future. “I think the whole greenhouse gas mitigation plan is going to be a form of a quota going forward. It’s something that’s going to have to be taken seriously.”

Clearly there’s plenty of work to be done now and in the next 50 years – the FAI is on the job.

106 EAR TO THE GROUND

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FERTILIZER ASSOCIATION OF IRELAND

The Fertilizer Association of Ireland (FAI) crest

nutrient efficiency and soil quality, led

by Dr Wall (an FAI council member), with the aim of developing more soilspecific nutrient advice for Irish farmers.

The research is focused on identifying new fertiliser technologies to increase nutrient efficiency as well as looking at indicators of soil quality and resilience.

Soil fertility is particularly of interest.

“Currently the soil fertility status of Irish farms is at an all-time low in terms of pH, phosphorus and potassium status. Nationally, soil test results from farms indicate that only 1 in 10 soils have the optimum soil fertility status – correct levels of pH, P and K in combination,” he states, adding that these low levels impact on our ability to meet agronomical targets. “Low soil fertility is an impediment to achieving increased grass and crop productivity on farms and to achieving the Food Wise 2025 targets set out by the Government.

As soil fertility declines it is likely to contribute to lower profitability and viability of many farms in future.”

The fertility of soil is dependent on the quantity of lime present. Insufficient levels result in higher acidity in terms of pH balance, interfering with fertility levels. Consequently, this has an impact on the efficiency of fertiliser and manure application, resulting in more waste. Thanks to contributions

A summer outing to Scotland in 2015.

from the Ground Limestone Producers Association, the FAI is steadily working to address this issue – FAI president PJ Browne describes their work as “instrumental in the whole nutrient wheel in Ireland” by providing lime to resolve pH issues. The FAI has also developed an app to help farmers calculate phosphorus and potassium fertiliser requirements in order to achieve optimum crop yield.

“The farmer would put in his yield and that would automatically calculate for him what the off-take in P and K values are for that crop,” Browne explains.

“He can more accurately estimate how much he has to put back on to achieve that yield or maybe higher.”

LEADING THE WAY These are only a few examples of a broad body of work, tools and resources developed by the FAI over the past five decades. As well as developing new technologies to assist farmers, for the last 11 years the organisation has been associated with Teagasc’s FETACaccredited Crop Nutrition Management course which is run by Mark Plunkett.

The six-day course takes in between 30-35 people across the industry every year who want to brush up on the vital aspects of crop nutrition.

The majority of participants work

for fertiliser companies or co-ops but students are also welcome to sign up.

Work is also being done to foster youth participation, and the Association runs a wide range of events throughout the year, not just for the younger generation but to provide information to the farming community at large.

In May 2017, for example, Kildalton College hosted the Association’s annual Spring Field Day, which took the theme of the Precise Application of Fertilisers.

“We had various demonstrations and boards and stations dotted around the college on the day which typically presented how to properly calibrate your fertiliser spreader and different problems that can arise with fertiliser spreaders. For example, wear and tear and what this can do to the spreader,” says Browne. Between 60 and 80 people turned out on the day – its success means that there are plans in the pipeline to take the show on the road to a number of colleges in 2018, forming part of the FAI’s 50th anniversary celebrations.

That Golden Jubilee will also be marked by the annual Spring Scientific Meeting, taking place at the beginning of February – the Association’s first engagement of their half-century year.

“We’re planning some very exciting papers for that event,” Browne confirms. “We’re going to theme it on the sustainability of Irish farming, because that is becoming such an issue now, surrounding the issue of water quality and greenhouse gas emissions.”

Sustainability has always been at the forefront of the FAI’s work, even more so now as concern mounts over the depletion of natural resources.

“Some fertiliser is not infinite, it’s definitely finite, especially the likes of phosphorus, and we have to become more responsible as to how we’re going to use fertiliser. We have to become craftier in achieving higher yields and higher productivity without damaging the environment,” Browne warns, adding that greenhouse gas emissions in particular will be pertinent in the near future. “I think the whole greenhouse gas mitigation plan is going to be a form of a quota going forward. It’s something that’s going to have to be taken seriously.”

Clearly there’s plenty of work to be done now and in the next 50 years – the FAI is on the job.

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EQUINE

Sizing John and Robbie Power winning the Stan James Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown in 2017.

PHOTO: ALAIN BARR

Racing

JOE FINEGAN TAKES A LOOK AT THE ROLE THAT BREEDING AND RACING THOROUGHBRED HORSES PLAY IN THE RURAL ECONOMY, GOVERNMENT INCENTIVES FOR THE INDUSTRY, AND THE CHALLENGES IT FACES IN THE SHADOW OF BREXIT.

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EQUINE

€1.05BN

THE CORE IRISH BREEDING & RACING ECONOMIC IMPACT

28,900

DIRECT, INDIRECT AND SECONDARY JOBS IN BREEDING AND RACING

25%

ADULT POPULATION WITH AN INTEREST IN RACING

€333M

CAPITAL EXPENDITURE 2007-2016

BREEDING BOOST Aside from the local economy uplift experienced by towns when the racing roadshow rolls around, the breeding industry also provides a sustained flow of income supporting rural employment. In 2016, Ireland produced 9,381 foals, which ranks third in the world of thoroughbred breeding nations. Ireland’s 6,777 registered breeders hail from every county, representative of how the equine industry reaches all corners of the country – all 32 counties are represented.

Although some of the world’s biggest bloodstock empires have bases here, 92 per cent of the total number of breeders in Ireland have five thoroughbred broodmares or less. The number of thoroughbred foals being born has steadily increased from the recession hit years of 2010 and 2011.

And for every foal, it stands to reason there’s a stallion.

In 2015, roughly 13,800 coverings were recorded by Irish stallions, generating fees of approximately €130m, of which €45m originated from overseas. That’s another export result for Irish breeding, and more direct foreign investment.

Over 6,100 thoroughbreds left Ireland during 2016,

Our Duke and Robbie Power after winning the 2017 Boylesports Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse.

PHOTO: ALAIN BARR

Figures taken from the 2017 Deloitte report

PHOTO: PATRICK MCCANN

T

he Horse Racing Ireland-commissioned (HRI) report on the economic impact of the horseracing industry did exactly what racing’s governing body wanted it to do. The figures churned out by financial consultants Deloitte, hired by HRI to compile the industry study, which highlight the value of the industry to rural Ireland, are impressive.

One of HRI’s main functions, apart from providing an administration and marketing service to the industry, is to lobby the Government for funds to keep the show on the road. The report certainly makes HRI CEO Brian Kavanagh’s job a little easier.

The fact that some 28,900 jobs are attributed to the industry and its spin-offs speaks for itself. Taking into account that training centres and studs are in rural locations, their success and longevity are vital in sustaining employment in areas where jobs can be scarce. Deloitte placed the industry expenditure figure at €1.84 billion, which can be split roughly in half between core industry expenditure (€914 million), and secondary expenditure (€927m) as the initial expenditure filters through the economy from business-to-business.

Racing’s popularity among the general public in Ireland is reported as being back at pre-recession levels, putting total attendances at race meetings during 2016 at 1.3m people. This places horseracing second to the GAA in terms of popularity. However, racing staged 356 fixtures in 2016, a considerably higher amount than the 96 AllIreland Championship fixtures held during the same timeframe. Considering Leopardstown is the sole racecourse representative in Dublin, the figure of 1.3m attendees is significant. Most of that number is spread around the country, creating race-day employment by the racecourses and for catering staff etc. It has been calculated that the average spend of each racegoer at the racecourse is €35. In addition to that spend, Deloitte estimates that some €137m is spent off-course by racegoers – a valuable boost to rural economies. Approximately 9 per cent of racecourse attendees are from overseas, providing the exchequer with further foreign funds.

HORSE RACING BY NUMBERS

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EQUINE

either being sold overseas or by being transferred by their owner to a foreign training establishment. The value of thoroughbreds sold overseas amounts to approximately €370m.

It seems Ireland’s naturally occurring conditions for this kind of activity are on the nose. “This industry ticks every box in terms of rural development and we have natural advantages over other countries due to climate, soil structure and Irish people’s affinity with horses and ability to handle them,” Brian Kavanagh told the Irish Independent around the time the report was released.

But it’s not just breeders who are making a buck from producing thoroughbreds. Plenty of ancillary services are profiting too; from trainers, veterinary surgeons and farriers to transport companies, tack shops, equipment sellers, bedding and feed suppliers, as well as physiotherapists and dentists. The Deloitte report highlights the powerful Willie Mullins’ yard in Co Carlow as an example. His yard, which will house well over 200 horses during the winter, is located near Bagenalstown and creates some 400 jobs directly and indirectly throughout any particular year.

He will employ stable staff and work riders, but also has an effect on five local

equine veterinary practices, two equine suppliers, a horse transport company and a horse feed company.

Regarding an international standing, Mullins, as well as fellow National Hunt trainer Gordon Elliott, and giant owning operations such as Gigginstown House Stud (backed by Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary) and JP McManus lead the way, while on the flat, Coolmore (and Aidan O’Brien) tend to dominate. During 2016, Irish-trained horses in both codes brought home some €79m in prize money globally – 29 wins were Group 1s (flat) and 47 were Grade 1s (the jumps equivalent of a Group 1). On a global level, Ireland and its horses are mixing it with the very best in the world. Of the top 100 rated flat horses across the globe, 21 are bred on these shores and 13 of them were trained here. As Joe Keeling, HRI’s Chairperson said, “Our breeding and racing industry certainly delivers to the local economy like few others but, in racing terms, it also sits in the centre of the world.”

It sits at the top of the world too.

Recently, Aidan O’Brien set a new world record for the number of Group and Grade 1 winners trained on the flat in a calendar year. Ireland’s champion trainer won his 26th Group 1 in 2017 when Saxon Warrior landed the Racing Post

Horse Racing Ireland CEO Brian Kavanagh

PHOTO: PATRICK MCCANN

PHOTO: PATRICK MCCANN

All The Mollies (Killian Leonard) wins the 2017 John Madden & Sons Claiming Maiden.

“THE PICTURES OF SMILING CONNECTIONS IN WINNER’S ENCLOSURES AT GLITZY HIGH-PROFILE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVALS DON’T TELL THE WHOLE STORY.“

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EQUINE

Sizing John and Robbie Power winning the Coral Punchestown Gold Cup at Punchestown in 2017.

PHOTO: ALAIN BARR

“RACING’S POPULARITY AMONG THE GENERAL PUBLIC IN IRELAND IS REPORTED AS BEING BACK AT PRE-RECESSION LEVELS.“

PHOTO: PATRICK MCCANN

Capri and Seamie Heffernan winning the 2017 Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby.

Trophy at Doncaster on October 28th, surpassing the record set by the late American trainer Bobby Frankel in 2003.

Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed led the tributes at the time. “I would like to extend my congratulations to Aidan O’Brien and his team on an historic achievement,” he stated. “O’Brien is simply a phenomenon in the international world of racing. It has been an amazing year for O’Brien and his entire team, and for Ireland’s racing industry as a whole.”

DRILLING DEEPER However, the pictures of smiling connections in winner’s enclosures at glitzy high-profile international festivals

don’t tell the whole story. The fact is, everyone wants to be at those events. The figures in the Deloitte manuscript speak for themselves. The seven major festivals in Ireland attracted 39 per cent of the total attendance for the year at all 356 race meetings – Galway, Punchestown, Christmas festivals at Leopardstown and Limerick, Listowel, Fairyhouse, and Derby weekend at the Curragh. It helps that approximately 25 per cent of Irish adults have gone on record as having an interest in Irish racing. That’s surely a higher figure than most other racing nations.

Kavanagh put it this way: “The bigger meetings are becoming very popular, the same trend you are seeing in other

sports. Everyone wants to go and see Manchester United v Liverpool or the All-Ireland final. But smaller matches are a harder sell, particularly with so much sport and racing now on television.

Racing has to adapt.”

The industry will also have to adapt to the international movement of horses as a result of Brexit. “Brexit poses serious potential risks to the Irish breeding and racing industry,” said Joe Keeling. “The racing industry and HRI will be working very closely with our stakeholders and European colleagues, including the BHA and France Galop, as well as various State and EU departments.”

In order to protect the €438m worth of sales by Irish vendors in 2016, Brexit regulations on how horses cross borders must be addressed. Ireland’s establishment as a centre for breeding popularity was helped by Government legislation exempting the stallion stud fees from taxes. However, this was removed in 2008. Now, the challenges facing breeders surround the free movement of horses, various tariffs, and the exchange rate between the Euro and the British Pound. “The big guys are under pressure from Brexit as well, because so much of their market is dependent on the UK,” Kavanagh said at the time of the report being published.

“But the more vulnerable group is the much larger group of small players.”

Perhaps extra incentives at a government level to alleviate negatives need to be introduced to entice and encourage the trade of horses. The Government already props up the industry to the tune of €64m (awarded in the 2016 Budget), but some €51m of that is raised through a betting tax.

A proposed increase in the betting levy (from 1 per cent to 1.1 per cent levied on bookmakers’ turnover both online and via retail) would reduce the need for the Government to dish out so much, if anything at all, as racing in Ireland moves towards becoming a selfsupporting industry. The recent Budget carried no acceptance of that proposal and Kavanagh has issued a war-cry: “If you believe something is right, you just keep making the case.”

The fight will go on.

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FARMING BODIES

THE IRISH CATTLE AND SHEEP FARMERS’ ASSOCIATION HAS PRESENTED A VOICE FOR IRISH DRYSTOCK FARMERS FOR DECADES. WE TAKE A LOOK BEHIND THE SCENES AFTER 25 YEARS.

Driving

Drystock Farming

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FARMING BODIES

PHOTO COURTESY ICSA ARCHIVES

A

lthough the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) emerged as it is today in 1993, its roots go back much further.

Previously known as the Irish Cattle Traders and Stockowners’ Association, it dates back to the 19th century, referenced in James Joyce’s famous Ulysses. The Association has long been a voice for the beef and lamb sectors, broadening its scope to include all drystock farmers – including sheep and suckler farmers – following its revival as the ICSA in 1993, against a backdrop of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform.

The ICSA’s initial offices were in the house of its first secretary, Pat Lalor, in Kilbeggan, a man described as ‘indefatigable’ and who had a vision for a structured, professional organisation.

Within several years, the ICSA had set-up a full-time office in Portlaoise, from which they still operate. One of its earliest successes was its strong support for decoupling of EU area payments that led to overproduction and poor prices. Despite widespread criticism, its vision was vindicated when decoupled payments arrived in 2005, with production moving more into line with demand over a number of years. 2006 was also a landmark year for the organisation, with Minister Mary Coughlan announcing its new position as a social partner – the ICSA became recognised as an official farmers’ representative body on all government forums, adding membership of the Farm Europe think-tank and a position as a registered lobbyist to expand its reach in Europe.

Officers and Committee elected to the Irish Cattle Traders and Stockowners’ Association in 1916.

Today, the organisation has grown to more than 10,000 members from across the 26 counties, with a national executive of over 100 representatives, highlighting the interests of drystock farmers across the country. “The organisation’s main aim is to fight for farmers, particularly in the more marginal cattle and sheep sectors,” explains Eddie Punch, a Co Clare native and General Secretary of the ICSA since 1999. “Essentially we are there to try and keep the agenda of the farmers who have the biggest income difficulties centre stage at Brussels and in Dublin.”

CAMPAIGNS The issues the ICSA fights on and pioneers are as broad and varied as the members it represents, at a local, national and international level. They

range from calls for schemes that would improve farm profitability and a more rational approach to TB restrictions to more targeted funding for the sheep sector and a common-sense approach to Bord Bia audits, not to mention decreased bureaucracy when it comes to CAP payments and requirements, as well as a fair share of the price paid by the consumer. Rural development issues are also important, such as crime, isolation and the closure of key facilities in these communities.

In the last few months the organisation has argued that farmers must be financially sustainable in order to meet climate change targets, conducted a crime survey highlighting its impact on rural Ireland and farming households, encouraged greater participation of women at a senior level, and met with

25 YEARS OF ICSA

1993

1999

2001/02

2003

2004/05

THE ICSA EMERGES AS A RESULT OF UNHAPPINESS WITH THE 1992 MACSHARRY CAP REFORMS.

ICSA BRINGS THOUSANDS OF SHEEP FARMERS ONTO DUBLIN’S STREETS, PROTESTING THE ‘FORGOTTEN SECTOR’.

ICSA SUCCESSFULLY ARGUES FOR THE INCREASE OF THE EWE AND BEEF PREMIUMS.

ICSA’S SUPPORT OF DECOUPLING PAYMENTS WAS VINDICATED THROUGH CAP REFORMS PROPOSED BY COMMISSIONER FRANZ FISCHLER.

THE ORGANISATION’S FOCUS BROADENS TO INCLUDE ISSUES SUCH AS HILL-WALKING, ELECTRICITY PYLONS, AND GM CROPS.

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114,000 farmers apply for their BPS online, do you?

You can now apply for a range of the Department’s Schemes online and avail of the many benefits simply by applying on www.agfood.ie.

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FARMING BODIES

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Ministers Michael Creed and Andrew Doyle to discuss the pressing challenges facing Irish agriculture today – chiefly Brexit, CAP funding, climate change and Mercosur.

Most recently, the ICSA represented Irish farmers at talks held in Brussels with Sandra Gallina, the EU’s chief negotiator on the proposed Mercosur agreement that would see those South American countries given greater access to the European market, including for beef.

At the helm of the organisation is Patrick Kent, ICSA president since 2013.

When we spoke, he was in the midst of a presidential election battle, but candidly discussed the challenges facing the cattle and sheep sectors and what must be done to solve those issues and increase incomes and sustainability – the need to secure better prices from those in control of the markets, to have Ireland’s beef grading re-examined, to maintain and develop a strong position within the EU, and to better compete against other markets and increase the sectors’ profitability by capitalising on Ireland’s strengths, pushing brand Ireland as a key choice of the health-conscious consumer.

“We have the product and we’re not targeting them as sufficiently. I think there’s potential there to get a lot more money for our beef and lamb. The environment – the air quality, the water quality, the omega levels – everything is right in the products that we’re producing. As a country we should be getting a better recognition for that,” he explains. “It’s not about producing more for less, and unfortunately our 2025 objectives [are about] doing that.

It’s actually producing maybe a little bit less and getting a much better return, a better lifestyle for the primary producers.

We’ve got to re-evaluate our objectives.”

These objectives stem from the needs and aims of their members. Kent notes that ICSA members pay an annual fee of €125, in place of collecting a levy that some farm organisations

“THE ISSUES THE ICSA FIGHTS ON AND PIONEERS ARE AS BROAD AND VARIED AS THE MEMBERS IT REPRESENTS, AT A LOCAL, NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LEVEL.” rely on. Kent himself was one of the first cohort who subscribed to the fledgling organisation in those early days; filling in a membership coupon in The Practical Farmer. Financially speaking it doesn’t put the organisation in a strong position, but it does provide them with a very clear mandate, and also places each member on an equal footing regardless of their standing.

“I think we have a very strong mandate from our members,” says Kent. “We’re not in the business of putting away vast sums of money, but on an ongoing basis we’re very effective. The money that farmers spend on membership is very well spent with the ICSA because it goes totally towards providing that service for those farmers.”

THE PATH AHEAD So where to from here? There’s plenty of work to be done in advancing the position of drystock farmers. The sheep sector is in a relatively strong position at the moment with decent prices, but the cattle sector has been problematic in terms of returns that deliver a sustainable income – challenges include the impending Mercosur deal and its position at the centre of Europe’s climate change policy, with recent suggestions that Irish beef production be reduced.

That desire to be representative has seen an expansion of the ICSA’s focus in recent months, opening committees dealing with organic and tillage farming, allowing it to represent a broader swathe of farmers in different directions. The organisation also maintains a focus on the next generation, recognising that the continued growth and development of the sector must be driven by young farmers; increasing the number of women involved in farming and on the ICSA national executive is also a key objective. To do

that there’s a need to promote farming as an attractive career – again it comes back to a fair price for a quality product, one that will make our farming industries much more sustainable and capable of properly supporting the next generation.

“I think [it’s about] producing higher quality foods that are better marketed, accentuating the positives, selling to its strengths and the strengths we have here in Ireland,” says Kent. “I don’t believe we can be surpassed in the quality of the premium product that we produce. And getting paid for it properly, that’s the future for Irish farming.”

In 2018 the ICSA celebrates 25 years of fighting for farmers since its reconstitution in 1993, and clearly there’s a sense of pride in reaching this milestone. “We’re not one for blowing farmers’ money on big celebrations, but obviously I think it’s a great achievement.

A lot of organisations come and go in Irish agriculture because there’s a sense that not all of the issues can be dealt with fairly and equitably in one big organisation. It’s easy enough, I suppose, to set up a group in response to the crisis of the day – it’s much harder to keep the momentum going. I think the achievement in ICSA is that not only have we managed to persist, we have consolidated and expanded,” says Punch, noting they are constantly looking for new members. “We need more farmers to support us if they want us to continue as a credible, strong voice for the less well-off farmers in particular, and to ensure that you’re not totally dependent on just one organisation which isn’t able to represent all of the farmers all of the time.”

“There is a certain level of pride among our members that’s almost palpable,” Kent adds. “The organisation is getting stronger, it’s building, and I believe it will build further.”

2006

2008

2010-2014

2017

ICSA BECOMES AN OFFICIAL, GOVERNMENTRECOGNISED FARMING REPRESENTATIVE ON ALL GOVERNMENT FORUMS.

ICSA PRESIDENT MALCOLM THOMPSON LEADS STREET PROTESTS IN BRUSSELS AGAINST WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION NEGOTIATIONS THAT COULD HAVE HAD A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON IRISH BEEF.

ISSUES FACING RURAL IRELAND COME TO THE FORE, INCLUDING RURAL CRIME, SEPTIC TANK CHARGES, ISOLATION AND THIRD-LEVEL EDUCATION GRANTS.

ICSA PLAYS A MAJOR ROLE IN REPRESENTING IRISH INTERESTS DURING MERCOSUR NEGOTIATIONS.

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ADVERTISING FEATURE

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The main benefits of Saber SCC include: • Results displayed live on your phone/tablet.

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By using Bull Match you will reduce the time and stress involved in making breeding decisions on the farm to produce the quality of calf you want Facebook “f ” Logo

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COMPETITION

ENJOY THE SIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF ONE OF IRELAND’S MOST VIBRANT CITIES FROM THE FOUR-STAR BOUTIQUE PEMBROKE KILKENNY. Ear to the Ground has teamed up with the four-star Pembroke Kilkenny to offer one lucky reader a fabulous one night break away to medieval Kilkenny city! The prize features a luxury stay for two in a Castle View room, along with dinner in Statham’s Restaurant at the hotel.

Located in the heart of Kilkenny’s central hub and old city quarter, Pembroke Kilkenny is just minutes from the culture, history, boutique shopping and bustling foodie and night scene that awaits visitors.

Guests have the opportunity to relax in the modern surroundings of the hotel, which is especially popular for ‘stay-cation’ breaks where they can sample the best of a city centre break away, with a restful night’s sleep in the heart of the city guaranteed. Relaxation and beauty treatments are also offered at what is Kilkenny’s premier medispa, Mint by Pembroke Kilkenny, perfect for a spot of indulgence after a day on the medieval cobbled streets.

Surrounded by the city’s most famous landmarks including Kilkenny Castle, The National Craft Gallery and Ireland’s Medieval Mile, the hotel is also the perfect base to explore over 5,000 years of history in Ireland’s Ancient East.

Pembroke Kilkenny is just a 15-minute stroll through this beautiful city from MacDonagh Train Station and car parking is no problem, with secure private parking facilities available at no extra cost. For more information, see www.pembrokekilkenny.com.

A BREAK AWAY TO KILKENNY WITH

THE FOUR-STAR PEMBROKE KILKENNY

TO BE IN WITH A CHANCE OF WINNING THIS FANTASTIC PRIZE, SIMPLY EMAIL ETTGCOMPETITIONS@ASHVILLEMEDIAGROUP.COM WITH YOUR NAME, CONTACT DETAILS AND ANSWER TO THE FOLLOWING QUESTION: NAME THE RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT THAT HELPED TO GROW AND EXPAND THE VILLAGE OF BALLITORE IN CO KILDARE. A) SHAKERS B) QUAKERS C) BAKERS

TERMS AND CONDITIONS Closing Date: February 31st 2018. Competition not open to employees of Ashville Media Group or Pembroke Kilkenny. No cash or gift card will be awarded in lieu of prize.

Winner will be selected at random. The winner will receive a one-night luxury stay for two in a Castle View room at Pembroke Kilkenny, with dinner in the hotel’s Statham’s Restaurant. Applicants must be over 18 and this offer is subject to availability.

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TECHNOLOGY

Agriculture’s

Tech Revolution

ACCORDING TO EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER FOR AGRICULTURE PHIL HOGAN, IRISH FARMERS CAN’T AFFORD TO BE LEFT BEHIND IN THE AGRI-TECH REVOLUTION, WHICH IS TRANSFORMING HOW THE INDUSTRY WORKS THROUGH INNOVATION. SO WHAT’S AVAILABLE OUT THERE FOR FARMERS WITH AN EYE ON THE FUTURE, AND HOW IT CAN HELP BOOST THEIR FARM ENTERPRISE?

MOBILE MANAGEMENT

Wearable animal IoT (Internet of Things) technology provider Moocall has recently released Breedmanager, a free herd management app available on Android or iOS. The app is designed to help beef and dairy farmers manage breeding and keep track of their herds, dividing animals into ‘smart lists’ based on the animals’ position within the breeding cycle – in-calf, cycling, in-heat and inseminated.

Simply put, a farmer can use the app to identify cows due to calf in the next week or two, or whether an animal has been in heat over the last 24 hours. A community element is also included that allows farmers to share images of their animals or status updates, or ask a question.

“Breedmanager is a major product launch for Moocall.

It gives breeders of all sizes the ability to better manage their herd through an intuitive mobile interface. Our app is available for anyone to use, free of charge, whether they are existing Moocall customers or not,” said John Larkin, Moocall’s Head of Technology. “Moocall are committed to providing solutions for the agriculture industry that increase farm productivity and profitability. It is our plan to continue to innovate and develop all of our products, both software and hardware, and in time our calving sensors and our soon to be released heat detection system will also automatically update the herd management software platform.”

FARM TO FORK

M

any of us have heard of Bitcoin, essentially a digital means of payment, also known as a ‘cryptocurrency’, which operates independently of any central bank.

The currency is underpinned by blockchain technology, which basically involves a continually growing list of secured data records maintained in a public database.

That technology has recently been repurposed

by US-based turkey producer Honeysuckle White, which is using it to allow consumers to trace their turkey from farm to their table via a code on the package. The pilot programme will run for a year, primarily based in Texas.

“Everyone deserves to know more about the food they’re eating, and I like feeling more connected to the people I’m raising these turkeys for. It’s important for me that consumers understand the care my family puts in every day to provide quality turkeys for families across the country,” said Texas farmer Darrell Glaser.

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PHOTO: EMMANUEL BOURGOIS

TECHNOLOGY

METHANE MACHINERY Electric and hybrid technology may be the way forward for passenger cars, but methanepowered tractors could be a common sight on farms in years to come. Machinery manufacturer New Holland has recently developed a concept tractor powered by methane, which it says could result in running cost savings of up to 30 per cent. Powered by a six-cylinder engine developing 180hp and 740Nm torque, durability and service intervals would remain the same, and overall emissions could be reduced by around 80 per cent compared to a standard diesel tractor.

The concept features as part of an imagined future where farms are energy independent – producing not only food but biomass for use in powering machinery and other operations.

The manufacturer has been researching clean energy solutions for a number of years now, beginning with 100 per cent compatibility with biodiesel in 2006, the world’s first hydrogen tractor concept in 2009, and its first propane-powered tractor prototype in 2012. The first methane prototype was presented in 2013, and the company has since refined the concept.

“The new methane-powered concept tractor is the latest development in New Holland’s pursuit of sustainable and efficient technology through innovation. Its groundbreaking engine delivers the same performance and has the same durability as its standard equivalent, but with much lower running costs,” said New Holland’s Carlo Lambro. “It combines alternative fuels and advanced agricultural technology to create a vital link that closes the loop in the Energy Independent Farm™’s virtuous cycle by running on the energy produced from the land and waste products.”

The concept has also reimagined tractor styling, inspired by automotive design. Wraparound glazing results in 360-degree visibility, the floating glass domed roof offers an unhindered view of the front loader, and the cab’s interior promises a ‘clutter-free’ experience with all essential controls located on the integrated armrest.

PRECISION FARMING

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PS guidance systems are a must-have for farmers who want to work more efficiently. Launched in 2017, onTrak from AgriCision promises an ‘affordable smart farming system for iPhone and iPad’, usable on any machine and mounted within the operator’s field of view. According to AgriCision, the device can be used in all weather conditions and comes without wires for easy installation, 24-hour battery life, a 10 Hz update rate and 20-30cm pass-to-pass accuracy rate. The app is free to download from the App Store and the device itself costs €785.

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TECHNOLOGY

LIGHT THERAPY

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quilume – a former University College Dublin (UCD) spin-out company and now part of the Circadian Group – has announced that an initial trial of its Bovine Light Mask has resulted in a 9 per cent increase in milk yields for dairy farmers.

Light therapy is an important factor for lactation in cows – indoor grazing systems leave the lights on for up to 18 hours a day to stimulate melatonin, a hormone that in turn stimulates increased lactation. The Bovine Light Mask uses a customised blue light to help ramp up milk production, allowing cows to remain outdoors and still maintain high yields.

Equilume’s new Bovine Light Mask.

THE PERFECT MATCH Among the novel and interesting ideas showcased at the National Ploughing Championship’s Innovation Arena last September was Bull Match, an online app designed and developed

by Brian and Teresa Kelly for commercial and pedigree beef farmers who want to use the best available genetics to breed top quality four and five-star stock and make informed breeding decisions.

Once a farmer buys the Bull Match app, he supplies his BDGP report. Bull Match then creates a personal account and profile page unique to the farmer’s herd, and uploads his females and stock bulls to the system. The farmer has four options to choose from – matching commercial females with stock bulls, matching pedigree females with stock bulls, matching commercial females with AI bulls, and matching pedigree females with AI bulls. The system combines the genetically and genomically fed replacement indexes of the animals to find the best possible breeding match using selected criteria, as well as the most accurate prediction possible of the progeny that will result from the breeding pair.

“I have lived and worked on a farm all my life and have always been interested in breeding and bovine genetics,” explains Brian, who runs the pedigree Limousin herd Leana Limousins with his father Timothy in Kilnaboy, Co Clare. Constantly striving to produce the perfect calf while maintaining good indexes and starts, Brian began to think there could be a better way of distilling all of the available data and simplifying the entire breeding system, while dispersing any misunderstandings regarding how indexes and percentiles really work. Farmers can subscribe to the service on an annual basis and can perform as many matches as required.

“Using Bull Match is the best possible way of ensuring that your herd is BDGP compliant while at the same time allowing your cows to produce the most optimum replacement progeny. For those farmers not in the BDGP it allows them to produce the best possible replacement stock for their own farm or to sell on as four and five-star top index breeding stock,” says Brian. “By using Bull Match you will reduce the time and stress involved in making breeding decisions on the farm. The app performs the task in seconds and gives the farmer confidence and security in knowing that he has made the best possible breeding match for his cows. Bull Match will also produce the most economically viable stock that will reduce the carbon footprint on your own farm and across the national herd.”

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TECHNOLOGY

T

ractor Safe Lock was the winner of the Enterprise Ireland Innovation Arena People’s Choice Award at the Ploughing Championships in 2017, a clever invention that automatically engages a tractor’s handbrake when the driver leaves the seat.

The device, built by student Jack Nagle, is activated by a pressure switch in the seat and prevents the vehicle from rolling away.

“Jack Nagle and Tractor Safe Lock represents one of the youngest winners of the Innovation Arena to date representing young entrepreneurial talent at its best and highlighting how Irish innovation is contributing to make farming practise safer,” said Enterprise Ireland’s James Maloney. “We wish Jack all the best in his business endeavours and Enterprise Ireland looks forward to working with him in the future.”

The overall winner was Solar Pump Solutions, which has developed a pump that can be set up in any remote location, requires minimal installation, and pumps water at a high pressure without the need for electricity.

Other highlights at the Innovation Arena included RainSafe, a water treatment device that treats water used on poultry farms before it’s consumed by birds, and Agrispeed, which has developed a round bale handling apparatus that attaches to the back of a tractor and helps to reduce damage to the protective plastic wrapping used on bales.

SMART TIRES Polymer engineering company Trelleborg has launched ConnecTire, a smart wheel designed for safer and more efficient work on the farm. Equipped with a range of smart sensors, ConnecTire constantly monitors tire pressure and temperature, relaying the information via Bluetooth and wireless connectivity. The farmer or operator can set a target tire pressure and the system will send an alert if corrective action is required.

In addition, an in-built GPS helps guard against tire and machine theft and when used in conjunction with precision farming software, farm managers can track the number of times a machine passes over the land, helping to limit the impact of soil compaction and erosion.

“ConnecTire is about ensuring efficiency and sustainability; tires are required to work intelligently and to be at the right pressure at all times. Farm machinery is exposed to many variables throughout a working day, all of which can impact upon efficiency – ambient temperature, humidity and soil conditions,” said Piero Mancinelli, R&D Director with Trelleborg Wheel Systems. “Being able to be in control of these allows farming operations to reduce inefficiencies. The alert via app capability is an essential feature of ConnecTire; changing conditions can require immediate action in order to maintain maximum efficiency and prevent rim slippage. ConnecTire’s communications functions enables fingertip control.”

FIGHTING BACTERIA Funding of €2.5 million has been awarded to Westway Health – a spin-out from NUI Galway – to tackle the challenge of antibiotic-resistant bacteria using ‘novel antimicrobial therapies’.

The award-winning company was set up in 2012 and the funding is being used to further the development of its lead product, PanaMast LC, which is aimed at treating bovine mastitis. A major health and economic issue across the world, bovine mastitis costs dairy farmers in Europe and the US more than €3 billion every year. Current treatments involve conventional antibiotics but can result in culling and lost milk revenue – milk from cows treated with antibiotics must be removed from sale for a certain period both during and after. Westway’s solution doesn’t involve the use of antibiotics and means that farmers can continue to sell their product during treatment.

“The growing emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is now described as a ‘ticking time bomb’,” said CEO Dr Ruairi Friel. “This could return healthcare to a pre-antibiotic era, where common infections can become fatal. Our solutions are proving effective against all microorganisms we have tested, including antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as MRSA.”

Dr Ruairi Friel, CEO of Westway Health.

PHOTO: AENGUS MCMAHON

LOCKED UP

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WORK-LIFE BALANCE

g n i k i r t S A

Balance ÓRLA NI SHEAGDHA DISCUSSES HOW TAKING A STEP BACK EVERY NOW AND THEN COULD IMPROVE BOTH YOUR FARM AND YOUR MENTAL HEALTH. When it comes to running a farm, there are a number of factors to be taken into consideration – the health of the animals, the finances, the management of farm labour. Very often, the last concern for busy farmers is their own mental health.

While the importance of maintaining a work-life balance has been strongly advocated in the corporate world for a number of years, these murmurs are only starting to make their way into the agricultural sector. Presumably, this is because traditionally farmers worked the land from early in the morning until late at night, every day and all year round. That’s just the way it was done. Now, however, more and more people are coming to realise that it’s not a sustainable way of life. One such individual is Laois farmer Niall Walsh.

“I’ve tried to streamline things as much as possible,” he explains. “You have to make an effort to finish up as early as best you can – it doesn’t always happen.”

Niall owns a dairy farm in Rathdowney in the southwest of the county and has found that making small changes to how he runs it has had a positive impact on his work-life balance. The most significant of these changes was enlisting the services of dairy consultant André van Barneveld, as featured on the Ear to the Ground television series in February 2017.

“He comes once a month for a coffee and looks through the graphs and asks if I have any problems,” explains Niall. “Then we do the farm walk and he looks through the cows to see what condition they’re in.

At the end, he’ll give a recommendation for the month going forward.”

This farm management system and professional advice has clearly benefited Niall and helps him to manage pressures in the yard. However, it wasn’t always the case. “When I first got married to my wife Regina, I had everything going – sheep, cattle, tillage.

I was running around from one thing to the other and never got a break,” he admits. It seemed as though things might have never changed until their children came on the scene. “I think having kids makes you change,” he notes. “You don’t want to miss out.”

Working with André helped Niall to effect this change. When he sought André out initially, it was for advice on grass lengths rather than how to maintain a balance between home and work. The latter, however, came as an

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WORK-LIFE BALANCE

“IF SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE YOU HAVE TO DO IT. YOU CAN’T LET THINGS SLIP. AT THE SAME TIME, YOU HAVE TO KNOW WHEN ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.” added bonus. Under André’s guidance, Niall slowly began streamlining his farm. He no longer has sheep or crops; instead he has chosen to focus on dairy farming. More of his time has been freed up by not milking during the winter and not allowing the bulls to run with the cows for the whole year, ensuring they only calve at a certain time.

Now, being overly busy is more of an exception than the norm.

Ultimately, the dairy farmer has more time to spend with his family and tries to get away to a few hurling and football matches with his children.

“You might have a few weeks where you’re busy during the year but you don’t mind that and everyone understands that,” he tells me, highlighting the importance of stepping away from the farm altogether. “You need to get away on holidays for a week or ten days and if you have someone good to fill in, you can get away.”

SUPPORT STRUCTURES While the process has worked wonders for Niall and his family, many farmers feel that they can’t take a break because they need to do everything themselves.

However, having someone reliable available to step in when needed is the key – Niall employs three relief milkers from the locality, meaning that if one isn’t around he can call on the others.

As well as support from the local community, Niall derives great benefit from participating in farming discussion groups. “The discussion groups are brilliant in that way,” he says. “It really opens your mind and helps farmers to see that it’s not all about work.”

Socialising with like-minded people and sharing experiences with them can have a massively positive impact on mental health – feeling part of a community and knowing that other people are going through the same issues can provide great comfort during difficult periods. “Everyone has bad days,” says Niall. “There’s nearly always

Ear to the Ground presenter Helen Carroll with Niall Walsh (left) and André van Barneveld (right).

someone with the same problem as you so it makes you feel better.”

For farmers who are becoming increasingly stressed in the management of their farm, these discussion groups are a good starting point on the road to better mental health. Having an open mind and a desire to change things is crucial. As Niall points out, it’s not a quick fix, but joining a social group and seeing what others are doing might give struggling farmers a new perspective on their own battles.

Or they could just enlist the services of André. Since his life-changing work with the New Zealander was showcased on national television, Niall has received several phone calls asking if he would recommend him. “I reckon it was loads of wives getting their husbands to ring me!” he says with a laugh. But being

open-minded and heeding André’s advice has enabled Niall to maintain a work-life balance that was virtually non-existent before. “I said if you were going to pay money for André to come out you need to be willing to listen to what he has to say,” he adds.

There is no escaping the fact that farming is hard work and sometimes it needs to take priority, but Niall reiterates the importance of knowing when to call it a day. Striking this balance between fulfilling on-farm duties and taking time to relax is the key to managing stress on the farm and promoting positive mental health.

“If something needs to be done you have to do it,” he says. “You can’t let things slip. At the same time, you have to know when enough is enough.”

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PHOTO: JANE MATTHEWS

HERITAGE

Friends and Neighbours

The Quakers

in Ballitore FOR SOME 250 YEARS A COMMUNITY OF QUAKERS CALLED THE VILLAGE OF BALLITORE HOME, THEIR INDUSTRIES AND BUSINESSES PROVIDING EMPLOYMENT AND A HIVE OF ACTIVITY WITHIN THE GRIESE VALLEY. CONOR FORREST DELVES A LITTLE DEEPER INTO THE LIVES OF THESE PEACEFUL DISSENTERS.

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B

The library and museum in Ballitore.

other bourgeois groups in that they had no aspirations to become a part of the ruling class, they refused to serve as jurymen, refused to take oaths and refused to join the army and they might have been viewed as suspiciously as the local Catholics had it not been for their avowed pacifism.”

The Quaker faith has its roots in the heart of England and the Cromwellian era, a time defined by political and religious turmoil. Founded in the mid17th century by George Fox, a wandering preacher who became dissatisfied with the formality of the established Church, Quakers eschewed the unnecessary trappings of life and became known for simplicity in their speech, behaviour and clothing. Believing there was no intermediary required between man and God they refused to pay tithes to the church, held men and women in equal standing, and had no qualms conducting business on any given day, believing that all days were God’s days. No one person led their services of worship – Quakers sit in silence unless they are moved to speak. Officially they were known as the Religious Society of Friends – ‘Quaker’ is said to have been originally used by a judge who, having been told by George Fox to ‘tremble at the word of the Lord’, retaliated by calling Fox a ‘quaker’.

Evidently, it stuck.

Unsurprisingly, such drastic ideas met with disapproval – Fox was imprisoned

PHOTOS: CONOR FORREST

allitore is a small village nestled in a rolling, fertile valley in Co Kildare, not far from where the old main road runs between Waterford and Dublin. Lying on the edge of Dublin’s seemingly everexpanding commuter belt, it’s a quiet settlement home to a wide open street that runs through its heart, rows of neat, terraced houses, and little more than 1,000 people, surrounded by vivid green farmland dotted by livestock and crops.

In 1685, two English Quakers – John Barcroft and Abel Strettel – spotted this valley while en route to Dublin, scenery that must have reminded them of their homeland in Yorkshire. Struck by its beauty, they decided to put down roots here in what would become the only permanent Quaker settlement in Ireland. In the decades and centuries that followed their ancestors and fellow Quakers expanded the settlement far beyond its humble origins; planting trees, cultivating the land, building woollen and flour mills, cottages and a school, forever changing the surrounding landscape. By 1720, a sizeable Quaker population had been established in the village home to a community of poor Catholic peasants who subsisted on smallholdings and often in destitute conditions, in stark contrast to the wealthy landowning class who spoke English and lived in the large houses dotted around the locality.

“Into this divided society came the newly arrived Quakers with their dissenting religious beliefs and practices, with their strong North of England accents, with their distrust of the established Protestant church and all it stood for and with a commitment to buying and improving the poor land of the area or establishing business, particularly in mills and shops,” writes historian, playwright and author John MacKenna in The Annals of Ballitore.

“These Quakers were the newly emerging middle class but they differed from

“FIFTY YEARS AFTER THEIR ARRIVAL THEY HAD TRANSFORMED THE VILLAGE AND ITS ENVIRONS, DRAINING THE MARSH, DIVIDING THE LAND INTO FIELDS WITH HEDGED BORDERS, PLANTING ORCHARDS AND TREES AND BUILDING NEAT HOUSES WITH SLATE ROOFS.“ EAR TO THE GROUND 129

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Farmland in Ballitore.

PHOTOS: CONOR FORREST

a number of times for preaching his dissenting views, and many Quakers left for less troubled waters as far away as America. They arrived in Ireland via the Ulster Plantation; unable to pursue a university education (they refused to swear oaths to those below God) they became deeply involved in industries such as milling, textiles, imports and exports, brewing and iron production. The Jacobs family struck it big with water biscuits for sailors, and then moved into the general biscuit business; the Bewleys family were in the tea and coffee trade and opened cafés in Dublin in the late 19th century – the café bearing their name still trades on Grafton Street today.

Early settlers made their way down to Ireland’s Midlands, putting down roots and establishing businesses in towns like Mountmellick, which became known as the ‘Manchester of Ireland’ thanks to the prominence of its flour milling industry as well as cotton production, leather tanning and more.

GIVING BACK Through the famine times and in 1798, Ballitore pulled through in no small part due to the influence and charity of the Quakers, who viewed their Catholic counterparts as friends and neighbours. During the Famine the Quaker community in Ireland was instrumental in setting up soup kitchens and distributing seeds, clothes and tools – rice was sent to Fontstown and Narraghmore near Ballitore, and clothing was provided for the people in Nurney. Years later, when the violence of the 1798 Rebellion subsided, the Ballitore Quakers had a key role in rebuilding the village.

THE ANNALS OF BALLITORE When the Quakers arrived in Ballitore they didn’t create the village itself, but instead brought a sense of order to the landscape. Fifty years after their arrival they had transformed the village and its environs, draining the marsh, dividing the land into fields with hedged borders, planting orchards and trees and building neat houses with slate roofs along the village’s wide main street.

At the heart of the village during the 18th century was the Quaker school, founded by Abraham Shackleton – a former tutor and the Quaker ancestor of famed polar explorer Ernest Shackleton – in 1726. Children came from all around the world, including Jamaica, Norway and France, to study here until it closed down in 1836, a diverse range of characters that included Edmund Burke, Napper Tandy, Cardinal Paul Cullen and Henry Grattan. Some children might have arrived at the age of five or six, and wouldn’t see their parents again until they were 18. Others were far less fortunate – smallpox and chickenpox claimed the lives of quite a few children.

“A hive of activity and energy and education,” Michael Lawlor, who lives in a former Quaker house in the village, says of the school, which catered for children from all backgrounds, not just Quakers. “I always think I’d love to have seen one of those lectures, what they were talking about – geography and history and the classics.”

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Exhibits in Ballitore’s museum.

“BEEKEEPING WAS JUST ONE OF THE QUAKERS’ MANY ABILITIES AND ACTIVITIES, WHICH INCLUDED GARDENING, VEGETABLE GROWING AND KEEPING LIVESTOCK.“

PHOTO: JANE MATTHEWS

Quite a bit of what we know about the Quakers in Ballitore, the village itself and its inhabitants in the late 18th and early 19th centuries is thanks to one Mary Leadbeater. Originally Mary Shackleton, Abraham’s granddaughter, she married William Leadbeater in 1791, a former student of the school who became a Quaker himself and returned to the village as a schoolmaster. Mary grew up influenced by her father and grandfather’s commitment to education. She was given the run of her father Richard’s library and was encouraged to read and write, sharing her schooling with the boys in the school. Described as an ‘inveterate’ letter writer, swapping correspondence with friends, family and past pupils of the school, her magnum opus was The Annals of Ballitore, which recounts life in Ballitore and her own life between 1766 (when she was eight) to 1824 when ill-health finally stopped her from writing.

Her house, now the village’s library and museum, was her home for 30 years, her social centre and where she worked as postmistress. Alongside daily life in Ballitore, and the comings and goings of friends and family, she was one of the few neutral observers to write about the 1798 Rebellion, recounting the fear and horror that struck the village when fighting broke out and Ballitore was captured and recaptured several times by the opposing sides. A defining event in the village’s history, 1798 left a legacy of pain in the area and beyond with people killed, wounded and imprisoned whether they

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HERITAGE

Abraham Shackleton

Mary Shackleton

PHOTOS FROM THE COLLECTION OF OLIVIA ASHMORE

George Shackleton

Leo Shackleton Lydia Shackleton

SHACKLETON INFLUENCE Alongside the Haughton, White and Fennell families, the Shackletons contributed greatly to the community in Ballitore, founding the Quaker school and running the mill in the village. The Shackleton family remained in the area following the demise of the Quaker community, though one branch departed for the Church of Ireland almost a century before, arguing that the Quakers had become too liberal and too relaxed. One of their most famous sons is Ernest Shackleton, the famed polar explorer born in nearby Kilkea who led three expeditions to the Antarctic.

were rich or poor – as Mary described it, “Mourning was the language – mourning was the dress of the country.”

“What they say about the Annals is that people have always kept diaries but to have this social historian who bears witness to 50 years in a village, not just of her own tribe but of her neighbours, it’s just an extraordinary document. It is one of a kind really in Europe,” says Pauline Fagan, Ballitore’s librarian. “You can read it 1,000 times over and find something new,” adds Olivia Ashmore, whose interest in the Quakers was sparked by a question concerning stain glass windows in nearby Narraghmore Church, which came from the local Bonham family who contributed to the financing of the school in Ballitore.

Mary was something of a pioneer, supposedly the first person in the village to keep bees, something she writes about in Cottage Dialogues, a series of four editions designed to spread information on a variety of topics ranging from making wine and growing vegetables to crop management and keeping pigs.

Modern hives arrived around the 1880s but, before that, beekeepers made use of ‘skeps’, turned straw in a loop that could be stored in alcoves in a wall for protection from the weather, though this method would often suffocate the bees. Pauline, a member of the North Kildare Beekeeping Society, discovered a reference to a new method being used in Kildare around the turn of the 19th century by one Mr Greene in Kilkea, birthplace of Ernest Shackleton. In place of the common skeps he used square boxes with panes of glass and divided in two by a sheet of copper, with a stick introduced to support the comb.

Beekeeping was just one of the Quakers’ many abilities and activities, which included gardening, vegetable growing, and keeping livestock. In the early 1840s, not long after Mary Leadbeater died, English novelist William Makepeace Thackeray visited Ballitore, writing about his experiences in The Irish Sketchbook in 1842, describing it as “...one of the most beautiful flourishing villages in Ireland... a white straggling village, surrounding green fields of some five furlongs square, with a river running

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“ALMOST ALL THE QUAKERS, EVEN THOUGH ENGAGED IN TRADE AND BUSINESS, ALSO WORKED FARMS AND RAISED SHEEP AND CATTLE. THE BALLITORE AREA WAS NO EXCEPTION.” in the midst of them, and numerous fine cattle in the green. Here is a large windmill, fitted up like a castle, with battlements and towers; the castellan thereof is a good-natured old Quaker gentleman, and numbers more of his following inhabit the town”.

They were self-sufficient to a great degree, tilling their own land, making their own clothes and grinding their own corn – the Shackleton family operated the mill in Ballitore for a number of years, as well as mills in Carlow and Moone. Many kept livestock alongside their businesses or industries; the Boake family, which traces its family tree at least as far back as 1333 across England, Ireland, America and Canada, is known to have kept a flock of sheep at the very least. In a genealogy of the family compiled by Dorothy Boake Panzer, Ephraim Boake – a third generation Quaker whose grandfather John Boake emigrated to Ireland in 1693, and who may well be responsible for creating the Quaker burial ground in Ballitore – is described as having ‘amassed’ lands at Mullaghmast, a house and a mill in Baltinglass, and built Boakefield House a few kilometres outside Ballitore.

“Almost all the Quakers, even though engaged in trade and business, also worked farms and raised sheep and cattle. The Ballitore area was no exception,” she writes, noting that Ephraim’s farm consisted of about 300 acres, and that the “thrift” and “industriousness” of the Quakers helped them through economic difficulties.

Business and industry, however, was where the Quakers really made their mark on Ballitore. Described as the centre of the flour milling industry in this region during the 18th century, the old flour mills here and in the surrounding area provided both work and food for the Quakers and their neighbours.

They gained a reputation for honesty in business and price-gouging was a thing unheard of – the Quakers asked for a fair price no matter who was buying.

“One of the reasons why Quakers thrived [in business] was because if you’re baking a loaf of bread it was thruppence – you’d sell it for thruppence.

It didn’t matter who you were or how

poor you were or how rich you were, the price of bread was thruppence. There was no bartering or arguing about the price.

It was down and that was it. People liked that system and they got fed up of going into a shop and bartering all of the time,” explains George Allen, one of the area’s few remaining Quakers but by no means a recent convert. The Allen family has long been in the Quaker faith and was closely connected with the Newtown School in Co Waterford in its early days. William Allen, born in 1652, was a member of the Society of Friends in Cork and moved to Dublin via Limerick, establishing a clothing business in Bridge Street. Their family history, The Allens: Family & Friends – Ten Generations of Quaker Ancestry notes that they became closely involved in a number of reform movements in the 19th century, including the abolition of slavery, though by the following century many of the family had left the faith. “I just like the principles of the way Quakers go about things,” George adds. “Their honesty and that type of thing is very important.”

DOWNTURN The Quaker’s fortunes in Ireland began to dwindle in the late 19th century, coinciding with a downturn in agriculture beginning in the 1860s, not to mention high taxes on Irish industry. For decades, Quakers could only marry within the Society of Friends – anyone who crossed that particular barrier was out. But eventually, you run out of people to marry and numbers fell. The school in Ballitore, a big boost for the economy with plenty of children needing lodgings, closed down in 1836; the mills were victims of modernisation during the industrial revolution and when they closed, a large number of jobs were lost. A gap was created that couldn’t be filled by their Catholic neighbours, whether due to poverty or having been killed, imprisoned or deported in the aftermath of the Rebellion. “When they left they left a void behind them, which wasn’t filled for a while,” says John MacKenna. “[The] people they were leaving didn’t have the money to step in and open industries.”

By 1900 they had essentially left Ballitore, mainly decamping to Dublin or

Waterford, though one or two remained in the area and some arrived years later – local farmer Dermot Lawler recalls working for the Lamb family after they bought a farm in the area in the 1940s.

The Lambs had two fruit farms in the surrounding area; one in Fontstown and one in Barley Hill, as well as farms in Donabate and Rathfarnham (where there’s still a Ballytore Road today).

Between the two farms in Co Kildare, the Lambs grew around 280 acres of fruit for jam-making – gooseberries, strawberries, apples and more. During the picking season, they employed between 500 and 600 schoolchildren working in the fields from 8am to 5pm, sustained by buckets of tea brought out onto the headland.

“They were very decent to work for, very straight and very decent,” Dermot recalls. “I remember Charles Lamb protested when Nixon came to Ireland up in Timahoe. Charles went up with his placard and his tall hat… They didn’t agree with Nixon’s politics, Vietnam or wherever it was at the time. They’re very peaceful and they all contribute... I think it was 10 per cent of their wages went to charity. It was standard.”

These days Ballitore is no longer the hub of activity it once was. Struck by severe unemployment, even with the presence of an employer in the form of Glanbia by the River Griese, there are few facilities for those who live here today. When I arrive on a crisp Friday morning the village is quiet – several people run errands or stop to chat by the side of the main road, but there are very few signs of life. In the wake of the Quakers’ departure there was an ebb and flow of businesses opening and closing – Michael Lawlor’s mother opened a corner shop that thrived in the 1950s but was in decline a decade later, a pattern that would repeat itself over the following years.

The Quakers’ legacy hasn’t disappeared entirely. The hedgerows they planted might have fallen victim to a clearance scheme in the 1950s, while the old stone bridge was washed away in a flood the following decade, but many of the trees remain where they were sown, the magnificent wide street is changed only by the addition of tarmacadam, and EAR TO THE GROUND 133

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PHOTOS: CONOR FORREST

HERITAGE

“BY 1900 THEY HAD ESSENTIALLY LEFT BALLITORE, MAINLY DECAMPING TO DUBLIN OR WATERFORD, THOUGH ONE OR TWO REMAINED IN THE AREA AND SOME ARRIVED YEARS LATER – LOCAL FARMER DERMOT LAWLER RECALLS WORKING FOR THE LAMB FAMILY.“

some of the original buildings still stand as a testament to a different and more prosperous time. The school has long since disappeared, marked by a plaque on the wall of a small house built where it once stood, but Mary Leadbeater’s house in the centre of the village has been restored and transformed into a library and museum, keeping alive the memory of the woman, her family, and her faith. Next door in the old tanyard, which dates to 1801, work is underway transforming the buildings into a theatre performance space, meeting rooms and a café, among other facilities. The Quaker meeting house still stands too, a place of worship every Sunday for the remaining Quakers in the surrounding area, many of whom are recent converts attracted by the simplicity of the creed. And, at the entrance to the village, the Quaker burial ground lies in silence, hidden from the road and the world outside, a little overgrown although not forgotten and surrounded by, as Mary Leadbeater described, “rising hills encompassed round; fair hills which rear the golden brow and smile upon the vale below”.

Mary and her husband lie side by side inside, their final resting places and those of their comrades in belief marked by simple gravestones.

Griese Youth Theatre, overseen by director Leish Burke, is also playing its

part, keeping the message alive for a younger generation. A reenactment from a passage of The Annals of Ballitore coincided with the Leinster Loop in 2017, bringing a piece of Ballitore’s history to life on its streets. “She used the whole of the street and it finished with Mary Leadbeater coming outside and reading from the Annals,” says Pauline Fagan. “In that moment you had [between] 120-150 people on bicycles outside on the street on days when you can watch tumbleweed.

Everyone was absolutely transfixed by this. History, in that moment, is on the one hand absolutely brought alive. And also the importance of bearing witness, not only in 1798 but in 2017.”

Thanks to the hard work of those who value Ballitore’s history, the story of the Quakers and their legacy here remains alive, with moves underfoot to use the village’s historic backdrop as a method of reviving its fortunes. Ten minutes up the road, Athy has found success in using the story of Ernest Shackleton as a lynchpin for the town’s historic platform. Perhaps Mary Leadbeater and her Quaker kin can do the same for Ballitore.

“I think in the future when we get the tanyard going and all of that, there’ll be a real energy coming back to the place,” Michael Lawlor adds. “There’s so much here, there’s such a history here, and such a legacy left behind.”

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POITÍN

A

Spirit Rising

AFTER CENTURIES OF GETTING A BAD RAP, THE IRISH NATIONAL SPIRIT OF POITÍN IS MAKING A COMEBACK. EAR TO THE GROUND SOUGHT TO DISCOVER MORE ABOUT OUR PROTECTED TIPPLE.

A

s the grandson of a seanachaí, Pádraic Ó Griallais grew up in a home surrounded by storytelling. For as long as he can remember, he heard all sorts of yarns about life in Ireland going back generations, one of which in particular would capture his interest and imagination – the tale of poitín distilling. Not only would Ó Griallais hear about the ancient traditions of producing this uniquely Irish spirit, he would witness first-hand the distilling process from that same grandfather, Jimmí Chearra, who was also a fifth-generation poitín distiller.

“Poitín has been in my family for quite a long time,” Ó Griallais explains. “I listened to all my grandfather’s stories intently and quizzed him on some of the stuff that I was more interested in, and poitín was one of them. That got my interest going and it was probably 2011 when I got the idea, why not make a business out of this?” Ó Griallais gave up his teaching job in 2015 to focus full-time on the venture. In 2016 he turned his family’s poitín recipe into a premium brand called Micil Poitín, named after his great-great-great grandfather. The Salthill-

based distillery is now one of seven officially recognised poitín producers in Ireland but, for more reasons than one, this fledgling industry has been a long time coming.

ORIGINS Distilled from various ingredients including potatoes, barley, grain, treacle, yeast and sugar beet, records of poitín date back as early as the 15th century, believed to have been first produced by monks. The actual distilling technology, however, comes from the Middle East where people used similar tools to develop essential oils. To describe it, the poitín still was a ‘wash’ of fermenting barley in a small copper pot, heated by turf fires and distilled along pipes and tubes over several days.

“One thing that is really important about poitín is that it’s pot distilled,” says Ó Griallais. “That’s actually where the word ‘poitín’ comes from. The Irish word for pot is pota so basically anything that was distilled in a small pot was known as poitín. They’re the origins of the word and it is very tied into our culture, our heritage and our history.”

Despite its cultural significance, the white spirit has had a tough time of it. Back in 1661, a law was passed in Ireland declaring that distillers must pay a tax on spirits produced for private use, which meant the home still was suddenly subject to a government levy. With home distillers

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Pádraic Ó Griallais, Founder, Micil Poitín

PHOTO: JOE KEOGH, KEOGH PHOTOGRAPHY

POITÍN

failing to comply with the new measure, in 1760 a new law made it illegal to operate a still without a licence. And so, poitín went underground. It became a secretive, under-the-counter product, and remained so until as recently as 1997.

Despite this, many Irish people today still believe poitín to be an illegal substance.

According to Dave Mulligan, founder of Bán Poitín and the world’s first fully dedicated poitín bar in Dublin, there are three main reasons why poitín never took off like gin or whiskey in Ireland. “It was a smear campaign that was run by the three most powerful [groups of] people in the country for over 300 years,” he declares. “That was the government, because they weren’t getting their tax, the licensed whiskey distilleries, who were the biggest industry of their time – they had their export market but two-thirds of their domestic market was drinking poitín – and then finally, the Church.”

Mulligan describes how instead of fining individuals who were distilling illegally, and knowing full well the power of the Church, the government at the time fined the parishes within which the outlaws operated. “If you ever want the Church to go against something, try dipping into their pocket,” says Mulligan.

“That’s my take on poitín. The most powerful people in the country ran a smear campaign. There were a lot of lies [around poitín] but ones that still hang around today.”

PHOTO: JULIA DUNIN PHOTOGRAPHY

A NEW STATUS The move by the EU in 2015 to grant poitín the unique protective Geographic Indication (GI) status was a significant one. Poitín joined an exclusive list of other spirits such as pálinka (a purely fruit-based spirit produced in Hungary) and ouzo (an aniseed-flavoured spirit produced exclusively in Greece or Cyprus), officially recognised as products genuinely originating in a specific region, which comply with a set of high-quality standards.

LOCAL INGREDIENTS WITH ANCIENT ROOTS Poitín producers tend to source their ingredients locally. For the grain used in Micil Poitín, Ó Griallais sources malts from the Malting Company of Ireland, who he says are very rigorous about the grain they use. Additionally, Ó Griallais claims that Micil is the only poitín producer that uses a local wildflower called bogbean. “I thought it was something just exclusive to our family,” he says. “As it happens, a very knowledgeable bartender showed me an excerpt from a manuscript outlining how monks used botanicals for aqua vitae back in the day and one of them was bogbean, so it has very ancient roots.”

“The GI means that poitín can only be made on the island of Ireland in line with an approved technical file,” explains William Lavelle, head of the Irish Spirits Association (ISA). “It affords protection to the poitín category in both the EU market and internationally where EU trade agreements apply.” Not only does GI recognition bring protection, but it can help brands acquire a high reputation and commercial value, thus increasing revenues for local producers.

“The GI protects the integrity and quality of these unique categories and protects the investment being made by our members in production,” he adds.

For Pádraic Ó Griallais, addressing the reputation of poitín and marketing it as a premium product was, and still is, key to a true poitín revival. After reading one article about the tequila business, he was inspired to work on dispelling the misconceptions about poitín and to market it as a luxury drink. “I was reading an article about a tequila brand called Patrón Tequila,” he explains. “If we go back 20-odd years ago, tequila didn’t really have a reputation of being a luxury spirit. It was known as a party drink or a shooter. But they managed to completely turn that image around and they are still the best-selling super premium tequila on the global market. For me, that was something really inspiring.”

Dave Mulligan, who as well as owning his own poitín brand is a London-based barman by trade, is also working hard on poitín’s makeover. With his pop-up Dublin pub dedicated to poitín, Bar 16-61, the aim was to give local people access to their national spirit during its six-week opening at the end of 2017. Speaking during that time, Mulligan described a concept that incorporates people and businesses from across the production chain. “We have a ten cocktail menu that is changing three times in six weeks in order to give all poitíns a space on the list,” he said. “We are working with over 25 different farmers, foragers, other producers and distillers and we are highlighting the wealth and breadth of other ingredients available in Ireland outside of gin and whiskey, which seem to be taking all the limelight.”

As part of this transformation, Mulligan is focused on the mixology potential for poitín, something that spawned his own brand Bán Poitín. “We were kind of the first people to bring poitín altogether as a category and start mixing drinks with it,” he says. “We started creating cocktails with poitín and it was so well received at the bar that I

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POITÍN

PHOTOS: THE BARTENDER PROJECT/BÁN POITÍN

“THERE IS INCREASING EVIDENCE THAT POITÍN IS BECOMING MORE POPULAR AMONG MIXOLOGISTS AS A COCKTAIL COMPONENT AND THE SCOPE FOR FUTURE POSITIONING AND GROWTH IN THIS AREA IS SOMETHING WE DEFINITELY WISH TO EXAMINE.”

A NEED FOR MOMENTUM So are we seeing true momentum in the category two decades after poitín was made legal and two years after receiving GI status? Not quite. In fact, consumption fell in 2015 and 2016, according to the ISA. That could be down to a range of different factors, including a lack of knowledge out there about the different varieties or tastes.

“We’re still at a stage with Irish bars where they think one poitín is enough, whereas really there are four big styles and in that each producer is different, uses different ingredients, different stills, different methods,” says Mulligan. “It would be like having one craft beer in your bar and saying ‘that’s for the craft beer drinker’. That’s what I’m trying to highlight, that all brands of poitín lend themselves to different styles of mixology.”

The ISA is also on the case. The organisation has announced plans to work with Bord Bia in 2018 to seek better promotion of Ireland’s three GI spirits categories – Irish whiskey, Irish cream and poitín. “One aspect we are keen to examine is how best to position poitín within the spirits market,” says William Lavelle. “There is increasing evidence that poitín is becoming more popular among mixologists as a cocktail component and the scope for future positioning and

growth in this area is something we definitely wish to examine.”

“The reason that it hasn’t gathered momentum is that it is yet to be embraced by Irish people and Irish bartenders, and Irish bartenders are always the gateway for the people to get at it,” adds Mulligan. “Where we see Irish whiskey selections growing around the world, where people now don’t just have a bottle of Jameson, they have a bottle of Redbreast, Dunville’s, Teelings, something like that beside it, there is a

A selection of poitín-based cocktails made available at Dublin pop-up pub Bar 16-61.

PHOTO: THE BARTENDER PROJECT/BÁN POITÍN

decided I was going to produce my own brand, because I didn’t think anyone was representing the category the way I liked it to be represented. I thought I could I bring a bit of energy into the space.”

space there for Irish poitín. At the high end, if we can get it into bars, even if it’s just one bottle to start with on a global scale, then great.”

Meanwhile, if Pádraic Ó Griallais’ account of business over the last year is anything to go by, there is undoubtedly scope for a poitín revival. He is currently selling into pubs and outlets across the island of Ireland with plans in place to enter the UK and Finnish markets.

“Business has been very good,” he says.

“It’s still a challenging category – the challenge is convincing the consumer that this is no longer illegal, that this is not going to blow the head off you. The challenge is to convince the consumer that this is an actual option at the bar. To be fair to them, they really are coming around, slowly but surely, so it’s not going to be a very quick ascent.”

One happy consumer is 90-year-old Jimmí Chearra, who must surely be proud to see his grandson continue a family tradition, and make a living out of it. “He is very proud,” says Ó Griallais.

“And he’s happy to get his drop of poitín every week too, that’s part of the deal!”

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WILDLIFE

Wildlife IRELAND’S VARIED WILDLIFE HAS ALWAYS PLAYED AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR. YET, AS VALUABLE SPECIES ARE FOUND TO BE IN DECLINE, WHAT CAN BE DONE TO HALT THIS TREND? ORLA CONNOLLY REPORTS.

on the

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A

ccording to a 2009 study by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which linked biodiversity loss to the extinction of species in Ireland, approximately 80 per cent of agricultural land in Ireland is devoted to grassbased farming systems, which have the potential to promote biodiversity.

However, factors such as an increased use of machinery, hedgerow removal, and the greater use of chemicals in farming have led to landscape simplification and a degradation and reduction in the diversity of species across the Irish countryside.

Two species of wildlife that have been pushed to the brink of extinction in recent years as a result are the crayfish and the humble bee. Both have a long history in the Irish landscape, yet now it appears their very existence here is in immediate danger.

A BUZZ ABOUT BEES One-third of Ireland’s bee species are facing extinction. Three species of bee that occur in Ireland are also threatened with extinction at a European level, and an additional four species are ranked as near-threatened. Times are tough for these busy pollinators.

Much of the food we encounter requires pollination to produce fruits, nuts and seeds, approximately one-third of the food we consume daily. Yet, that 2009 study noted that while bees are still regularly found on farmland, their presence on intensively and moderately-farmed land has declined by 50 per cent since 1980.

“You take tillage now with the number of insecticides, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides that are actually sprayed and they have a devastating effect, not alone on our bee population, but on all our wildlife,” says Irish Beekeepers’ Association President, Gerry Ryan.

Gerry Ryan , Irish Beekeepers’ Association President.

“ALSO KNOWN AS THE NEW GARDEN BUMBLEBEE, IT’S COMMON ACROSS THE CONTINENT AND IN THE UK, AND PREFERS HABITATS THAT OTHER SPECIES MAY NOT.”

However, according to Ryan, the key factor affecting the decline of Ireland’s bee populations is widespread loss of habitat.

This loss across grasslands and woodlands has resulted in widespread homelessness and hunger in wild pollinator populations.

“The biggest problem we have in Ireland is the amount of hedgerows that are being taken out because when you take out a hedgerow, you take out everything. You take out the whole environment for everything from wasps to bumblebees, insects, small mammals, frogs, rabbits, squirrels, you name it,” he explains. “Because of the fact that it’s now bigger fields, bigger machinery, bigger equipment, the small fields are nearly a thing of the past, especially in the highly intensive farming areas. Take the rich land of the Golden Vale where there are big cow numbers. All they want is to just look out on a clean area where there’s nothing, only strands of wire.”

For the agricultural sector, a decline in the diversity and abundance of pollinators can have a number of effects, with the most significant being a reduction in crop yields. Should the decline of the bee population continue it will become increasingly difficult and expensive to produce pollinator-dependant foods, resulting in a loss of consumer choice for Irish-grown products. It’s extremely unlikely that we would run out of food, but it could mean that farmers find it more difficult and expensive to produce some crops at current levels of scale. Estimates place the annual value of pollinators for human food crops at approximately €153 billion worldwide, £603 million in the UK, and at least €53 million in the Republic of Ireland.

This outcome can be avoided if simple steps are taken to preserve bee habitats and food sources, and the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan 2015-2020, which focuses on making Ireland more pollinator

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WILDLIFE

friendly, encourages farmers to take action to achieve this goal. According to Ryan, one of the most straightforward ways a farmer can encourage bee populations on the farm, not to mention other wildlife, is to allow plants to flower before cutting them and to leave pockets of land on the farm for wildlife to roam and live.

“Put their electric fence all around but keep it about a metre out of the main ditch so that the natural vegetation can continue to grow,” he suggests, advising farmers – particularly tillage farmers – to spray either early in the morning or late at night in order to avoid killing wildlife present in fields during the day.

Failing that, he suggests contacting the local beekeeper to inform them that you will be spraying, allowing them to lock up their bees for that particular time. Simple measures, but effective.

Yet, it’s not all bad news. One hope in the midst of the decline of Ireland’s bees were reports in September 2017 that the tree bumblebee has made its way to Irish shores. Also known as the new garden bumblebee, it’s common across the continent and in the UK, and prefers habitats that other species may not.

“The arrival of the tree bumblebee heralds a very positive start to the release of our latest guideline document to encourage bee-friendly farming,” says Dr Úna FitzPatrick, from the National Biodiversity Data Centre, who is responsible for coordinating the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan. “It’s a very effective pollinator, and will be particularly important to the horticultural industry as it’s known to be a first class pollinator of tree-fruit crops.”

PLAGUE However, Ireland’s flying wildlife aren’t the only species under threat. To date, there have been five confirmed outbreaks of crayfish plague, a water mold that

“THE CRAYFISH PLAGUE FIRST ARRIVED HERE WITH THE INTRODUCTION OF NORTH AMERICAN CRAYFISH TO IRISH WATERS AND THE RESULTING OUTBREAKS HAVE CAUSED NEAR EXTINCTION IN THE POPULATION OF THE NATIVE SPECIES.” infects crayfish, in Ireland since 2015.

Before this, Irish waters were believed to be free from the disease but the plague has been found across the country in Bruskey/Erne river in Co Cavan; the Suir, downstream of Clonmel; the Deel, near Newcastle West in Co Limerick, and the River Barrow in Co Carlow.

According to the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), there are about 650 different crayfish species worldwide, but only six species in the whole of Europe. Ireland is home to just one native species, the whiteclawed crayfish. While this is a globally threatened species, Ireland houses one of the largest surviving populations. The crayfish plague first arrived here with the introduction of North American crayfish to Irish waters and the resulting outbreaks have caused near extinction in the population of the native species.

“Many American crayfish species are resistant to crayfish plague but can act as carriers of the disease, which is rapidly fatal when passed to the white-clawed crayfish. The combined impact of the introduced non-native crayfish species and crayfish plague have completely eliminated the white-clawed crayfish from much of its European range, leaving Ireland as the last stronghold of the species,” the NPWS explains. Other freshwater wildlife remains unaffected by the plague, but if it is allowed to spread further it has the potential to wipe out the native crayfish entirely

from infected water bodies. Should this extinction occur and if another non-native species establishes itself, other freshwater wildlife will then become affected by the change in river terrain as a result of their activity.

The latest outbreak of crayfish plague occurred in September 2017. During that time fishermen were advised to check, clean and dry out their equipment after use as the disease can be carried easily on wet equipment. At the time, it was instructed that any traces of silt, mud or animals should be thoroughly removed before returning to the water.

“Drying is especially important, including removing of any water from inside a boat and disposing of it on grass. A drying period of at least 24 hours is needed to ensure that a boat is clear of infectious organisms,” the NPWS noted. “This is especially important as it is known that the crayfish plague organism can be carried on wet equipment to new sites. Containment of the outbreak is essential to prevent spread to other as yet unaffected populations in Ireland.”

While both the crayfish and the bee are in imminent danger of extinction in Ireland, there are steps that can be taken by the agricultural and wider community to preserve these valuable members of Ireland’s wildlife – simple measures that can have significant and lasting effects.

More information on these measures can be found on BiodiversityIreland.ie.

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BOOKS

Shelf life THE CHOICE

BY PHILLY MCMAHON

Gill Books, €22.99

Philly McMahon’s book might open with a hair-tingling recollection of Dublin’s dramatic All-Ireland triumph over Kerry in 2011, but this is not your run of the mill GAA memoir. There’s plenty about sport, of course, given how much of a role it has played in his life – playing for local side Ballymun Kickhams, going on trial at Nottingham Forest, breaking into the Dublin GAA team.

But at its core it’s a tale of two brothers and the choices they made that led them down two very different paths – Philly to business and Croke Park, his older brother John to addiction. There’s no beating around the bush. “Heroin destroyed my brother’s life,” he writes. John was 14 when he took his first hit, by no means an exception in a drug-riddled area. The Choice is an honest and engaging account of everything between its pages, from life growing up in Ballymun and the reputation it garnered across the country to the descent into addiction and its impact on those around the individual. McMahon describes his embarrassment at having an addict for a brother, particularly when he began to move into Dublin’s development squads, and it’s this frank honesty that makes the book, a fair reflection on the past that doesn’t try to gloss over the details or paint his own actions in a more favourable light. Since John’s death in 2012, McMahon has become an advocate for mental health and addiction initiatives. Entertaining, insightful, thought-provoking and occasionally heartbreaking, he hopes that The Choice will help others to cope with their struggles and, if nothing else, it’s a fantastic read.

CULTURE

FAIR FACES: IMAGES FROM A DISAPPEARING IRELAND

BY JOHN HALL

Mercier Press, €24.99

Ireland might be a modern nation, but our traditional activities and pastimes have not disappeared entirely. Fair Faces is a wonderful record of traditional horse fairs, steam rallies, festivals and religious ceremonies from around the country that have changed very little since the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s – where else would you find a goat being crowned king? A valuable photographic record of our unique culture.

SPORT

GOOCH: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY

BY COLM COOPER

Transworld Ireland, €22

Colm ‘The Gooch’ Cooper may have retired from inter-county football, but the legacy he leaves behind is remarkable – five AllIreland medals, eight All-Stars and a 15-year career with Kerry.

Up next is his autobiography, which offers an interesting glimpse into a very private figure, confirming some stories, dismissing others, and charting his journey towards becoming one of the greatest footballers the game has ever seen.

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BOOKS

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO BLINDBOY

BY BLINDBOY BOATCLUB

Gill Books, €19.99

If you’re looking for a run-of-the-mill collection of fictional short stories, The Gospel According to Blindboy is not it. Penned

by Blindboy Boatclub, one of the famed Limerick duo notable for wearing plastic bags on their heads while delivering incise commentary and skewering satire on modern Ireland, this entertaining examination of life in 15 short stories has been variously described as eclectic, unique, a work of genius, and disturbing.

Each story is told from the perspective of a different character on topics ranging from love to politics. One features a girl from Tipperary being kicked out of ISIS, another of a van powered

by Cork accents. And it’s not just a book – between each chapter is a drawing the author invites readers to colour in or expand upon.

If I had to shoehorn it into one particular genre, I’d choose ‘Other’. Still, if you’re a fan of the Rubberbandits’ previous work and are already attuned to their particular style of humour, it’s a well-written must-have quite unlike anything else you’re likely to read.

CHILDREN

FOCLÓIROPEDIA: A Journey Through the Irish Language from Arán to Zú

BY FATTI BURKE AND JOHN BURKE Gill Books, €24.99 The latest tome by father and daughter team John and Fatti Burke, following Irelandopedia and Historopedia, brings the Irish language alive for Ireland’s younger generation.

Wonderfully illustrated, the book is a visual trip through Ireland’s culture, aimed at helping kids to learn their first thousand words as Gaeilge. A very nice gift for the inquisitive mind.

PHOTO: DÁIRE BRENNAN/SPORTSFILE

HUMOUR

Waterford players (left to right) Stephen O’Keeffe, Noel Connors, and Barry Coughlan in action against Kilkenny’s Ger Aylward (left) and TJ Reid, All-Ireland Hurling Semi-Final, Croke Park, Dublin.

August 9th 2015.

GREAT MOMENTS IN HURLING

BY SPORTSFILE

O’Brien Press, €24.99 Hurling, as a sport, is unique on the global stage, confusing to the majority of those beyond our borders and a source of almost unimaginable passion for its loyal followers.

Combining speed, athleticism and often astonishing levels of skill for what is nominally an amateur game, the goosebump moments it has produced over the years have been reproduced in a fantastic new coffee table book from sports photography agency Sportsfile.

Spanning from the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship Final in 1958 when Kilkenny overcame Wexford, to Tipperary’s triumph over Kilkenny in September 2016, the book charts decades of legendary players and matches and iconic moments across all levels of the game that live long in the memories of the supporters.

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Stylish & Efficient Beautiful Oil Fired & Multifuel Range Cookers from Firebird.

Firebird’s oil fired range cookers allow for traditional cooking, perfect for your Sunday roast as well as your homemade favourites. Our oil fired range cookers come complete with an A rated energy efficient condensing boiler designed to heat your home.

Firebird Heating Solutions Ltd. Údarás Industrial Estate, Baile Mhic Íre, Co. Cork, P12 HK51. t: +353 (0)26 45253 | e: info@firebird.ie | www.firebirdrangecookers.com

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HEATING SOLUTIONS

19/12/2017 12/10/2017 12:47 09:25

RECIPES

COOKING IS TOO OFTEN A CHORE, A TASK THAT NEEDS TO BE COMPLETED AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE SO THAT WE CAN GET ON WITH OUR BUSY LIVES. BUT, WITH A FEW CAREFUL CHOICES AND THE ADDITION OF SOME SIMPLE HERBS, SPICES, SAUCES AND A LITTLE PRESENTATION, THE RESULT IS A FEAST FOR THE EYES AS WELL AS THE STOMACH THAT WILL DELIGHT ALL YEAR ROUND.

Food Seasons for All

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MARINATED MEAT SKEWERS pictured overleaf INGREDIENTS • 2 large skinless chicken breasts • 200ml | 7 fl oz. olive oil • 2 large garlic cloves, minced • 3 tbsp rosemary leaves, chopped • 2 tbsp thyme leaves • 1 tsp red chilli flakes • 450g | 16 oz. good quality mince • Twigs or skewers, cleaned and soaked in water for 30 minutes beforehand • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1.

Separate the finger fillets away from the breasts. Cut the breasts into even, thick slices.

2.

Whisk together the olive oil, garlic, herbs, and chilli flakes in a bowl. Add the chicken pieces, stirring to coat.

3.

Remove from the marinade and place in a sealable bag, sealing well. Chill for at least 2 hours.

4.

Break off pieces of the beef and roll into balls between your palms. Add to the remaining marinade, mixing thoroughly.

Cover and chill alongside the chicken for 2 hours.

SKINNY CHIPS WITH CHILLI AND SEA SALT INGREDIENTS • 1.5kg | 3 lb Rooster potatoes, peeled • 1.5 ltr | 2.5 pints vegetable oil, for deep-frying • 70g | 2 1/2 oz plain flour

1.

Cut the potatoes into thin French fries.

Submerge in a large bowl of water as you heat the oil.

2.

Heat the oil in a large, heavybased saucepan to 180°C | 350F; use a thermometer to measure the temperature accurately.

3.

Remove the potatoes from the water and pat dry with kitchen paper. Place in a large mixing bowl and sprinkle over with the flour, onion powder, and a little salt, tossing well to combine.

5.

6.

After chilling, preheat the grill to a high heat.

7.

Grill for 8-12 minutes, turning frequently, until the chicken and beef are cooked through; the chicken may need a little longer than the beef.

4.

Deep-fry the potatoes in batches until golden-brown and crisp, 3-4 minutes.

Drain on kitchen paper and season immediately with some salt. Cover loosely with tinfoil to keep warm.

8.

Remove from the grill and allow to rest briefly before serving.

5.

Serve the French fries on plates, seasoned with red chilli flakes and sea salt.

Remove the chicken and beef from the marinades and thread onto twigs or skewers. Season with salt and pepper.

• 1 tsp onion powder • 1 tsp table salt • Red chilli flakes • Sea salt

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HOMEMADE CHEESEBURGER INGREDIENTS • 500g | 18 oz. good quality minced beef • 2 tbsp butter, melted • 1 white onion, very finely diced • 2 tbsp tomato ketchup • 2 tbsp flat leaf parsley, very finely chopped • 4 sesame seed burger buns, split • 120g | 4 oz. cheddar, shaved or thinly sliced • 50g | 1 3/4 oz. lamb’s lettuce, washed and dried • 2 vine tomatoes, thinly sliced • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1.

2.

Preheat the grill to a high temperature.

3.

ivide into four even portions D and shape into patties between your hands; leave a thumb imprint in each patty.

4.

rrange the patties on a grilling A tray and brush with the melted butter on both sides. Season with some freshly ground black pepper.

5.

rill for 6-8 minutes, turning G frequently, until firm to the touch with a spring. Remove from the grill and cover loosely with tinfoil. Toast the buns under the grill if desired.

6.

o assemble, top the bottom T halves of the buns with cheddar slices and some lamb’s lettuce. Sit the patties on top and top with tomato slices and more cheddar.

7.

it the tops of the buns in place S before serving with skinny fries and salad.

ombine the beef mince with C the onion, parsley, ketchup and 1 tsp salt in a large mixing bowl. Mix together with your hands to combine.

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RECIPES

VEGETABLE KEBABS INGREDIENTS • 2 courgettes, cut into portions • 8 cherry tomatoes, on the vine • Twigs or skewers, cleaned and soaked in water for 30 minutes beforehand • 2-3 tbsp olive oil • 4 streaky bacon rashers • 4 spring onions, roughly chopped • Salt and freshly ground black pepper 1. Preheat the grill to a moderately hot temperature.

OSSO BUCO

1.

Dust the veal pieces with some flour, coating them evenly. Shake off any excess before seasoning with salt and pepper.

2.

Heat 3 tbsp olive oil in a large casserole dish set over a moderate heat until hot.

Brown the veal in the hot oil, working in batches, removing to a plate when ready.

3.

Add the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil and reduce the heat to medium. Stir in the onion, garlic, celery, carrots, and a generous pinch of salt.

INGREDIENTS • 1,400g | 49 oz. veal shanks, trimmed and cut into slices • Plain flour, for dusting • 4 tbsp olive oil • 1 large onion, chopped • 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped • 4 celery stalks, sliced • 4 carrots, peeled and sliced • 250ml | 9 fl oz. dry red wine, preferably Italian • 300g | 11 oz. cherry tomatoes, on the vine • 1,250 ml | 44 fl oz. beef or veal stock, plus extra as needed

4.

5.

• 2 bay leaves • 1 handful thyme sprigs • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

6.

Sweat until softened, about 8-10 minutes. Deglaze with the red wine, scraping the base of the dish with a spoon to loosen any stuck-on fond.

Let the wine reduce by half before stirring in the cherry tomatoes, stock, bay leaves, and thyme. Preheat the oven to 150°C (130° fan) | 300F | gas mark 2.

Bring to a simmer, cover with a lid, and then transfer to the oven, cooking until the meat is starting to come away from the bones, about 2.5 to 3 hours; stir from time to time.

7.

Remove from the oven and adjust the seasoning to taste. Allow to stand briefly before serving.

8.

Serve with cooked polenta, mashed potato or crusty bread.

2. Thread the courgette and cherry tomatoes onto twigs. Arrange on a grilling tray and drizzle with olive oil.

Season with salt and pepper. Arrange the bacon and spring onions next to the skewers.

3. Grill for 6-8 minutes, turning occasionally, until coloured and tender to the tip of a knife; turn over the bacon and spring onions as well.

4. Remove from the grill and allow to rest briefly before serving.

PHEASANT BREAST WITH SAVOY CABBAGE AND POMEGRANATE SEEDS INGREDIENTS • 2 large pheasant breasts, on the bone, plucked and cleaned • 2 tbsp sunflower oil • 4 tbsp unsalted butter • 2 garlic cloves, crushed • 1 handful thyme sprigs • 6-8 prosciutto slices • 1 small Savoy cabbage, roughly chopped • 1 pomegranate, halved with seeds removed • Salt and ground black pepper

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RECIPES

1.

2.

Preheat the oven to 190°C (170° fan) | 375F | gas 5.

Season the pheasant breasts with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a cast-iron pan over a moderate heat until hot.

6.

In the meantime, melt the remaining butter in a large casserole dish or sauté pan set over a medium heat. Add the cabbage, a splash of water, and a generous pinch of salt, and sweat until starting to soften.

7.

Partially cover with a lid and continue to cook until tender, about 5-6 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

3.

4.

Sear the pheasant breasts in the hot oil until golden on both sides, turning occasionally.

Reduce the heat to medium and add 2 tbsp of butter to the pan, as well as the garlic, thyme sprigs, and prosciutto.

8.

Remove the pheasant from the oven when ready.

Cover the meat loosely with tinfoil and allow to rest for 5 minutes.

5.

Transfer the pan to the oven to roast until the pheasant breasts register at least 74°C | 165F on a meat thermometer, about 6-10 minutes depending on size.

9.

When ready to serve, divide the cabbage between plates. Serve the pheasant and prosciutto on the side, garnished with pomegranate seeds.

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MOTORING

A Analysing the

Amarok VOLKSWAGEN’S LATEST VERSION OF THEIR 4X4 FEATURES A V6 ENGINE, UPGRADED CABIN AND PLENTY OF TORQUE FOR TRANSPORTING HEAVY LOADS, WRITES CONOR FORREST.

lthough I’ve never really had any use for one, I’ve always been a fan of the 4x4. You feel like you can tackle any road from bog pathways to motorways, you’ve got a great view of your surroundings (neighbours beware), and the newest iterations are becoming increasingly well-equipped even as standard – sat nav, heated seats and reversing cameras would be almost unheard of 10 or 20 years ago.

And they’re not just the preserve of farmers or builders anymore – some urban dwellers have taken a shine to the tall profiles, big wheels and 4x4 capabilities to help tackle the extremes of Blanchardstown Shopping Centre, or perhaps Avoca in Rathcoole.

Take the Volkswagen Amarok, which has always managed to combine the rugged features and practicality you’d expect from a pick-up with styling worthy of a car, spiced with a healthy standard equipment list and more dynamic handling and driving characteristics. And, after a week behind its wheel, the latest version is no different.

Visually speaking the Amarok is an impressive looking machine, particularly if you opt for a flashier colour and the chrome load securing bar that rises over the rear window. My test model featured 20-inch wheels that are nice to look at but also impact the steering and ride comfort. For everyday use, 18-inch options would be the better and less ostentatious (not to mention expensive) choice – and it’s harder to tell the difference when they’re covered in muck.

It’s quite a capable vehicle too. Given that these beasts are workhorses, tasked with pulling trailers or transporting animal feed, power and torque in particular are quite important. No trouble for my Highline Amarok (Trendline and Comfortline occupy the rungs below), powered by a 3.0L V6 producing 224hp and up to 550 Nm torque, a big increase on the old 2.0L engine. As a result, the Amarok can cart around a hefty payload of 928kg in the load bay and tow up to 3,500kg, roughly translating to 43-odd sheep or several large bags of animal feed.

That’s aided by a smooth eight-speed

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PHOTO: CONOR FORREST

MOTORING

automatic gearbox with plenty of pulling power and speed through the gear shifts, designed to reduce fuel consumption on long journeys – I managed decentish average consumption of around 8.5-9L/100km (33mpg). If you want something with a little less power, 204hp and 163hp V6 versions are also available.

On the road, the Amarok feels solid, with plenty of traction in the corners though the steering isn’t overly responsive. However, I’ve also driven the L200 and Fiat Fullback (two versions of the same car essentially) not too long ago and the Amarok drives most like a car of the three, much sharper and better placed on the road. If you’re driving in very wet or snowy conditions, you’ll have the comfort of all four wheels working to keep you on course. If you want a little extra help, the Amarok is fitted with rear axle differential lock, providing better traction on difficult ground or when taking off on a sloped surface.

The Amarok’s capabilities also extend off road, thanks to VW’s take on permanent four-wheel drive, 4MOTION. Faced with wet grassy conditions, uneven hillocks, sloping fields and sharp muddy banks, the Amarok tackled each without a fuss, the engine delivering the exact amount of power to each wheel at low speeds. Slopes of up to 29.5 degrees can be tackled from the front, the wide wheelbase allows steady driving on inclines of up to 50 degrees, not to mention a wading depth of 500mm for those treacherous puddles and a few digital tools such as off-road ABS and Hill Descent Assist to keep you the right side up.

FUNCTIONAL STYLE Inside it’s much the same – functional and durable with a little style and very Volkswagen, one of the few pick-ups that actually looks and feels like a car from behind the wheel. Highline is the second most luxurious option you can choose, with Alcantara seats, velour floor mats, front and rear sensors, a parking camera and a few chrome decorations throughout as standard, though the hard plastic dashboard is a little off-putting.

The leather seats in my test model were an optional extra, perhaps a better choice if you’re not going to be garbed in muddy or dusty clothes all day, or if you don’t mind getting them dirty. For a

The Stats VOLKSWAGEN AMAROK V6 HIGHLINE

cheaper option with a decent bit of kit, opt for the mid-range Comfortline that includes air con, a 6.3-inch media centre, leather steering wheel, cruise control, rear privacy glass, automatic headlights and front and rear parking sensors.

Practicality shines through. There’s a decent amount of space front and back, with a good deal of head and legroom, particularly in the front. The driving position is very comfortable and it’s one of the most refined vehicles I’ve ever driven, well insulated from the outside world, so much so that I could barely hear the voice of a person talking two feet from the window. Storage space could be better – there’s plenty for paperwork and small odds and ends, but the glovebox is fairly small and the door bins are quite narrow, as is the compartment between the front seats.

There’s good visibility through the back window, though a reversing camera is still a must for a vehicle of this size (optional on Trendline and Comfortline spec).

Getting in and out can be a little awkward – there’s a helpful handle on the passenger side but a similar one would be handy for the driver, particularly if you’re short of leg. You can also fold up each of the rear bench seats for transporting bulky items on the floor. Add several 12V connections front and back, a proper handbrake, and a voice enhancer that boosts your voice in noisy conditions and at high speeds (much to the dismay of my passengers), and

POWER: 224hp TORQUE: 550Nm TOWING CAPACITY: 3,500kg CO2 EMISSIONS: 204g ANNUAL TAX: €333 PRICE: €52,240 as tested

there’s very little to be disappointed about.

Then there’s the load bay. The Amarok’s cargo bed measures exactly 1,222 mm between the wheelbase, just the size of a Euro pallet, and features several cargo load points, a handy light, and a 12V outlet.

The load bay was covered by a plastic rolling cover that works well if a little flimsy – if I was making a purchase I’d opt for the pricier but sturdier flat metal cover, particularly if you’re going to be storing tools or other expensive items underneath.

Is the Amarok worth the price? The entry-level 163hp version starts off at €37,450 (the Hilux begins at €29,250 for a single cab, the Mitsubishi L200 at €30,250 for the doublecab) rising to €60,750 for the top of the line 224hp Aventura. There are certainly cheaper options out there in the pick-up market, but none with quite the same rugged sense of class, though I’d say the Ford Ranger comes close; the new Mercedes X-Class will also prove competitive. If you’re looking for a cheaper workhorse that will be punished severely, perhaps a Toyota Hilux would do better.

But, if you’re looking for a daily driver that feels as at home picking the kids up from school or heading to Marks & Spencer as it does when you’re ferrying a load of cattle feed to the far end of the farm or traversing mountainous land in search of a few stray sheep, coupled with range-topping styling and comfort, the Amarok is a fabulous choice. If you live in a city, perhaps consider buying a car.

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MOTORING

Top of the

MAZDA HAS RELEASED A HIGH SPEC VERSION OF ITS CX-3 COMPACT CROSSOVER, THE GT LUX. CONOR FORREST TOOK IT FOR A TEST DRIVE.

Pile Mazda’s Jazzed Up CX-3

T

hese days consumers have an almost ridiculous amount of choice when it comes to buying a new set of wheels. Long gone are the days when you chose between a car, van or jeep – now you’ve got everything from city cars and SUVs (not always designed for off-road use) to mid-size family cars and compact crossovers.

The Mazda CX-3 falls into the latter, rather generic sounding category, a taller and chunkier version of the Mazda 2 built to satisfy the niche needs of a market that enjoys the dimensions of a small car but prefers the eagle eye view from an SUV. The latest addition to this particular stable is the GT LUX, a top of the range version of the CX-3 that’s admittedly better looking in the flesh than on paper – well-proportioned, tall but with a sporty stance and adding an extra dash of comfort and style to the mix, not to mention Smart City Brake Support (helps prevent or reduce the impact of low speed collisions), steering wheel heating and adaptive headlights.

Compared to the Nissan Juke or the Renault Captur, it’s easily the most stylish option.

Underneath the hood, your options are relatively limited – a 1.5L 105hp

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MOTORING

The Stats MAZDA 2.0L GT LUX diesel block and a 2.0L 120hp petrol alternative. The latter isn’t the most efficient, averaging 6.7L/100km (42mpg), but it’s a fabulously smooth motorway cruiser with plenty of overtaking poke and a pleasant growl – the six-speed manual gearbox it was paired with in my test model proved to be a smooth option that’s easy to use in heavy traffic. Even with 18-inch alloys, the CX-3’s excellent suspension set-up means it’s a very comfortable car on the road (and well insulated from the outside world), but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun to drive.

It’s an agile car with plenty of grip and better handling than you might imagine from a family wagon (thanks in part to G-Vectoring Control, Mazda’s method of improving driving dynamics), although I found the steering to be just a touch on the heavy side. And, as it’s based on the Mazda 2 supermini, it’s a doddle to manoeuvre along narrow back roads and tight car parks.

ENGINE: 2.0L Skyactiv-G POWER: 120hp TRANSMISSION: Six-speed manual 0-100KM/H: 9 seconds FUEL EFFICIENCY: 6.7L/100km (42mpg) ANNUAL TAX: €280 PRICE: €28,596 (CX-3 range starts at €20,995)

ATTENTION TO DETAIL According to Mazda, the CX-3’s interior is the result of a ‘human-centric’ approach, designed with attention to detail and boosted by intelligent technology. Despite mostly featuring plastic material, with dashes of leather throughout (including figure-hugging leather seats), the GT LUX interior is a touch of class, one of the best in the segment, well-built and well laid out for the driver, clean and modern though it could do with a few more storage pockets for odds and ends. Knobs, switches and dials in some modern cars are difficult to use with the need to constantly glance down to make sure you’ve got the right one, but the set-up in the CX-3 is very intuitive and quite easy to get used to.

And 10 points to Gryffindor for a proper old-school handbrake.

The interior is bolstered by a decent raft of toys. Cruise control, speed warning, a head-up display that keeps you up-to-date with information including speed limits and navigational directions, touchscreen media centre with a decent sat nav (an optional extra), lane departure warning, reversing camera and heated seats and steering wheel all come as standard on the GT LUX. Even the base model SE grade isn’t too sparse, equipped with stop/start, keyless entry and hill launch assist as standard.

Visibility is great thanks to a broad windscreen, rearview mirror and large wing mirrors, though glancing over your shoulder is hindered a little by the narrow rear passenger windows.

Interior space is at a premium thanks to its supermini foundations and as a result, practicality is where the CX-3 loses a few marks. Headroom is impressive but with two adults sitting comfortably in the front, anybody with long legs in the back will feel a little squashed, though it’s a similar experience across this style of car. Boot space is less than average for the segment at 287L thanks to the Bose subwoofer hiding in the load bay, great for belting out a few thumping tunes but not so great if you need to stow a lot of luggage. A quick trip to Lidl and two large bags of shopping swallowed the majority of the available space. If your idea of a holiday is taking the kids and the car to the continent, you might want to reconsider.

It is boosted by some underfloor storage, and space rises to 1,197L once you drop the back seats.

So, is it worth forking out for the range topper? Pricing for the GT LUX begins from €28,995 (the base model starts at €20,995), resulting in a vehicle that weighs up relatively well against the competition. The top spec Nissan Juke will set you back €26,945 for a less powerful 1.6L petrol engine that’s not much more economical than Mazda’s 2.0L block, while the GT–Line tops the list for the Peugeot 2008 – €27,480 for a 120bhp 1.6L diesel model. All three have roughly the same boot space, towing capabilities and spec levels, though the Mazda wins out in terms of overall interior room and styling.

If you’ve got a growing family, you might want to consider larger options such as the Renault Kadjar or the Nissan Qashqai – you’ll get a bigger vehicle with more storage space and a similar ride height, though you’ll spend more for the same level of features. But, if you’re in the market for something with a bit of poke, a decent equipment list and you don’t need to cart around a great deal of luggage every day, take the CX-3 for a test drive.

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21/12/2017 11:54

MOTORING

RENAULT’S NEW KOLEOS DOESN’T REINVENT THE WHEEL, BUT IT’S A TIDY, COMFORTABLE AND SPACIOUS OPTION THAT PROVIDES A LITTLE MORE COMPETITION WITHIN A BUSY SUV MARKET. CONOR FORREST TOOK IT FOR A TEST DRIVE.

R

enault has something of a spring in its step of late. Sales are up for the group across Europe, albeit boosted by demand for Dacias, and the cars it’s producing these days are far better than their ancestors. The new Megane for one is a lot more stylish, sophisticated and quite simply good-looking, thanks to the design rehaul of one Laurens van den Acker.

The latest version of the Koleos is another Renault that’s rather easy on the eye, if a little bulky, a more muscular and dynamic design than the previous version which debuted back in 2007 and didn’t exactly take the market by storm. Available here since July, the Koleos tops Renault’s crossover range, ahead of the popular Captur and Kadjar models. It’s based on the third generation Nissan X-Trail although you don’t get the option of seven seats – it’s no Espace, rather a larger Kadjar if not quite as well-proportioned.

Still, the five seats you do get are quite comfortable and there’s an overall sense of airiness about the Koleos – thank the panoramic sunroof and a generous wheelbase of 2.7m that means your passengers can stretch out. Boot space clocks in at 458L (as well as another 107L under the removable floor) or 1,690L with the back seats down, which is more than the X-Trail but still less than the range-topping Skoda Kodiaq. On the plus side, there is a handy 12V socket back here, as well as underfloor storage and an actual spare wheel.

Keeping Up

Koleos

With the

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MOTORING

The Stats RENAULT KOLEOS DCI 130 DYNAMIQUE S NAV

POWER: 130hp 0-100KM/H: 11.4s TOP SPEED: 185km/h FUEL EFFICIENCY: ANNUAL TAX: €290 PRICE: €35,065

The cabin isn’t a revelation by any means, but there’s more quality than you might expect, plenty of black faux leather, soft plastics and a little imitation wood to give the sense of a more premium experience. It’s well-built if not outstanding, designed for family life, and there’s plenty of storage space too for your odds and ends, not to mention another 12V outlet and three USB ports front and back. Perfect for keeping the kids enthralled in Peppa Pig while the parents enjoy some quiet time up front.

Most of the controls are housed within Renault’s R-LINK system, a tablet integrated into the dashboard that comes as standard on every model.

It is just a little fiddly to use; the touchscreen is fairly responsive but the set-up isn’t quite intuitive – the radio is buried three buttons deep. More of the controls could be digitised; the air conditioning alone features 14 buttons below the screen. Some drivers may find that overwhelming, particularly if you’re trying to navigate the M50 and keep your toes warm at the same time.

Underneath the metal, the Koleos is essentially an X-Trail in terms of chassis and its engine blocks, which is no bad complaint. I wasn’t expecting too much when I heard my test model would be powered by a 130hp 1.6L diesel engine (the other choice is a 175hp 2.0L, also a diesel) – the Koleos isn’t exactly a small car. But it never really felt underpowered on any road and you can tow up to two tonnes of trailer. There’s plenty of poke and a decent rumble – it does lag a little in first and second but you won’t be exactly chugging along. It’s not the best in corners and doesn’t feel overly sporty (not that it necessarily should), but it’s a wonderfully comfortable cruiser that soaks up the worst of the bumps.

Steering is nice and light, although I did find it a little difficult to manoeuvre in

tight spaces. It’s quite economical too, averaging 6.4L/100km (44 mpg) and achieving 5L/100km (56 mpg) without too much difficulty on some stretches.

The onboard computer will judge you on your economical driving skills, with info on your driving patterns and a few useful tips on decreasing your fuel consumption.

Handy if you’re on a budget.

And it’ll work off-road too, theoretically. Ground clearance tops out at 210mm and it’s boosted by approach and departure angles of 19 and 26 degrees, not to mention the availability of the ALL MODE 4x4 i-transmission that monitors grip levels and tweaks its settings depending on what wheel needs more traction. Though it’s built to cope with snow, mud, dirt and sand, I imagine in Ireland the most it’ll tackle is a muddy laneway.

If you’ve got a family of five or less, the Koleos is a great option with plenty of space, safety features and a decent bit of poke. The standard equipment list is generous (the Koleos is Renault’s flagship model) including a reversing camera, blind spot warning, hill-start assist, hands-free entry, cruise control, leather upholstery, panoramic sunroof, automatic lights and 18-inch alloy wheels. Signature Nav adds a few luxuries to the mix, such as heated front seats, an electronically operated boot door, and a bigger touchscreen.

Pricing starts at €34,490 for the base model, which isn’t bad at all, although one of its main competitors, the Peugeot 5008, starts from €29,345 and comes equipped with a third row of folding seats. Seven seats are very much in demand these days, and Renault has instead pointed potential customers with a larger gang towards the Grand Scenic. But if you’re a fan of the French brand and you’re looking for something that’s comfortable, a little more spacious, good-looking and with a decent bit of kit, the Koleos won’t disappoint.

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DOWN ON THE FARM

Down on the Farm

“YOU’RE LEARNING EVERY DAY, EVERY DAY IS A SCHOOL DAY, THERE’LL BE SOMETHING THROWN AT YOU.”

I was the oldest son here on the family farm at home. I maybe hadn’t much choice in the matter, but I would have been fully integrated into it at a young age. It wasn’t something I disliked, I suppose I knew no different. Daddy would have had us on the farm here at an early age just helping out with chores, feeding calves and cleaning up in different things. I would have had a keen interest from a young age.

It’s a 100-acre dairy farm with 85 cows here. We’ve expanded in the last five, six years from a 60-cow herd in a traditional herringbone parlour, and we installed a Lely Astronaut A4 in 2013.

I had decided in 2012 I was going to Darren Hughes stay at home and run the home farm after I had been to university and tried the working world and didn’t like it. So I made the decision in 2012 to stay at home and went to Ballyhaise and did my Green Cert Level 5 and 6. And I suppose we’ve slowly been progressing on from then.

The work varies by the time of year. Your February and March would be fairly hectic, calving cows and feeding calves and keeping everything in good order and keeping house. You’re grazing too from early February, so that involves working my rotation plan, fencing, step grazing, back fencing – the day doesn’t be long beating you at that time, there’s always something to be done.

I take full control of all calf rearing and grazing, pasture and grazing aspects.

From my point of view, I think it’s flexible. You know what you have to do and you work out your timeframe to do it in.

I have outside work as well, I do some sales work for Gerry Comiskey Volkswagen in Dundalk so it gives me that bit of leeway. I suppose that was the advantage of having the robot in – you weren’t tied to having to come home for half four/five o’clock every evening to milk, you could be safe in the knowledge

PHOTO: PAUL MOHAN / SPORTSFILE

MONAGHAN GAA PLAYER DARREN HUGHES CHATS ABOUT A BUSY LIFE ON HIS DAIRY FARM.

that the cows are milking away and you just come home and move your fence before the gate change. Me and my dad, both of us are in a sense full-time here at home and we work well with each other.

I suppose the volatility in milk prices is the biggest challenge.

We’ve seen over the last three or four years the highs and lows of it. We’re going well at the minute but we know that can turn at any time. I think you have to be prepared for that. We’re even seeing now with a bad autumn to be prepared for fodder carrying you through the winter – you don’t want a fodder shortage. It’s managing your systems to suit those aspects.

I considered the thought of poultry at one stage. I’m comfortable in the dairy aspect, growing up it’s all I knew.

You’re learning every day, every day is a school day, there’ll be something thrown at you. I’m comfortable in this sector and I still feel there’s plenty of potential in the farm here and we’ll work to grow with what we have. There’s room for improvement as well. I’ll channel all of my focus towards that – I don’t think I could turn my head in any other direction.

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