Receiving acknowledgement from your industry peers for the work that you do is gratifying, particularly now, when the fruits of all farmers’ labour seem to be undervalued in more ways than one.
For tillage farmer, Sylvester Bourke, when news came through that he had won the Green Feed Beans award this week – part of the 2021 Glanbia Grain Awards – it was a doubly sweet surprise as he had no idea he was even in the running.
“It was very nice of them to pick me for it. It came out of the blue as I had no idea at all, but was a nice surprise to get.
“I can lord it over the other lads in the discussion group now,” he joked.
Agriland caught up with Sylvester, who was one of 12 suppliers honoured for their dedication and attention to detail in grain production, to chat all things tillage, current challenges, and the opportunities that can exist when one door closes.
Growing stronger
Sylvester and his wife, Elizabeth, run their tillage enterprise on the outskirts of Arklow, Co. Wickow.
Parents of three children – Lizzie (16), Catherine (14) and Sylvester junior (13) – they grow spring beans, oilseed rape, winter barley, winter wheat, spring barley and maize, and have a 1,800-flock of laying hens also.
Last year, Sylvester harvested 150ac winter wheat; 40ac maize; 50ac rape; 70ac beans; 30ac spring barley; and 30ac oats from land that is 75% leased.
It was a very good year.
“Last year was the best year ever, I don’t know if I will ever see a year like it again,” he said.
“The best field of wheat did about 5t/ac and that was min-tilled, after break crops like oilseed rape and beans. It was wonderful to get that off a low-cost base, so when you do the sums, it was very good.”
But, this year is a different story as farmers struggle with rising input costs and inflation.
It is making a huge dent in whatever profits were made.
“This year, the fertiliser bill is through the roof and the fuel bill too. For example, 1,000L of diesel is just over €900, whereas it was about €600 a year ago.
“I bought nitrogen last year at €220/t and, this year, I have already paid €680/t for one load of nitrogen, and we still have to buy two more loads. I dry some of the grain also, so my costs will be more than €40,000 on last year, which will make a huge hole in the profits. And, I don’t see me getting a lot more for my grain when I am selling it.”
Being a realist, in terms of what the world might throw at you, is a very useful trait to have as a farmer, he agreed.
“I would always play it down and hope for the best,” he said.
“The worst thing you can do is to start counting your chickens – better to expect a bit less and be surprised than be disappointed and have a long face after the harvest.”
A pragmatic outlook such as this comes only with experience and that is something 57-year-old Sylvester has in plentiful supply, having farmed for 40 of those years.
Min-till – max satisfaction
Over the last few years, like many tillage farmers, Sylvester has transitioned to a minimum-tillage (min-till) operation.
Now, 90% of his production is based on min-till and he has found the move away from ploughing to be a positive one.
He explained the background:
“The reason I changed, originally, was to save on time. I am a one-man operation and it is saving me about three weeks’ work, which is the time it would take to plough it all.
“That is a huge saving for me and gives me more freedom and flexibility and more time for family,” the grain farmer said.
“I had been tricking around with it [min-till] for a few years. I had a little grubber that I bought for €1,500, secondhand. I used to use that occasionally, and it worked, and I always knew that there was scope to do it on a bigger scale.”
Once he decided that he was going to go down the min-till path, he availed of Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) funding about three years ago.
“I invested in a proper 3.6m Agro-Tom, a Polish-designed machine for tilling.
“It’s got three rows of tines and then a row of discs and a press on the back. It does a very nice job in preparing the soil for sowing.
“TAMS was a big help. I have probably done 1,000 acres on it now at this stage and I’d say it has more that paid for itself in savings on ploughing and time.”
While he has considered no-tillage – direct drilling – he said it is not something he will pursue, due to the size of his farm and some of his farming practices – such as straw incorporation – which are naturally more compatible with min-till.
CAP challenge
While positive about the work he does, the produce he grows, the efficiencies he has created over the years, he does worry for the future of farming, particularly the tillage sector, and specifically his own enterprise, he tells Agriland.
The government’s reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has been a huge let-down for tillage as far as he is concerned.
He told Agriland that his single farm payment will be significantly slashed – by almost half – in the next iteration of CAP, to the point where it will no longer cover the annual rent he pays for the land he leases to produce what he produces.
“This will raise a huge question over my business, and others’ too,” he said.
But his resilience, developed over his four-decade farming career, will serve him well.
“I started at 17 and I have been through a lot of different CAP reforms.
“There will be the closing of some doors and the opening of others. Spotting those open doors will be important,” he said.
Spotting the open door
As the conversation continued with Sylvester, the acknowledgement that the times are changing – not for the best, necessarily – is followed by an air of great positivity.
He may well have spotted some open doors – or ajar, at least.
“I wouldn’t rule out organics,” he said.
“With satellite technology now, you could probably sow wider row spacings in grain, and inter-cultivate for weed control, so you couldn’t rule it out,” he said.
“I would also like to expand my poultry business as well because there are opportunities there with the proposed ending of caged production [being introduced by Europe]”.
“I have an enriched cage system currently but I might consider a larger barn system with a view to using my own manure.
“I have a certain amount of poultry manure but if I am more self sufficient in it, it would reduce my fertiliser bill substantially.”
Currently, Sylvester covers about 20 acres with poultry manure from his flock of hens.
If he were to invest in a larger barn system for 20,000 hens, for example, he could reduce his annual fertiliser bill by about €50,000 – based on current prices – he said.
And the government’s recent announcement that 60% grant aid will be available for on-farm solar projects has given him the urge to plough head with a solar idea that has been in his head for some time.
He has about four or five acres that may be perfect for a solar park, he said, and this is something he will explore.
“I am, generally, resilient and will exploit any new opportunity that any new system brings in, so I will be flexible and adaptable and, hopefully, will be still here in another 10 and 20 years,” he said.
And, with an attitude like that, there is no doubting that he will.