All farmers and farm types need to adopt best practices if the agriculture sector is to prosper in a sustainable way and meet environmental targets set out for 2030 and 2050, Minister of State, Pippa Hackett has said.
While there is no doubt that this is a very challenging time for agriculture, Minister Hackett said it is also “hugely exciting” because of pioneering work being done in organic farming, regenerative farming, and agroforestry.
Focusing on soil health, crop rotation, grazing and pasture management, and using plants and crops to help enrich and improve soil biology are practices that should apply on all farms, she said.
The minister with responsibility for land use and biodiversity at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), opened Biofarm 2022, Ireland’s Biological Farming Conference today (Monday, November 7).
“We have huge ambitions here in Ireland, and indeed across the globe, to turn the tide on increasingly negative trends from our food production systems – be that in greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, water and soil quality.
“And if we are to deliver on our targets, or even come close to delivering on them, an enormous amount of the heavy lifting will fall to the agricultural sector,” according to Minister Hackett.
The fifth annual biological farming conference organised by the National Organic Training Skillnet (NOTS) will take place in person and online until Friday, November 11 at the Landmark Hotel, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim.
Key issues facing the farming sector that will be explored at the conference include climate change, carbon sequestration, rising input costs, and farm profitability.
Best practices
Soil health, and grazing and pasture management are among the areas that need to be improved and focused on in the years and decades ahead, the minister said, adding that “it is not always easy, and a shift in mindset is often needed”.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has meant that change has been thrust upon many farmers, with reduced fertiliser use coming about in many cases by economic necessity, rather than by environmental concern, or government incentives, she said.
Many farmers in Ireland have seen continued grass growth this year, despite the reduction in chemical fertiliser, and it may be possible to move towards a model that relies less on synthetic inputs, according to the minister.
The government has a role to play through incentives, such as supporting multi-species swards, red clover use, the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) and the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS), as well as through the nitrates regulations and the upcoming fertiliser regulations, the minister said.
Minister Hackett added that already hundreds of farmers have been taken into the new OFS which opened over two weeks ago. She commented:
“I know from my own experience when we made the switch to organic farming nearly 10 years ago, that things can be challenging. In a way we had to relearn farming without the crutch of chemical inputs.
“We had to plan further ahead, and we had to have a little faith and believe in our own skills and knowledge, and in the soil beneath our feet,” the minister said.
While it is clear that many farms want to play their part in the move towards truly sustainable farming, she said, to do so requires an openness and willingness to do things differently.
“This is the system change that is needed, because tinkering around the edges of business as usual will no longer cut it,” according to Minister Hackett.