Síolta Chroí, a social enterprise based in Co. Monaghan, will run a free course in regenerative farming from November.
Síolta Chroí, which means ‘Seeds of the Heart’, is a not-for-profit based in Carrickmacross.
“We aim to restore Ireland’s ecosystems and communities. We do this through exploring resilient and regenerative food systems; carrying out ecosystem restoration work and education focused on regenerative cultures,” said co-founder, Gareth Conlan.
“Síolta Chroí is giving the course, using non-formal adult education methods – which means we use the knowledge and expertise in the room to explore the topic.
“The course is subsidised by Cavan Monaghan Education Training Board under the Reach fund,” he said.
“We will explore topics such as regenerative farming and ecosystem restoration, soil food web; agroforestry, and how farmers can direct sell to get fairer prices for their produce,” Gareth said.
“This is the second edition of this course. The first one we ran last year.
“We want to build a network of farmers doing this work in this part of the country.”
There has been positive feedback to plans to run the course, according to Gareth, who said: “We have had farmers from other parts of the country asking would we be hosting it in their region.
“The course is coming from the need to come up with solutions to the problems we are facing as a local and global community.”
Gareth and his partner and co-founder Karen Jeffares have two children, Lily and Amergin, and run a small farm connected to their education centre in Carrickmacross.
“We grow vegetable as well as having chickens, pigs and two alpacas. I grew up in Inniskeen ‘Patrick Kavanagh country’ on land,” said Gareth, who has a master’s degree in international development.
“Farming and the environment are all too often pitted against each other – farmers versus the environment. But does it need to be this way?” he asked.
“We at Síolta Chroí believe that this is not only unnecessary but actually damaging. It is holding Ireland back from making any real progress in mitigating climate change, and reaching our climate goals.
“That is why we are running a course this November, for two hours a week over four weeks at our centre in Monaghan, to explore how farming can be a key driver in restoring our ecosystems and reversing climate change.
“Our current industrial farming system means that we are farming in a way that is destroying our ecosystems, changing the climate, destroying biodiversity, creating green deserts and the farmer isn’t even getting fairly paid for their work,” he said.
“Cows are often highlighted as one of the leading causes of climate change. But this view is too simplistic,” Gareth said.
“There is no such thing as a healthy ecosystem without animals in it. As the saying goes, ‘It is not the cow but the how’.
“Another way is possible. This is commonly known as regenerative agriculture – the farmer working with the animals, and wider nature, to create nutrient rich food that restores and improves the ecosystem and builds biodiversity, while sequestering carbon and paying the farmer a fair wage.
“We want to create a network of farmers in this region doing the great work of our time,” said Gareth.