Ear To The Ground Issue 1 2017

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MOUNTAIN BREW

SUMMER 2017

CRAFT BREWING AT CROAGH PATRICK

EAR TO THE GROUND SUMMER 2017

THE WOOD FOR THE TREES Investing in Irish Forestry

The Need to

CONNECT Tackling Rural Broadband

BACK TO HIS

Roots DARRAGH RETURNS TO FULL-TIME FARMING

PLUS 000_ETTG_Summer 2017_Cover.indd 1

FARM SUCCESSION // CAP REFORM // UNUSUAL ENTERPRISES // RURAL DEVELOPMENT // HEMP FARMING // FARM MACHINERY // INDUSTRY REVIEW // FARM CAREERS // BOOK CLUBS // 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: Louise Denvir, Penny Gray, Valerie Jordan, Ian Maleney, Jo Linehan, Darragh McCullough, Aisling Meehan, Dean Van Nguyen, Joe Finegan, Mairead McGuinness, Fiona Kelly, Orla Ní Sheagdha CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Jane Matthews DESIGN: Alan McArthur PHOTOGRAPHY: iStock, Independent Pictures, Finbarr O’Rourke, Alchemy Utilities, Multi Tool Trac, Bomford Turner INFOGRAPHICS: Flaticon PRODUCTION EXECUTIVE: Nicole Ennis PRODUCTION MANAGER: Mary Connaughton SALES DIRECTOR: Paul Clemenson MANAGING DIRECTOR: Gerry Tynan CHAIRMAN: Diarmaid Lennon Ashville Media Group, Old Stone Building Blackhall Green, Dublin 7 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.

ISSN 2009-4310

ONLY

€4.95!

SUMMER 2017

MOUNTAIN BREW

CRAFT BREWING AT CROAGH PATRICK

EAR TO THE GROUND SUMMER 2017

THE WOOD FOR THE TREES Investing in Irish Forestry

The Need to

CONNECT Tackling Rural Broadband

BACK TO HIS

Roots DARRAGH RETURNS TO FULL-TIME FARMING

PLUS

FARM SUCCESSION // CAP REFORM // UNUSUAL ENTERPRISES // RURAL DEVELOPMENT // HEMP FARMING // FARM MACHINERY // INDUSTRY REVIEW // FARM CAREERS // BOOK CLUBS // FOOD // MOTORING

000_ETTG_Summer 2017_Cover.indd 1

06/07/2017 15:13

Hello...

Welcome to our summer issue of Ear to the Ground magazine, which hits the shelves in the wake of our 24th series.

In April, Big Week on the Farm returned once more to the nation’s screens, broadcasting from the rolling hills of Co Cavan and showcasing life on a busy dairy farm. We take a look behind the scenes of this popular show, which brings the intricacies of rural and farming life to the national stage.

Brexit continues to dominate Ireland’s agricultural industry.

Professor Alan Matthews, Trinity College Dublin, shares his outlook on how this momentous decision could impact farmers both in Ireland and the UK. In our cover story, we catch up with Ear to the Ground presenter Darragh McCullough to learn more about the reasons behind his return to full-time farming. Though he’ll still be presenting the show, Darragh is taking a more hands-on role with his Co Meath farm, and fills us in on the challenges of changing your career focus, alongside the nerves experienced when making a significant life change.

As we’ve learned during some tough times in Ireland, innovation can be key to success. Some of Ireland’s younger generation have taken this lesson to heart, and we profile several youthful inventors making their mark on the industry. We also take a look at three unusual farming enterprises around the country, and how they’re making a living by less traditional means.

Elsewhere in the magazine, we examine how farmers can play a key role in protecting and improving Ireland’s diversity, the sometimes difficult subject of farm inheritance, and how the community of Clashmore, Co Waterford took its broadband woes into its own hands. And, in our regular lifestyle section, we have the latest on books, recipes, art and some fabulous new drives.

Lastly, this is my final issue as Executive Producer of Ear to the Ground, as I’m retiring from an active role with Independent Pictures after almost 40 years. Within these pages we take a look back at an eventful four decades, filled with challenges, risks, opportunities, and some fantastic independent television.

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.

John Cummins Executive Producer Independent Pictures

ON THE COVER: Darragh McCullough on his farm in Co Meath PHOTOGRAPHY: Jason Clarke Photography

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CONTENTS

Contents 10

A BIG WEEK ON THE FARM

FEATURES

60

05

INDUSTRY REVIEW Looking back at how farmers have fared in the first half of 2017.

29

10

A BIG WEEK ON THE FARM Louise Denvir reports on the latest series of RTÉ’s Big Week on the Farm.

30

14

A LIFE IN REVIEW Independent Pictures’ John Cummins is retiring from an active role within the company he founded almost four decades ago.

KEEPING ON AN EVEN PEEL

23

FARMING ONLINE Access to public services online for Irish citizens continues to expand.

26

WINGING IT The Irish poultry industry is growing rapidly right now, but it’s not without its challenges.

37

40

KEEPING IT LOCAL Ellen Flynn caught up with The Village Dairy founder Noel Barcoe.

RETURNING TO YOUR ROOTS Ear to the Ground presenter Darragh McCullough explains why he’s heading back to full-time farming, and his hopes and fears for the future.

THE FUTURE OF THE FARM We tackle the issue of farm succession.

A EUROPEAN MODEL FOR AGRICULTURE Vice-President of the European Parliament and MEP Mairead McGuinness reflects on six decades of cohesive European agricultural policy.

42

THE INVENTION OF YOUTH Ear to the Ground caught up with some innovative young farmers.

46

CONNECTING TO THE WORLD The issue of broadband for rural Ireland continues to be a stumbling block for rural communities.

51

FORGING A PATH FOR IRISH FOOD Ireland’s agricultural industries face some turbulent times in the coming years.

55

TOUGH TIMES FOR TILLAGE Ear to the Ground looks at a sector under pressure.

58

OVERCOMING CONSTRAINTS Joe Finegan investigates the state of play for Ireland’s hill farmers.

60

KEEPING ON AN EVEN PEEL Is Ireland still in love with the humble spud?

62

THINKING CAP The European Commission has opened public consultation on the next Common Agricultural Policy.

64

IRELAND’S UNUSUAL FARMERS Beyond the traditional farming ventures, a number of enterprising individuals have taken the road less travelled on their farms.

69

I FISH WE KNEW Dean Van Nguyen investigates the potential impact of Brexit on Ireland’s fishing industry.

72

FARMING BIODIVERSITY Ian Maleney documents two projects aimed at promoting and boosting sustainable and biodiverse agriculture.

76

HIGH IN THE SKY Aisling Meehan of Agricultural Solicitors tackles the topic of drones and how they relate to Irish farmers and landowners.

78

ESCAPE TO THE COUNTRY There’s plenty to do and see across rural Ireland.

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CONTENTS

FEATURES 82

THE FUTURE OF DAIRY FARMING The Irish dairy industry needs 6,500 trained people by 2025.

85

GROWING KNOWLEDGE Teagasc director Professor Gerry Boyle discussses the organisation’s impact on Irish farming.

93

CASHFLOW IS KING We examine the Agriculture Cashflow Support Loan Scheme.

96

A FINE PEDIGREE Tiernan Cannon profiles the Irish Holstein Friesian Association.

98

HEMP ON THE HORIZON Kate Carmody speaks about the potential of industrial hemp.

102

TAKING ACTION FOR RURAL IRELAND Tackling rural development.

104

A TASTE OF HOME Neven Maguire talks Irish food.

107

PEDIGREE QUALITY The Irish Angus Cattle Society is celebrating 50 years of excellence.

112

CREATING A LAND OF TREES Irish forestry’s new investment.

115

MAN AND MACHINE Tiernan Cannon takes a look at what’s hot in the world of farm machinery.

118

BACK FROM MR BLACK We catch up with farmer-turnedinventor Dickie Weldon.

120

AGRICULTURAL INNOVATION The latest technological innovations.

125

FARMING SAFELY Farmers and contractors have been urged to prioritise safety.

147

14

A LIFE IN REVIEW

LIFESTYLE 131

MOUNTAIN BREW Ear to the Ground checked back in with the guys at Mescan Brewery to see how they’re upping their brewing game.

135

TACKLING RURAL TRANSPORT We take a look at the broader issues facing transport in rural Ireland.

139

BOWLING FOR SUCCESS The popularity of cricket is on the rise.

143

ART IN THE OUTHOUSE Ian Maleney takes a look inside Cow House Studios in Co Wexford.

147

GUARDING THE GROUSE Like much of Ireland’s vulnerable wildlife, the red grouse is under threat.

151

IRELAND’S RURAL READERS Ear to the Ground chats to three book lovers using literature to bring life to their communities.

GUARDING THE GROUSE

154

MY LOVELY HORSE TO THE RESCUE Inspired by the Father Ted tune, My Lovely Horse Rescue is doing stellar work in Dublin and Greater Leinster.

143

ART IN THE OUTHOUSE

159

BOOKS

163

SUMMER BBQ RECIPES

169

MOTORING

176

DOWN ON THE FARM Leinster and Ireland rugby player Tadhg Furlong chats to Ear to the Ground about his early days on the family farm in Wexford.

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INDUSTRY

Industry Review WHERE DO IRISH FARMERS STAND IN 2017? WE SPEAK WITH FARMING REPRESENTATIVES FROM ALL SECTORS TO DISCOVER MORE. As we head into the latter months of 2017, it’s fair to say that it has been a mixed period for Irish farmers. Though the weather has been better when compared to last year, prices have fluctuated across the board, the average farm income is down, and the shadow of Brexit still looms large. Farm safety is also once more to the fore, following a report by ESRI that has again confirmed farming’s dubious accolade of the country’s most dangerous profession. Things could indeed be better.

So how have each of the farming sectors fared since the beginning of the year?

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INDUSTRY

SPOTLIGHT

ORGANIC Earlier this year Ireland was reported as having the second fastest growing organic market in the world, with a per capita spend of €31 per person per annum (source FiBL). This is based on the fact that sales of organic food in Ireland increased by 23 per cent in 2016, which is extremely encouraging for the sector. The growth of sales in Ireland is in line with global growth, with the European organic market now valued at €30 billion.

Gillian Westbrook, IOFGA CEO, stated that “the demand for organic food continues to grow and this is good news for Irish organic producers. People want to procure Irish organic food and farmers are responding to the market by producing high-quality products.

Currently we are seeing great innovation in the sector in terms of production and processing, it is a very exciting time for organic food production here in Ireland.

IOFGA are working with industry to market and promote organic food as an option for everyone. There is scope to further increase the market both at home and abroad and we are working with our members to achieve this over the next few years.”

Adrian and Padraig Hyde from Munster Brewery

Moile cows

Poultry A mass outbreak of avian influenza during January and February meant that it wasn’t a flying start to the year for Irish poultry farmers, with the IFA and others making the call for all birds (including free range flocks) to be kept indoors. Eventually, though it was tough for poultry farmers, this measure ensured that commercial and backyard flocks avoided all contact with the disease. “That has been a huge success internationally, and would be seen as us doing everything we possibly could, at a farmer level and at a department level,” comments Nigel Renaghan, IFA Poultry chair.

Going forward things are looking up for poultry farmers as consumption of poultry continues to rise throughout Europe, and in other regions like the United Arab Emirates. And with Ireland producing high-quality meat, higher levels of productivity and demand are on the up. Reneghan does note the lack of support from Irish government institutions in buying Bord Bia-certified Irish produce, continuing instead to import products from other European countries. “I think it’s a little bit rich that we’re going around the world trying to sell our products in relation to agriculture, while our government departments will not back us ourselves,” he explains. “How do they expect anybody in another country to buy Irish produce when the government body won’t buy it themselves?”

Sheep

2017 began well for sheep farmers following the launch of the €25 million Sheep Welfare Scheme in December, which provides €10 per ewe for farmers undertaking actions leading to flock welfare.

But according to John Brooks, sheep chair with the Irish Cattle & Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA), a small oversupply in the market collapsed the price, which remains a worry going forward. “We hear of meat plants wanting ‘x’ number of sheep, but a small increase in supply and they’re not able to market it,” Brooks explains. “You have a situation where because there was exceptionally good weather over the winter, lambs or hoggets thrived exceptionally well, and all of a sudden guys, when they started selling their hogget in January and February, they found out they were a good bit heavier than normal.

And the meat industry took advantage of that and reduced weight limits and cut price on it.”

Brooks notes that the trade has been below par for the entire spring, in comparison to the last number of years – hogget has maxed out at around €5.40/kg, while spring lamb has struggled to breach the €6/kg mark. “They need €7 and we need a realistic weight limit of 22kg. This business of meat plants opening up the seasons and only paying for spring lambs to 20kg, it’s interference, as far as the ICSA is concerned,” says Brooks. “It’s interference in the marketplace because if you can sell hogget or hogget cuts at 23 or 24 kilo carcass, the consumer doesn’t distinguish on the size of the leg, the chop or the cut it gets off a 20kg spring lamb carcass or a 23 or 24kg hogget. It sets it up for a low weight limit going into the summer, it’s a spurious thing.”

However there are some good signs ahead. Brooks is hopeful that the live shipping trade, which grew by between 40 and 50 per cent last year, will grow again, calling for a plan to be put in place to exploit this market. He also notes the influence of customers’ perception of value for the industry. “People assume, or there is a perception out there, that lamb is expensive. And it’s not – it compares very favourably with all meats in the sense that you can normally buy leg of lamb at any time of the year for €10/kg,” says Brooks. “It compares very favourably as a value for money product. And that’s a good thing – sheep farmers don’t want to see their products being priced out of the market and consumers not buying it.”

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INDUSTRY

SPOTLIGHT

HORTICULTURE Dairy

Work in progress in the RHSI garden, Russborough House

Irish horticulture is in a good position this year according to Rachel Doyle, CEO of the Arboretum Garden Centres. “In the world of horticulture here in Ireland we had a wonderful start to the season. Generally the kick-off of the season is St. Patrick’s Day, but this year we were trading well since early March. The greatest influencer of this is weather and to a lesser extent the economy. Retail Excellence figures for Q1 show the garden retail sector up 7.4 per cent in general,” said Doyle, speaking before the annual Royal Horticultural Society (RHSI) garden show in Russborough on July 29th. “However, some centres who are offering a wide range of garden products such as garden furniture and BBQs and have a strong food offering might be even higher. Plants are also trading well but colour, colour and more colours is what people are looking for, and instant gratification. Some people want the cake, not the ingredients. Bespoke planted containers are also on the increase with contemporary pots with vibrant colours leading the charge.”

According to Doyle, price is not a major consideration, rather how these products will work in consumers’ homes. Among the items selling well of late are fruit trees, bushes and vegetable plants ready for planting, an indication that more people are growing their own.

“GroMór is an initiative by Retail Excellence garden centres and growers across Ireland, in association with Bord Bia, and sponsored by Bord na Móna and Westland Horticulture.

The aim of the campaign is to give clear and useful advice on how to best grow plants, herbs, flowers, fruits, vegetables and to highlight the health benefits of gardening. Diarmuid Gavin along with five other ambassadors worked well with the gardening group getting the message through all channels of media,” she explains. “There is a real feeling that the recession is over and one of the signs is that people are prepared to buy the larger ticket items, not just furniture and BBQs, but also the desire for larger plant specimens. However, Brexit looms but we will stay positive.”

SPOTLIGHT

PIGS

It’s been a steady period of recovery for farmers in the dairy industry after a poor 18 months, with lowest milk prices dropping to 21 cents per litre. But with decent, mild weather this spring, prices and productivity continue to rise. “Now we have milk prices in the region of 30 to 31 cent per litre... and in general I think you have dairy farmers a lot happier, a lot more confident for the rest of the year,” Sean O’Leary, IFA Dairy chair, explains.

One issue the sector currently faces is that of slim pickings in the labour market, with a lack of attractive career options for prospective managers and skilled labourers. “Especially at certain times of the year, it’s certainly going to be a challenge to source those from within the country, or even from outside,” says O’Leary. “I think we have to look at providing full-time careers in agriculture and in dairy, which is a challenge, because the demand varies from time to time.”

Despite this, it’s looking like a good milk year for farmers, with O’Leary predicting that most if not all dairy suppliers will be members of the SDAS Quality Assurance Scheme by the end of the year, which will help immeasurably when developing higher quality products and putting them on the international market.

Prices are dominating the discussion among Irish pig farmers of late, with a target of €1.80/kg on the cards. According to the IFA, the gap between the average EU and Irish pig price is “ever-increasing”.

IFA Pigs committee chair Tom Hogan has called on all pig farmers to demand an increase in pig prices from their processor.

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PHOTO: FINBARR O’ROURKE

INDUSTRY

SPOTLIGHT

HILL FARMING

Cattle/Beef The opening up of the Turkish market in autumn 2016 has given Ireland’s beef and livestock industry a significant boost, according to the IFA’s Angus Woods. Woods highlights the reduction of the cost of doing business for live exporters as particularly key – the levy on calves was reduced from €4.80 down to €1.20, a critical move for farmers particularly in the wake of several tough months after Brexit. This has led to other prospects in international markets, with potential prospects including Egypt, Libya and Algeria. Woods also highlights an increase in calves being exported to Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain as a positive step, with the potential to boost cattle prices in Ireland.

“The good thing about it is that they’re buying all sorts of types of animals, you know, they’re buying bulls, they’re buying heifers, they’re buying Angus, continentals, they’re buying 300-kilo animals, 650-kilo animals… It’s a good spread on it,” says Woods.

One issue the industry is tackling at the moment is the repercussions of the Brazilian meat scandal back in February and March. “We would feel that there is a certain amount of work to be done in that area now. We can’t have a scenario where product of a substandard is arriving in Europe, and that needs to be tightened up significantly,” Woods explains, adding that “we [Irish and European farmers] can’t be undermined in the marketplace.”

One of the main issues facing hill farmers this year, according to Irish Natura and Hill Farmer’s Association chairman Vincent Roddy, are the constraints on the land and the low level of the associated payments that don’t truly reflect these challenges, for example for hill-type land.

“At the moment what’s there is a payment that doesn’t reflect that,” Roddy explains.

The INHFA ran a major campaign earlier this year in relation to the proposed review of Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC) – among its proposals is the addition of €25 million into the overall ANC fund as noted in the programme of government, to be paid out in 2018, with Roddy noting it should be directed towards hill farmers to address current imbalances.

The organisation has also recently called on Minister Heather Humphreys and Minister Michael Creed to take action to change legal burning dates as part of the Heritage Bill.

Following a statement made by Minister of State Andrew Doyle, which indicated that land that has undergone illegal burning be removed from land-based schemes, INHFA CAP chair Colm O’Donnell noted that farmers must be proven to be at fault first.

Tillage A relatively dry spring has been a welcome change for Ireland’s tillage farmers, alongside the possibility of improvements in the marketplace (though not by huge margins), in part thanks to the increase in dairy farmers looking for Irish grain. Liam Dunne, the IFA’s Grain chair, forecasts a potentially buoyant market for straw later this year, due to losses that took place in the west of Ireland in 2016.

However, costs have still been quite high on tillage farms, including that of financing. “Your margins are very tight, and every cost you can reduce is a big help,” says Dunne. “Finance is something... because our income is only basically once a year, we need to finance the whole operation for a whole year, so we have a fairly strong demand for finance.”

Dunne notes that while tillage farmers “probably” got their fair share of the €150 million Agriculture Cashflow Support Loan Scheme, there is a need for further funding to be made available.

The last time we spoke in late 2016, Dunne’s outlook on the tillage industry as a whole was quite pessimistic, with farmers facing into a potentially difficult winter. However, given a substantial drop in fertiliser prices at the beginning of this year along with the aforementioned positive aspects, that has changed somewhat. “I have to say, going into harvest 2017 I’m a little bit more optimistic than I was with the last couple of harvests,” he explains.

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Farm Insurance fbd.ie 1890 617 617

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TELEVISION

A on Big Week the

Farm LOUISE DENVIR REPORTS ON THE LATEST SERIES OF RTÉ’S BIG WEEK ON THE FARM, WHICH WAS BROADCAST TO THE NATION FOR A WEEK FROM CAVAN EARLIER THIS YEAR.

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TELEVISION

I

t’s said there are 365 lakes in Cavan – a lake for every day of the year. One of them is on Patrick Shalvey’s land; it can be seen from the large, glass, Big Week on the Farm set, which overlooked the green pastures of Maudabawn’s rolling drumlin hills and wind farms.

Every night for one week from the beginning of April, 150 excited audience members travelled from around Ireland to Patrick’s farm in rural Maudabawn, where the show was filmed this year. They were a diverse group of farmers, scientists, locals and urban-dwellers – some had never stepped foot on a farm before. This represents just a tiny fraction of the audience, with an average of 311,700 viewers tuning in each night. Who knew farming could be so popular?

Patrick has been living on this farm his entire life. His father bought the land in the 1940s, and hand-milked seven cows there.

In the ‘70s they bought a milking parlour, and the herd size grew accordingly. Now Patrick milks a herd of 60 Holstein Friesian

Darragh McCullough, Áine Lawlor, Ella McSweeney and Helen Carroll

On set with Vogue Williams

Behind the scenes

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TELEVISION

and Friesian crosses using an eight-unit herringbone parlour. He met his wife Geraldine in a disco in the Lavey Inn, and they married in 1993. They have three children: Enda (20), Colm (18) and Aoife (16).

In February, Patrick got the call from the producers to say his farm had been chosen to host Big Week on the Farm. “It was very exciting,” he says. “Everyone watched it last year in the farming and local community here in Maudabawn. We’re a tight-knit town here, and everyone wanted to know who the stars and presenters were, but we couldn’t say a thing until the week of the show.”

Presenters Ella McSweeney and Áine Lawlor were joined by a different celebrity guest presenter every night, including Aoibhinn Garrihy, Ruby Walsh, Pat Shortt, Al Porter and Vogue Williams; Ear to the Ground presenters Helen Carroll and Darragh McCullough reported from farms around the country.

PHOTO: MICHAEL DUNNE

URBAN AND RURAL Last year the series focused on the working life of John Fagan’s sheep farm during the lambing season, and this year its main focus was dairy. Every morning Patrick Shalvey milks his herd at 7am, followed by another milking session in the evening. During the week of broadcast he managed to fit his usual farm duties around rehearsals with his family and interviews with RTÉ One’s Today Show, Radio 1’s Ray D’Arcy Show, and numerous local radio stations.

Patrick is a great advocate for farming, and explained to the hosts how Big Week on the Farm aims to bring farming to a much wider audience by combining items on animal behaviour, science and technology with local farming stories and anecdotes. Patrick also filmed during the week of the live broadcast.

“The team wanted us to look at our farm’s bee hives, and to discuss why bees are essential for farming; we went to the mart with Pat Shortt to sell bull calves; Alma Jordan from AgriKids went to Geraldine’s school to teach the children about farm safety; and we filmed calving throughout the night,” he explains. Undoubtedly it was a very busy week.

In February, Wildlife Director Ross Bartley installed trail cameras (with motion sensors to detect moving animals) at key locations on the farm. He stayed in a wildlife camera hut, scouting for hours on end in silence, hoping to capture unusual footage of animal behaviour. Rabbit, deer, fox, pine marten, mink, heron, woodpecker, kingfisher and newt all made an appearance in the show. Patrick had no idea what the animals were doing on his farm when his back was turned.

“Seeing the wildlife on the farm was unbelievable,” Patrick says. “There were otters less than 200 yards from the house and pine marten in the garden, attacking my pheasants. A lot of my buddies were saying to me, wasn’t it great to see it, we never thought that we’d find them so close.”

Indeed, the wildlife on the farm is breathtaking.

“A lot of people have said how wonderful the farm looked too,” his wife Geraldine explains. “When you’re looking at the land every day, you simply don’t see the beauty in it any more. Now we appreciate it again.”

Áine Lawlor and Al Porter

Patrick and Geraldine Shalvey

Colm, Aoife, Geraldine, Patrick and Enda Shalvey

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SHOW TIME

PHOTO: MICHAEL DUNNE

Enda Shalvey

Big Week on the Farm Sign 3 with sheepdog trainer Denis Birchall and sheepdog Tweed

PHOTO: MICHAEL DUNNE

Aoife Shalvey in the milking parlour Name that Cheese Please with Al Porter

On the first night of the show the heavens opened, but it didn’t dampen spirits. Barry John Crowe attempted the first world record of the week to rapturous applause, weaving sausage after sausage together, as if knitting with his hands. He easily secured the world record with 78 sausages made in one minute – he had a previous record of 60 to beat. There would be three world record attempts in total during the series, including a failed sausage eating attempt, and Patrick’s own successful world record tractor reversing attempt.

Over 400km away in Ballydehob, Co Cork, Helen Carroll joined the crew in Cavan, live via satellite link.

She was on Skeaghanore Duck Farm. Over 140km away, Darragh McCullough was in Claremorris on the opening night, on the Velvet Cloud sheep dairy enterprise. Between the two, they would visit eight more farms across the country over the course of the week. The changing tastes of Irish consumers were reflected in the variety of farms they visited, from buffalo dairy to trout caviar and sheep yoghurt to veal. Brian McDade’s snail farm in Carlow gave Helen a surprising insight into how similar farming snails is to farming cattle. A snail farmer must have a herd number, feed for the animals, and an electric fence to keep the snails in their enclosure!

Big Week on the Farm never skimmed over the facts of life on a farm either, featuring amorous bulls, snails and roosters. The show also revisited the theme of cloning horses. Mary McCann cloned her beloved sport horse Cruising in 2010. The process produced two clones, Cruising Arish and Cruising Encore, who have since gone on to father foals of their own. Each night, the show delved into the ‘secret life of farm animals’ too, and this year viewers witnessed perhaps the most breathtaking footage of all, the growth of a chick inside an egg.

PHOTO: MICHAEL DUNNE

THE DUST SETTLES Helen Carroll

PHOTO: LORRAINE TEEVAN

Ella McSweeney

Geraldine Shalvey

It’s back to normality now for the Shalvey family, but Geraldine says it’s still pretty hectic. “The letters have been pouring in. Everywhere we go, people have been talking about it, saying, ‘were you on the telly?’ We received letters from people around the country saying how lovely and enlightening it was to see Cavan farming in action. 80-year old bachelor farmers and people in cities,” she says. “When you get letters like that from people you don’t know, who are rushing home to watch the show after work, it’s really positive. The show was a topic of conversation, it was great fun to watch, and it was lovely for rural Cavan to be shown in such a great light.”

It took less than two days for the set to be dismantled and the farm to return to its old self, but the memories will last a lifetime. It’s now back to the day job for Patrick, milking and managing the land. “We just had to get back to what passes as normal around here. We often put cows in that field who are due to give birth, so we can keep an eye on them,” he says, referring to the field where the set once stood. “You could call it our maternity field. Since the show, we decided to plant a tree on the site, an ornamental hawthorn, to mark the occasion. It’s our Big Week on the Farm tree.”

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JOHN CUMMINS

J

ohn Cummins:

Review

Life INDEPENDENT PICTURES’ JOHN CUMMINS IS RETIRING FROM AN ACTIVE ROLE WITHIN THE COMPANY HE FOUNDED ALMOST FOUR DECADES AGO. EAR TO THE GROUND EDITOR CONOR FORREST SPOKE WITH HIM TO DISCOVER MORE ABOUT LIFE AT THE HELM OF ONE OF IRELAND’S TOP PRODUCTION COMPANIES.

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John (left) directing a commercial for Team Aer Lingus in Dublin Airport, 1995 EAR TO THE GROUND 15

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T

he village of Inistioge in Co Kilkenny is a truly idyllic location, a scenic hamlet located on the banks of the River Nore and surrounded by rich farmland. It was here that Agtel and Independent Pictures founder John Cummins spent his formative years, one of nine children who grew up on the 200-acre family farm, nestled in a valley surrounded by mountains outside Inistioge. However, the farm was destined for John’s older brother (as tradition dictated), and he knew from an early age that he would have to forge his own path. “Farming and hurling was our life – there wasn’t much else that was important, school took second place. I loved it, but I was never going to be the farmer,” he explains after a moment’s reflection.

Having left the local Christian Brothers school at the age of 17, John had no clear idea about what he wanted to do with his life. In search of a vocation he joined a monastery and spent almost three years as an Augustinian monk in the Dublin Mountains. Sequestered away from the world he studied for a degree in philosophy, but decided that life within the confines of the Catholic Church wasn’t for him. Following six months spent working in Chicago he returned to the familiar world of agriculture, completing a degree in agricultural economics in University College Dublin in the late 1970s (he managed to do some of his study in France, which was unique in those days). “We had just joined the EEC – I was very interested in Europe, agriculture and agricultural policy,” John says. “It was a very unusual degree at the time, a combination of commerce and agriculture. I loved the idea of policy and economics, but I didn’t want to be the traditional agricultural advisor.”

In those days, jobs for well-trained economists (particularly graduates with a first-class honours) were relatively easy to come by, and John took a post with the Irish Co-Operative Organisation Society (ICOS), the representative body for what was then the biggest industry in Ireland. Though John found the work less stimulating than he had hoped, fate threw him a bone. At the time, ICOS had just launched a monthly magazine.

John was initially asked to contribute an article on economics each month, then was given the responsibility of producing the lead story. As time progressed he found himself more or less producing each issue, travelling around the country in search of interesting stories. “I loved it. I joined the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), completed a course in journalism with Terry Prone and others at the time, and became further involved within agricultural journalism,” he tells me. This would prove to be just the beginning – John successfully completed a trial for a morning agricultural slot on Morning Call with Mike Murphy on RTÉ Radio 1, broadcasting to an audience of almost one million people. He did this part-time for nearly ten years.

NEW BEGINNINGS We’re sitting in Independent Pictures’ head office on Fitzwilliam Square, a beautiful Georgian building overlooking the famous square, far removed from the rolling countryside of south Kilkenny.

However, the company began in far less auspicious surroundings. It was 1979; Charlie Haughey and Maggie Thatcher were in power, a four-month postal strike was underway, there were PAYE marches in Dublin, and the Maze hunger strikes were in full swing. But it wasn’t all bad.

“Kilkenny won the All-Ireland, but it probably wasn’t a good time to leave a secure job, borrow money and set out on a highly risky venture,” John muses.

Along with college friend Declan Farrell, John founded Agtel – short for agricultural television – having spotted an opportunity to produce educational videos for the thousands of farmers

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John pictured in the original edit suite with Declan Farrell

attending marts around the country. The company took offices in Leeson Street, when there was a six-month waiting list for a phone – the payphone around the corner from the office was almost constantly occupied by John or Declan.

They invested heavily in slide tape units, a precursor to videotapes using a slide reel and a synchronised audio tape. Funded by advertising and sponsorship, and presented by John himself, the bulky units were an early form of local TV, providing information on farming, the latest issues, prices and more. Timing, however, was against the two entrepreneurs, and their enterprise floundered as Ireland’s economy crashed in the early 1980s. John and his colleagues had borrowed £10,000 to buy the audiovisual units, a sum that would have bought a decent-sized house at the time. To keep making a profit further expansion was required, but the

“IT WAS A VERY UNUSUAL DEGREE AT THE TIME, A COMBINATION OF COMMERCE AND AGRICULTURE. I LOVED THE IDEA OF POLICY AND ECONOMICS, BUT I DIDN’T WANT TO BE THE TRADITIONAL AGRICULTURAL ADVISOR.” bottom had fallen out of the market as advertisers and sponsors pulled their budgets. “We were in about 10 marts but we needed to be in 20. But there was no growth potential – it was the opposite, we were in fact insolvent,” John explains.

A chance encounter would save the business. With EU policy dictating that young farmers had to complete the Green Cert to receive grants, the Irish government and the newly formed agricultural advisory service ACOT (now Teagasc) had to train tens of thousands of young farmers across the country.

By chance John met Arthur O’Loan,

the newly appointed ACOT head of training and “a man of great foresight and optimism,” as John describes him.

He gave John the opportunity to make a pitch at an official meeting several days later. “I was chancing my arm to be honest, but I told them I knew how to make educational programmes, we could teach the course on video, and I knew from my experience in the marts what farmers might listen to,” he recalls.

It worked and – aided by a budget from Brussels – over the following three years Agtel produced the most comprehensive series of videos ever made in farming EAR TO THE GROUND 17

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Directing on location at Clonmacnoise on the River Shannon, 1990

(about 50 in total), covering every farming enterprise from sowing cereals to dairy and beef husbandry. Presented

by John, who gained a reputation as the ‘guy with the beard and the duffle coat’, those videos were used to train farmers across Ireland and Europe well into the noughties, and were translated into four or five languages. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the opening of Eastern Europe, a number of consultants entered those countries to teach westernstyle agriculture, and the bearded man in the duffle coat followed. One evening John got a call from an American consultant in Ukraine, who was using a number of those videos but couldn’t recall the correct name, and mentioned a presenter who looked like ‘a sharecropper from the Appalachians’. “I said ‘I think I know that guy, I should be able to find those videos for you’,” John says with a laugh.

INDEPENDENT TRIALS The partnership with ACOT was temporary, prompting a move towards diversification. Identifying opportunities beyond the agricultural sector, and aided by the development of video technology

The original Agtel team in 1980; Damien McKenna, John Cummins and Declan Farrell

in the early 1980s, Agtel began producing training videos for the industrial sector, commercial advertising, and corporate videos for organisations like An Bord Bainne, Anco and Bank of Ireland. The company was still very much a twoman operation – John wrote the scripts and presented the videos, while Declan operated as the cameraman, soundman and virtually every other role required.

Equipment was rented, and the videos were produced at the very first video editing suite in Windmill Lane, Dublin.

“We honed our craft, we learned it on the job, undertaking courses here and there,” John explains. “We became Ireland’s first dedicated video production company.”

By the mid-1980s, when current executive producer Liam Lavelle joined the team, Agtel’s scope had expanded to include European-wide audiovisual training and promotional materials. The company won a major European framework contract to produce programmes for the European Commission and opened an office

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The Ear to the Ground production crew in Enniskerry, 1993

in Brussels that remains to this day, working on a number of campaigns for the Maastricht Treaty among others.

Back home, the impending arrival of independent television production in the late 1980s promised another exciting avenue. Government policy – driven by EU regulation – was focused on diluting the RTÉ monopoly with a private TV station.

In October 1988 the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC) was established to regulate the new stations, and by 1990 a broadcasting licence had been granted to TV3. Investing on the basis that independent TV production was clearly just around the corner, Agtel borrowed more than £1m and built a significant post-production editing suite and studio in Glenageary, to be in the right position when RTÉ opened up to independent media. But TV3’s licence was revoked, and a court battle ensued. Meanwhile, RTÉ’s supposed diversification to include independent production companies failed to materialise.

“We engaged in a frantic diversification to try and feed our post-production facilities. We managed to keep afloat with a lot of innovation, risk and good fortune,” says John. The company took over Green Apple Productions, which was

“WE HONED OUR CRAFT, WE LEARNED IT ON THE JOB, UNDERTAKING COURSES HERE AND THERE.” independently making MT USA and other programmes, and launched Afterdark Films, a TV commercials company. Agtel also partnered with Eurovision-winning songwriter Shay Healy on a number of programmes including Nighthawks, a late-night satirical chat show on RTÉ Two. Among the highlights of that show was a special produced from Beijing just after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.

The programme ultimately became famous for bringing down then Taoiseach Charles Haughey after a fatal interview with his former Justice Minister Sean Doherty.

AN EAR TO THE GROUND In 1992, the independent quota was finally implemented by Michael D. Higgins, Ireland’s first Minister for Arts, and a sigh of relief echoed around Glenageary. The following year, Agtel

won the first commission from RTÉ’s newly formed Independent Production Unit – headed by Claire Duignan – for a farming and rural affairs series that would become known as Ear to the Ground.

Programmes about Ireland’s beleaguered farmers had very much waned in the previous decade – former stalwarts like Landmark experienced dipping ratings, perhaps impeded by a very technical focus that repelled urban audiences.

“Farming was more or less taken off television in the late ‘80s,” says John. “[The view was] why should farmers have a programme, why shouldn’t nurses or engineers?” But Agtel’s roots were in agriculture, bolstered by their broad experience over the previous 13 years.

“We pitched a show that would bring stories from the countryside to a broad national audience capturing the visual variety, characters and great stories that we knew were out there. Gone were the usual commentators and advisors, we wanted real people doing things they were passionate about,” John explains. “We felt we could really bring something very new and fresh.”

Unsure of whether a rural-inspired programme would rate well, RTÉ was reluctant to commit long-term, and commissioned a 13-part series to run from September to December, initially presented by accomplished journalist Mairead McGuinness with co-presenters Ciaran Mullooly and David Kavanagh.

However the series was an immediate success, for a number of reasons.

“The secret of it is that we moved away from a technical farming standpoint to listening to real people on the ground, highlighting human interest stories, including a lot of variety and keeping plenty of pace,” says John. However, the format itself (which hasn’t changed much since the beginning) proved important – John knew from his time producing training videos that eight minutes is a critical attention span. A 26-minute programme on one topic will struggle to hold the viewers’ attention, but 26 minutes broken into three segments will keep people interested far more easily. “We designed a model around three different stories – one focusing on news, another very issue-driven like the broader environment and rural life, and then a feature story focusing on an engaging human interest story or great character,” he explains.

“We had a good model, and that hasn’t changed very much, because it works.”

In its early days, the programme was attracting up to 600,000 viewers during a time when RTÉ television faced very little EAR TO THE GROUND 19

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competition. These days, with the likes of Sky, Virgin Media, Netflix and innumerable other avenues of entertainment jostling for our attention, Ear to the Ground is still holding its own, with an average of 500,000 people tuning in every week between weeknight and Sunday broadcasts.

The programme – presented these days

by Darragh McCullough, Helen Carroll and Ella MacSweeney – continues to offer a fantastic insight into farming and rural life, educating and informing urban dwellers about the realities of life in 21st century rural Ireland. “There’s a different feel about it that is nice to watch,” John muses when I query its success among urban viewers. “It’s an escape for urban dwellers, but you must find compelling stories, tell them well, and produce to a good visual standard. And it works; we have done over 1,500 stories since we started, and hopefully lots more to come.”

Agtel won at the 1992 International TV Association Awards for informative videos on the topic of AIDS. (L-R) Kevin Moore, then President Mary Robinson, John Cummins (producer) and Jummy Duggan (director)

Shooting a health and safety TV commercial on location in 2006

Over the past 24 years, Ear to the Ground has covered innumerable topics, from unemployment in the 1980s and changes to the Common Agricultural Policy in the ‘90s, to land price pressures facing farmers as the new millennium dawned and the impact of the financial crash from 2008 onwards. One of John’s most memorable times on the show came during the foot and mouth crisis of 2001, which many will remember as a period of real panic and fear for Irish farmers. With restrictions in place across the country for

months, Ear to the Ground was unable to film and brought their case to RTÉ. “It was recognised quickly in RTÉ that this was a major national crisis. The whole country was responding in a massive way, and they were almost surprised by the importance and how fearful people were that the farming industry would be damaged,” John tells me. As a result, Ear to the Ground was allocated a live daily slot, with presenters Mairead McGuinness and the late Ronan Clarke providing information on the crisis, how to handle it, and how

the response was progressing, running for a month until the crisis eased. “That was an interesting moment – we were the people who they trusted to tell the story, to warn and inform the country,” John adds.

Though undoubtedly one of its most important productions, Ear to the Ground is only one facet of Agtel, which became Independent Pictures in 1995. Independent Pictures expanded rapidly to become one of Ireland’s largest TV production companies by the late ‘90s, employing about 75 fulltime staff. The focus was strong factual programming that was also engaging and entertaining, and numerous successful series have been produced over the last 20 years. A 26-part food series, Moveable Feast was an early success in 1995; crimes series like Feud and Heist looked at criminal feuds and robberies around the country. There have been many health-

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“IT’S AN ESCAPE FOR URBAN DWELLERS, BUT YOU MUST FIND COMPELLING STORIES, TELL THEM WELL, AND PRODUCE TO A GOOD VISUAL STANDARD. AND IT WORKS; WE HAVE DONE OVER 1,500 STORIES SINCE WE STARTED AND HOPEFULLY LOTS MORE TO COME.”

focused programmes including Inside Crumlin several years ago, Doctor in the House which is currently running on TV3, and You Should Really See a Doctor on RTE 1, which is also set to air in Australia, New Zealand and Sweden at the moment.

ICA Bootcamp was hugely successful some years ago, sold across the world in markets like Turkey where it became Granny Bootcamp. Financial programmes like Show Me The Money and Rip Off Republic, presented by Eddie Hobbs, also proved to be huge hits, capturing a national zeitgeist among a population aware that something wasn’t quite right amid the excess of the Celtic Tiger.

“It was a huge success, and a very unusual TV series to be a success, but it was,” says John. “Rip Off Republic was a highlight for the company – we put ourselves out there and we challenged

the government, a lot of the powers that be in the banks etc., criticised them fairly harshly. It was a moment in broadcasting that doesn’t happen too often – we were right in the centre of national news in late August/early September 2005, but unfortunately the madness continued.”

THE SHOW GOES ON This year marks the end of an era for John, who has spent the best part of four decades with the company, combining his business acumen and good timing to propel Independent Pictures to the top of the industry. Knowing that the company is in very capable hands as he takes a step back certainly makes the transition that bit easier, and he’s keen to point out that the successes were by no means a solo effort. “There was and is a team of people here; Liam Lavelle, known throughout the country as Mr Ear to the Ground, Conor Maloney who is now chief executive, Vernon Crowley our head of business affairs, and Diarmaid MacMathuna, head of non-broadcast production, which is a major part of the business,” John explains, noting that his daughter Sarah is now also a key part of the team specialising in digital media. “Over the years our team have all worked very John in later life hard and helped to keep us on track,” he stresses.

He also emphasises the role of his wife Mary (and his three children Sarah, Katie and Paul) as a key pillar supporting him through demanding times. John met Mary while he was doing promotional work in Bangladesh with Concern in the early ‘80s – she was working as a nurse/midwife with a relief agency in the South Asian country and the pair hit it off. After two years Mary returned to Ireland, and they were married in 1984. “She has been a hugely important anchor over the years,” John explains.

“She had a central role in enabling me to build the company, as the hours were often not conducive to family life.”

The plan going forward is to continue to grow and diversify, leveraging innovative thinking and strategic planning, developing new ideas and executing them well. “We’ve tried to do that over the years and our reputation is strong

at the moment. The Keeping Ireland Alive series last September was major for RTÉ, a breakthrough in many ways, shot with 72 crews in one day,” says John.

“Big Week on the Farm is another great example – RTÉ breaks the usual schedule for an hour every night for a week. That’s innovative television, that’s breaking frontiers. Main schedule TV will be driven by live events, like Dancing with the Stars. And we have to be there as well.”

Though the transition from active life with Independent Pictures to retirement (he’ll continue as company Chairman) will take time, John doesn’t plan on simply sitting back and watching his golden years pass by without event. He and Mary are planning to travel for more prolonged periods than his previous schedule allowed; he’s currently working through a French language course, while a trip to Argentina is also high on the agenda. “Mary has always talked about going to Patagonia, but she says she’ll only go when I’m able to dance the tango in Buenos Aires. I don’t know how that will pan out – I suppose if Des Cahill can do it, so can I!” he says with a laugh.

Alongside a greater involvement with charity work in Africa, John is hopeful that his retirement will allow greater space for his Christian faith, one of the most important aspects of his life – he recently joined a Bible study, which he has wanted to do for a long time. “And now,” he quips, “the three G’s are coming into play – golf, gardening and grandchild Oisin!”

Spare time might be a scarce commodity.

“Time fills itself very quickly. But one of the things I would say is to leave space for things you wouldn’t predict,” he advises. “Life was never – career wise – very strategic for me, it was all about following a passion, acting on it, and in a sense one thing leads to another. Creating a bit of space to allow for the unpredictable, rather than trying to plan it all, is always helpful.”

Balance, John believes, is key – with life and with business.

“I like policy, going back to my economic days with ICOS, but you have to couple it with creativity and wide interests,” he says. “The business end of the industry always interested me and I think that is one of the strengths of the company, but creative people, innovation and enthusiasm is what drives success.

Managing creative people is always a challenge, but never boring. I often say I’ve never worked a day in my life, it was never a chore. We are I believe the oldest company in the sector and believe me, survival is success in this industry.”

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eGOVERNMENT

Farming

ACCESS TO ONLINE PUBLIC SERVICES FOR IRISH CITIZENS CONTINUES TO EXPAND, WITH BASIC PAYMENT SCHEME APPLICATIONS SET TO MOVE COMPLETELY ONLINE BY 2018.

Online New developments in technology are fundamentally changing the way we interact with people and services.

Money messaging tools allow us to make payments immediately between individuals, online shopping means we can purchase items from across the world without leaving our house, while improvements in eGovernment – which improves service delivery by giving citizens enhanced digital access to services – provides better value and increased efficiencies when accessing public services.

Ireland is among a number of countries around the world that is investing in online government services as part of the EU eGovernment Action Plan 2016-2020, which aims to provide borderless, efficient and user-friendly digital public services across the EU. Driven by Eoghan Murphy, Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure & Reform, with special responsibility for eGovernment, a number of public services are already accessible online, including Ordnance Survey Ireland’s GeoHive, www.undertheweather.ie from the HSE, Revenue services, and motor taxation.

According to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, the uptake of eGovernment services by Irish businesses is among the highest in Europe. And, in March 2017, the Government launched MyGovID, a safe and secure single sign-on for public services, built on the Public Services Card.

The farming community is among those getting to grips with the move online – earlier this year a total of 87 per cent of Irish farmers submitted their Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) online according to the Department of

Agriculture. Under EU regulations, the application process for the BPS and Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC) Scheme will move fully online from 2018. Online applications will bring a number of advantages, including the ability to rectify non-compliances identified by the Department via preliminary checks.

For people living in rural Ireland, in areas underserved by broadband services, the ability to access these online services and complete online applications will be a worry. Though the National Broadband Plan aims to provide access to high-speed broadband to 77 per cent of premises by the end of 2018, the majority of the remaining 23 per cent will face a deadline of the end of 2020. Training will also be important, particularly for an older generation unused to working with computers, similar to the supports put in place by the Department in advance of the BPS closing date this year.

“In advance of the EU requirement that

100 per cent of applications are online in 2018, my Department will continue to work with farmers, farm bodies, and agricultural advisors to ensure that the continued roll out of online BPS application will deliver real benefits for farmers in a way that ensures that access to this vital support is not impeded,” said Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed.

WHERE DOES YOUR MONEY GO? As part of the government’s investment in public sector information and communications technology (ICT), Minister Eoghan Murphy recently launched whereyourmoneygoes. gov.ie, a new online tool that promotes awareness of where your taxes are spent.

“This is a tool designed to allow taxpayers get a better view of how their taxes fund public goods and services,” he said. “It is a good example of using open data to promote informed debate about the most efficient and effective allocation of public resources.”

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ADVERTISING FEATURE

Built for Success The ŠKODA Karoq has been unveiled, featuring plenty of space and state-of-the-art technology.

Hot on the heels of the Kodiaq, ŠKODA has unveiled a smaller compact SUV called Karoq. The emotive and dynamic design with numerous crystalline elements is a feature of ŠKODA’s design language that is evident across its entire range.

New technologies including driverassistance systems and full LED headlights are featured and – for the first time in a ŠKODA – a digital instrument panel. Five engine variants are available from 85 kW (115 bhp) to 140 kW (190 BHP), of which four are new. All powertrains feature turbocharged direct injection units as well as start-stop technology and brake energy recovery, are extremely efficient, and comply with EU 6 regulations. With the exception of the most powerful diesel, all drivetrains can be ordered with a 6-speed manual gearbox or 7-speed DSG. The 2.0 TDI with 140 kW (190 BHP) comes as standard with 4×4 drive and 7-speed DSG, while the new 1.5 TSI includes the special feature of cylinder deactivation.

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EXCEEDING STANDARDS The ŠKODA brand stands for an exceptional package. This also applies to the new Karoq, which offers exceptional space and functionality for five people.

The luggage compartment has a capacity of 521L with the rear seats in place. With the rear seats folded down, the volume increases to 1,630L. The VarioFlex system consists of three separate seats, which can be individually adjusted or completely removed to reveal van-like proportions with a maximum load capacity of 1,810L. A number of Simply Clever features are also included in the Karoq, such as a virtual pedal for hands-

free opening of the boot. It is also possible to comfortably transport especially long items by utilising the folding front passenger seat.

The ŠKODA Karoq is at the top of its segment with innovative connectivity solutions – the second generation Modular Infotainment Matrix offers state-ofthe-art functions and interfaces and is equipped with capacitive touch displays. The SmartLink+ platform, compatible with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and MirrorLink, is quite likely to be standard in the new Karoq.

The Karoq also offers a comprehensive range of driver assistance systems. New comfort systems include Park Assist, Lane Assist and Traffic Jam Assist. Blind Spot Detect, Front Assist with predictive pedestrian protection and Emergency Assist serve to increase safety. Additional

driver assistance systems are available which keep the car at a safe distance from the car ahead, to make it easier for the driver to change and keep in lane, to point out important traffic signs, and to assist when parking.

“After the huge success of the Kodiaq our SUV journey continues with the arrival of the Karoq. As part of ŠKODA’s 2025 strategy, the brand will be continually expanding its model range over the coming years,” said Ray Leddy, Head of Marketing at ŠKODA Ireland. “The primary focus will be on broadening the SUV range.”

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION VISIT: WWW.SKODA.IE. EAR TO THE GROUND 25

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POULTRY

Winging It THE IRISH POULTRY INDUSTRY IS GROWING RAPIDLY RIGHT NOW, BUT IT’S NOT WITHOUT ITS CHALLENGES. EAR TO THE GROUND CAUGHT UP WITH IFA POULTRY CHAIRMAN NIGEL RENEGHAN TO FIND OUT MORE.

It would come as no surprise to many of us that Irish poultry is doing well. Even the most cursory look at the shelves of a butcher’s or a supermarket would indicate that chicken is a bestseller, while the queues for turkeys at Christmas prove that this tradition is far from over. The figures support the anecdotal evidence too.

“Thirty-seven per cent of the meat consumed in Ireland is poultry meat, so it’s the most popular type of meat in Ireland,” says IFA Poultry Chairman Nigel Reneghan. “About 6,000 jobs are supported by the poultry industry.

There’s huge opportunity for people to come into the poultry industry at the moment, as it’s going through a period of rapid expansion.”

And it’s not just chicken and turkey.

“There’s huge expansion in free range egg production. Eggs are considered a superfood; free range is going really well, organic is going very well. There’s a huge demand for organic eggs, the quality of our organic eggs is so high that we’re exporting them out to the United Arab Emirates and Middle East, and sold for quite a high price,” he adds. “The duck industry is also flying in Ireland right now.

Internationally, it’s declining somewhat, but in Ireland it’s soaring. The reason for that is the quality and taste of our ducks.

Silverhill in Monaghan – they’re incredibly busy. People are not interested in the price, they want it for their quality and taste. It’s also being exported all over the world.”

CHALLENGES AHEAD Unfortunately it’s not all good news, and Reneghan explains that among the challenges facing the industry is the level of imports. “In 2016, Ireland imported 22 tonnes of beef from Brazil, worth €98,000. But in the same year 3,719 tonnes of poultry was imported from Brazil,” he says. “All the fast food outlets, the prisons, the colleges, schools, semi-state bodies – they all use imported chicken.

It’s slightly cheaper, but I think there’s a lack of loyalty to Irish producers.”

Reneghan believes that Irish farmers can produce poultry as cheaply as the South American countries, but the fact that we abide by European regulations, which promote higher welfare, lower stock densities, and higher standards in terms of lighting and ammonia, means that it costs more to produce poultry meat in

Ireland. “We could scrap these regulations but I don’t think the consumer wants us to – yet the government is happy to use the imported meats. I really think that if a government body is going out to tender for food products, there should be some stipulation that says a certain amount has to be Irish produced,” he says.

The problem lies not with the consumer, who does look for and supports Irish poultry, but with the companies and restaurants buying wholesale, though that isn’t always the case. “The one ray of light in all of this is Supermacs,” says Reneghan.

“Pat McDonagh has single-handedly done more for the poultry industry than you could ever imagine. I was getting a chicken fillet burger and I asked the girl behind the counter if it was Irish. She said yes, and to prove it, she showed me the box they were kept in. I met Pat in Galway and I asked him why he didn’t advertise the fact that he supports Irish poultry. And why he bought Irish. He said he had seen what happened with the horse meat and so on, but also that he wanted to buy fresh and to buy local and to support Irish farmers.

I told him he should be advertising this, as you can taste the difference. Within a week he was advertising it. And that chicken fillet flies off the counter.”

THE THREAT OF BIRD FLU Aside from imports, the other big challenge facing the industry – and the one that was in the headlines recently – is avian influenza, otherwise known as bird flu.

“There were 12-14 cases back in February but we kept them out of the domestic flocks, which was a big thing,” explains Reneghan. “People shouldn’t underestimate

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POULTRY

the effect of avian flu. If it came into a commercial flock on a Friday, by Monday morning you might have maybe 10 per cent of your flock left. It doesn’t bear thinking about. There’s been no sign of transferring over to humans, but these things are always mutating and changing so you don’t know what’s coming down the track.”

The immediate effect was that poultry had to be kept indoors for longer, a huge threat to free-range businesses. “I had round-table talks with the supermarkets and the Department of Agriculture and explained that the free-range birds had to be kept inside, but that doesn’t mean they’re not free-range,” says Reneghan.

“We got a commitment from the supermarkets that they wouldn’t cut the price of the eggs, which was the biggest fear of the farmers. We also got an assurance from the Department of Agriculture that if there was an outbreak of avian influenza, adequate compensation would be available.

Those were two big wins for us.”

Margaret Farrelly of Clonarn Clover, a free-range egg business that produces 48 million eggs a year, explains that bird flu is always a fear. “I’d always be concerned about the possibility of avian flu finding us, but because it’s airborne there’s very little we can do to keep it out. It can wipe out a flock so of course it’s something that I fear – it’s very rapid and highly contagious,” she says. “Historically, the birds affected have been house birds. I know that there is scientific evidence to support keeping the birds inside to protect them, but I don’t like keeping them inside as birds are creatures of habit, and keeping birds inside who are used to being outside adds stress to their lives. Stress becomes

“ABOUT 6,000 JOBS ARE SUPPORTED BY THE POULTRY INDUSTRY. THERE’S HUGE OPPORTUNITY FOR PEOPLE TO COME INTO THE POULTRY INDUSTRY AT THE MOMENT, AS IT’S GOING THROUGH A PERIOD OF RAPID EXPANSION.”

Nigel Reneghan, IFA

an issue in terms of production, shell quality, shell colour and so on – and that does hit the bottom line. It’s difficult for us, as dedicated free-range producers, to dance to everyone’s tune while holding onto a business that remains viable.”

Clonarn Clover, as with many other business, did everything it could to combat the spread of bird flu, including temporarily sacrificing its free-range status. “We didn’t have to redesign the packaging but we did have to redo the

wording – we now have barn eggs that are produced by hens who are kept inside for their own welfare,” Farrelly explained at the time. “As an industry I think we’re going to have to work to find a viable solution to protect the birds, the product, the farmers and the consumer.”

Despite its challenges, the industry right now is a success story and the future looks bright. According to Reneghan, Ireland’s poultry industry will double production within the next ten years. “The market is there to support it. Labelling is a big issue, especially for butchers, as loose fillets will have to be labelled with their origin,” he says. “But we’re starting to make inroads into that, and the opportunity is there for farmers to get into the industry.”

Reneghan also notes that there are definite opportunities for farmers who are looking for an “add-on” for their business, perhaps to support a son or daughter returning to the farm – and there are now even supports to help them achieve that. “We have grants for the poultry sector for the first time ever, for renovating sheds, and for getting sheds up to date,” he says. “If someone was to build a shed for broilers, it’s going to cost them €11/€12 a bird; to renovate a shed it costs about €4 a bird – so renovating an old shed means you’ll make a better income.

Also, in terms of the environment, you’re using those old sheds rather than letting them fall down and become an eyesore.”

EAR TO THE GROUND 27

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LOCAL ENTERPRISE

Keeping It THE VILLAGE DAIRY, KILLESHIN, CO CARLOW, CONTINUES TO EXPAND, SUPPLYING FRESH CREAM AND MILK TO SHOPS, HOTELS, RESTAURANTS, CAFÉS AND OFFICES IN THE REGION. ELLEN FLYNN CAUGHT UP WITH FOUNDER NOEL BARCOE TO DISCOVER MORE. Alongside the likes of Glanbia or Premier Dairies, there’s space within the Irish dairy market for smaller suppliers, who rely on quality product to drive sales. Take The Village Dairy in Co Carlow, established in 2014 by businessman Noel Barcoe, who had been involved in forming Dairyland Cuisine among other enterprises.

“We just looked at the way the

Local trends were going and what people were looking for and things like that.

We had the premises here in Carlow, applied for planning permission and went from there really,” he says.

Since its formation, The Village Dairy is now the cream of the crop, providing a steady supply of fresh milk and cream to shops, hotels, restaurants and cafés in the region. It’s very much a family enterprise, with cousins and uncles making up part of the small workforce. Though a grant from the Local Enterprise Board helped get things going, additional funding was hard to come by and, ultimately, it was Noel and his team that provided the investment required.

However, their locally sourced, high quality milk quickly began to earn its keep. Gaining certification from the Irish Organic Farmers and Growers

Farm to bottle Killeshin, Co Carlow

The production line

Association (IOFGA) and a gold medal award for their Jersey milk from Blas na hEireann, The Village Dairy has found that such accolades tend to open doors. One of those doors leads into chic, artisan cafés like Act One Craft Coffee House in Newbridge, Co Kildare. Owner and coffee enthusiast Stephen Mooney explains why The Village Dairy is second to none when it comes to taste and texture. “I definitely notice the difference,” he remarks, “first of all in the creaminess of the milk and I’m not sure if that’s the organic side to it, or whether it’s the dairy itself... it holds its texture really well for doing flat white or latte art.”

Customer service also plays a big role in The Village Dairy’s popularity, which isn’t necessarily a strong point for some. “The odd time, I’ve had an issue where the milk wouldn’t foam up, but it’s just a phone call to [The Village Dairy] and he has somebody out to replace the milk,” Stephen explains.

“I’ve heard of other dairies who would just say, ‘well there’s nothing we could do, milk is a natural product and that’s what happens with cows’.”

When asked what makes their product different from other dairies in the country, Noel points to their method.

“We don’t interfere with the product, we don’t over process it,” he explains. “We basically bring it in off the farm, weigh it, pasteurise it, bottle it, then we get it out.”

Less is more, and fresh is best when it comes to The Village Dairy, Noel believes. “I think in some places it’s not even 24 hours old and it’s out in the marketplace. We try to keep it as natural as possible.”

EAR TO THE GROUND 29

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COVER STORY

Returning to

Your

Roots

C

EAR TO THE GROUND PRESENTER DARRAGH MCCULLOUGH TELLS CONOR FORREST WHY HE’S HEADING BACK TO FULL-TIME FARMING, AND HIS HOPES AND FEARS FOR THE FUTURE.

hanging careers can be a nervous time. It’s a leap into the unknown, causing anxiety about what the future holds or whether you’re taking a step in the right direction.

Those are feelings that farmer and Ear to the Ground presenter Darragh McCullough is well acquainted with.

Until recently his farming activities were mainly limited to the weekends, his work with the Farming Independent taking up the majority of his week. However, in a bid to grow his farm business, Darragh has scaled back his work at the newspaper, shifting his focus to his burgeoning horticulture enterprise.

“The job that I had – the full-time job with the Irish Independent – was and still is a great job, well-paid and with the chance to travel all over the world. You end up in all kinds of weird and wonderful places, meeting interesting people and making brilliant contacts. And, of course, you have a salary coming in every month,” he explains. “However, if I am serious about being as ambitious as I think I am for the farm, I have to put in the time commitment to match that ambition.”

FARM DEVELOPMENT I arrived at Darragh’s Gormanston farm early in the morning last March, when the day’s work was well under way. These early months are the sowing season for flower farmers – a busy time of year when a lot of hard work can be undone by a simple shower of rain. There was a clear sense of purpose about the place – workers striding to and from the sheds, others sorting and packing daffodils for shipment to New York, several builders constructing a new and more efficient fridge in one of the storage sheds, and Darragh himself directing operations.

Things have changed drastically since Darragh’s last stint as a full-time farmer ten years ago. Back then he was almost entirely dependent on the fortunes of his onion crop; a risky venture that requires an investment of €4,000 per acre to grow, harvest and dry it. “If farming is a risky business like stocks and shares, I’ve 30 EAR TO THE GROUND

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PHOTO: JASON CLARKE PHOTOGRAPHY

COVER STORY

EAR TO THE GROUND 31

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COVER STORY

32 EAR TO THE GROUND

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COVER STORY

Darragh on his farm in Co Meath

PHOTO: JASON CLARKE PHOTOGRAPHY

“IF I AM SERIOUS ABOUT BEING AS AMBITIOUS AS I THINK I AM FOR THE FARM, I HAVE TO PUT IN THE TIME COMMITMENT TO MATCH THAT AMBITION.”

always described onions as derivatives. It’s not that you can make a fortune on them, but you can lose a fortune on them,” he tells me.

His foray into the world of media came as a result of losing a lot of money on those onions, and he was forced to seek an alternative income elsewhere. Now that he’s giving up that regular pay cheque (and is back growing onions again for Aldi), there is a niggling worry that he could be in the line of fire once more.

“That’s in the back of my head now – I’m exposing myself to all of that risk again,” Darragh explains. “But I think the timing is right. I lost money in farming before, but now I know the mistakes and the pitfalls. I’m a bit wiser the second time around – that’s the theory anyway!”

The flower aspect of the business has grown significantly in the last decade. Today the farm grows daffodils, sunflowers, lilies, gladiola and other varieties, both for Irish chains like Lidl as well as for export to markets including the Netherlands and the US. Diversity appears to be a key theme – a trial batch of Christmas trees has been planted in the corner of one field, while a small open-air laboratory in another pasture is a breeding ground for new varieties that might one day fill these fields.

“That’s what any business does – new product development,” says Darragh. “As a farmer who can’t rely on a co-op or another entity to do all that for him, that responsibility is on my shoulders.”

It’s a brand of farming that isn’t without its challenges, and by no means a simple operation to turn to on a full-time basis. To begin with, you need light soils that are easily tilled throughout the year; Gormanston sits on a bed of gravel that facilitates quick drainage. The level of investment is also much greater and, therefore, the risk should a crop fail. Barley or wheat farmers might invest around €500 per acre to grow their crop, but daffodils require as much as €5,000. The routes to market that you might have with more traditional farming simply aren’t there – flower farmers have to build relationships with customers rather than simply drawing corn to the local co-op. Horticulture is also quite labour intensive – all of the flowers are hand picked and Elmgrove Farm relies heavily on Eastern European labour to harvest millions of flowers each year, which brings with it cultural, language and administrative challenges. “You’re managing people and, as the old phrase goes, there’s nothing as queer as folk. You’re managing people and their expectations, and that can be tricky,” says Darragh.

On top of that, the supports that dairy or tillage farmers can lean on simply aren’t there. “There’s nobody to turn to when you’re looking for advice – there are other people growing daffodils in the country, but we’re all in competition with each other.

Whereas dairy farmers have Teagasc, a State-funded service, to come out and tell them exactly how they can grow more grass, I have to get on a plane to England or Holland to figure out solutions,” he adds.

However, key to Darragh’s success thus far, and into the future, is surmounting obstacles by taking an innovative tack. Hence the outdoor laboratory EAR TO THE GROUND 33

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COVER STORY

PHOTO: JASON CLARKE PHOTOGRAPHY

THE FUTURE

Daffodil fields in bloom

in search of new varieties, the investment in new technology and machines, the trade and factfinding missions into the heartlands of Europe alongside a partnership with local farmers to share land and allow for more comprehensive crop rotation, one of the most basic tenets of farming that boosts the soil’s health and quality.

“I think partnership with neighbouring farmers is crucial,” he explains. “The dairy enterprise that we’re involved with is a partnership enterprise, and I grew onions last year in partnership with another farmer.

That spreads some of the risk, some of the workload, and allows for greater utilisation of resources.

If I’m working with another farmer and I can plant my onions and he plants his potatoes, we’re making the most out of the available machinery.”

DIVERSIFICATION Making a living from the land doesn’t just have to involve the traditional enterprises like dairy or tillage. The key is to find a different angle, to strive to break away from norms, to seek innovation or alternatives – you could, for instance, produce fuel for biofuel plants or methane digestors, or energy through solar panels. Social farming is also on the rise, providing a facility for people with intellectual disabilities to visit your farm and encounter tactile, sensory experiences. Trying new things can open new doors, leading to opportunities you might never have imagined.

“I really enjoy trying new things – if it was only about the money I’d probably have been better off never going into media, sticking with milking cows, sticking with the tried and tested,” Darragh notes. “But if I never did that I’d never have started working on Ear to the Ground, I’d never have travelled all over the world meeting so many different people.”

Fast forward another ten years and Darragh envisions a flower enterprise that spans ten months of the year, beginning with daffodil picking in January and working right through to October with sunflowers and gladiola. He’s also considering the possibility of opening a farm shop, harnessing the potential of the 20,000 cars that pass the farm every day. “I’d love to be selling direct to the public. As they become more and more removed from the land, the novelty of being allowed into a farm, to see how a farm operates and interact with a farmer, has an increasingly higher value,” he says.

Though it’s still early days in his return full-time to the farm, Darragh has some advice for others – and not just farmers – who are considering a dramatic life shift. A positive attitude can be key, alongside an understanding that failure is a possibility. “I sometimes have doubts about what I’m doing – why I’m exposing myself to all of this risk, what it’s all for, whether I will be any better off. Those little questions would be in the back of your head. But you’ve got to have a little belief in yourself, that you can do it, and that if all comes to all you’ve given it your best shot. It’s not a crime not to succeed in a job or business,” Darragh explains. “I like to think that if it doesn’t work out, I’m still employable, there are still jobs out there. I’m still presenting Ear to the Ground, and doing plenty for RTÉ radio and in print – I probably still have too much going on!”

For the moment, those worries are at the back of his mind. He’s instead concentrating on immersing himself in the farm’s daily operations, building and consolidating a base on which to grow. His return to farming, although undoubtedly hectic, has also brought some time and scope for self-reflection – who he is and where he hopes to be in five, ten, or 15 years’ time.

“In some ways I’m not really cut out to be a farmer, in that I’m not brilliant at fixing machines, I’m not very patient with stock. I really enjoy interacting with people, and farming can be quite isolated. But farming is what I know.

I’m lucky enough to own a good farm and I’m lucky enough to have developed enterprises that are profitable,” Darragh muses. “I’m very conscious that I’m not going to try and be a superhero – I’m not going to try and work crazy hours every week, to become the best farmer in Ireland. It’s got to be sustainable long-term.”

At the very heart of what Darragh does is a genuine love for farming, coupled with a desire to do things his own way, to go beyond the traditional, to seek out new and innovative ways of doing business. “I enjoy the buzz of developing a business, trying to push it on, trying out new things,” he says. “There is a lot of satisfaction to be had from bringing a crop from a microscopic seed to something that you can sell or export. I’m getting a lot of satisfaction out of the fact that we’re now exporting flowers all over the world. I never would have dreamt that would be possible.”

34 EAR TO THE GROUND

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FARM SUCCESSION

the

Future of the

Farm

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THERE ISN’T A DIRECT MEMBER OF THE NEXT GENERATION TO TAKE ON THE FAMILY FARMING ENTERPRISE? TIERNAN CANNON SPEAKS WITH GERALDINE POWER, WHO RUNS A FARM INHERITED FROM HER BACHELOR UNCLE, AND CONSIDERS THE POSSIBILITIES WHEN THERE IS NO CLEAR SUCCESSOR.

Geraldine Power

The question of succession and inheritance is not an easy one to answer.

Eventually, every farmer will have to confront the realities of what will come of their farm after they retire, and it is a topic better faced sooner rather than later. Succession can be an uncomfortable subject, but from the earliest possible stage a farmer should be openly considering the future of their farming enterprise.

Traditionally in Ireland, farms have passed continuously from one generation to the next – generally from father to son. Nowadays, however, the nature of farming and attitudes towards it have changed in a variety of ways, meaning that this once standard means of succession is not quite as straightforward as it once was.

Firstly, younger people have tended to lean away from farming as a potential career in recent years. Figures from a 2015 Teagasc survey claim that over

two-thirds of Irish farmers are over 50 years old, suggesting that the younger generation just doesn’t consider farming to be a viable way of life. The perception of women on the farm is also in the process of transforming, with the traditional patriarchal structure of farm inheritance now called into question.

While it would still be considered slightly unusual for a woman to be left ownership of a farm (keeping the land in the family name is still a concern for some) it is by no means unheard of, as Geraldine Power can attest to.

Geraldine is a beef farmer from Co Waterford who is running a farm inherited from her bachelor uncle in 2002, at a time when it still would have been quite rare for a woman to take control of a farming enterprise. “There were a few raised eyebrows, certainly.

Elderly people, elderly men,” recalls Geraldine. “Nobody ever said anything to me, but I know that there was lots of talk. But I think at that stage I had a lot of work done and I don’t think I needed to prove myself to anybody.

I had always been here, working.”

Geraldine had been on her uncle’s farm for the entirety of her working life, and had become increasingly involved in its daily operations as her uncle’s health began to fail. As time went on, Geraldine became all the more central EAR TO THE GROUND 37

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FARM SUCCESSION

“NOBODY EVER SAID ANYTHING TO ME, BUT I KNOW THAT THERE WAS LOTS OF TALK. BUT I THINK AT THAT STAGE I HAD A LOT OF WORK DONE AND I DON’T THINK I NEEDED TO PROVE MYSELF TO ANYBODY.”

to the running of the farm, to the point where it had become quietly assumed that she would eventually take over. This assumption, however, remained unsaid for quite some time. “We didn’t talk about it until the time came when he had his mind made up,” she says. “And then we spoke about it. But I suppose, you always lived in the presumption that you were going to get it, [though] nothing would have been promised until the day we spoke about it.”

Above and Below Left: Geraldine featured on the latest series of the programme

is eased somewhat as the parties are aware of their place in any future plans, as opposed to receiving a sudden shock down the line and feeling aggrieved.

If there’s a clear successor, handing over the deeds can often be relatively straightforward. With someone in place who is able and willing to step into the breach, the process can be manoeuvred with minimal pitfalls. However, if a farmer has no children, or if their children don’t want to take over the farm, then other options will have to be explored.

One of those options is a joint venture, which allows farmers to stay involved in agriculture without their contribution being quite as physically demanding as it once was. Depending on the terms of the venture, it can allow for a semi-retirement whereby the farmer undertakes certain tasks, but leaves others to their partner. This could be a smart decision to take before retirement, as it allows the farmer to train up a potential successor and for a fresh set of skills and ideas to mix with the practices

established by the original owner.

Finding the right partner is key, as is structuring the partnership carefully in order to avoid any pitfalls with regard to tax and legality. Land agents may be able to help identify suitable partners for the joint venture, and they may be able to provide template agreements.

Consultation from agricultural solicitors and accountants should also be sought, as the process can be quite complex.

There are three main types of joint venture: an equity partnership, whereby the different parties inject their own capital to co-own the business; contract farming, where the owner retains overall control and pays a contractor to carry out the work; and share farming, in which typically the landowner supplies the assets and the operator provides some working capital and labour. Each provide various advantages, and all options should be considered carefully and in a timely manner.

Clearly there are options for farmers considering the future of their enterprise, should your flesh and blood prove completely uninterested in the farming way of life. The future will arrive one way or another, so it’s best to be prepared for it well in advance.

It’s important that farmers are open about the fate of their farm and that they avail of all available resources and existing wisdom to ensure the smoothest transition of ownership as possible.

PLAN AHEAD Succession is quite a delicate subject, and there may of course be a reluctance to discuss the topic. Perhaps a decision has yet to be made, or there may be some reluctance to hand over the reins to land that you’ve worked your entire life. However, in order to ensure as smooth a transition as possible, it’s best for farmers to openly discuss the process at an early stage. It’s vital to communicate clearly with all parties involved – family members or otherwise. By setting up clear lines of communication at an early stage in the process, the potential for future disputes

SUCCESSION SCHEME The Department of Agriculture’s Succession Farm Partnership Scheme came into operation this year, providing a €25,000 tax credit over five years to assist with farm transfer under a partnership structure.

The scheme was launched late last year by Minister Michael Creed, who noted that “This Scheme will promote the earlier inter-generational transfer of family farms, in line with Programme for Government commitments and the Food Wise strategy.

It will encourage and support important conversations within farm families about succession planning.”

According to the Department, “guidance documents and sample application forms will be published on the Department’s website and will be available through Teagasc and other farm advisory services.”

38 EAR TO THE GROUND

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07/07/2017 10:28

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07/07/2017 10:30

EU POLICY

A European Model for Agriculture:

VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND MEP MAIREAD MCGUINNESS REFLECTS ON SIX DECADES OF COHESIVE EUROPEAN AGRICULTURAL POLICY.

T

he European Union (EU) recently marked 60 years since the signing of the Treaties of Rome in 1957. An agreement laying the very foundations of the EU, it established a unified Europe based on the idea of freely moving goods, services, capital and people between the six founding members of the European Economic Community

years on (EEC) – France, West Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy and the Netherlands.

Almost ten years earlier the idea and will to “build a kind of United States of Europe” was floated by Sir Winston Churchill, then leader of the opposition in the UK. Churchill’s comments in his 1946 speech in Zurich demonstrate foresight, yet they were cautious in setting out what role, if any, the United Kingdom itself might play in such a union. Sixty years on from the signing, any ambiguity surrounding the UK’s position in Europe is over, and so is the UK’s membership of the EU.

For Ireland, joining the EEC in 1973 brought the promise of economic prosperity and an opportunity to engage in democratic diplomacy at an international level. It also brought an opportunity to grow and support our agricultural sector, which at that time employed almost a quarter of our population. With the establishment of the EEC, a framework for a common European agricultural policy – the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) – was set out. The fundamental objectives of the policy encompassed delivering “a fair standard of living for farmers” while also ensuring “reasonable prices for consumers” – objectives that are still as relevant today as they were 60 years ago.

AGRICULTURAL POLICY Five years after the signing, CAP was born. Under the policy European consumers have enjoyed quality food at affordable prices. While this is a success, perhaps we have now entered a time in which two fundamental objectives of the policy are at odds with each other.

As consumers we demand ‘good value’ when it comes to food, which can mean ‘low prices’. However, how does a low price regime or demand for cheap food equate with our concerns about sustainably produced food and about a fair standard of living for farmers?

More is rightly being demanded of farmers when it comes to how they farm. There is an emphasis on the quality of soils, on the air we breathe, on water quality and on reducing the use of many inputs, including veterinary medicines and agro-chemicals, while at the same time making sure that our supermarket shelves remain well stocked.

Farmers are environmentalists,

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EU POLICY

conservationists and entrepreneurs, whose business output reaches consumers at least three times a day. In order to foster this multidimensional role and deliver a fair standard of living for farmers, CAP has undergone numerous reforms. So many that there is now reform fatigue among farmers. The most recent such initiative in 2013 hinged on three priorities: enhanced competitiveness, improved sustainability, and greater effectiveness. Commissioner Phil Hogan has highlighted greater market resilience, more sustainable agricultural production, and generational renewal as his key areas for CAP post-2020. In the European Parliament, discussions on the next reform of CAP have started. To some extent these early discussions are overshadowed by Brexit and the potential impact on the EU budget when the UK leaves. Many outside bodies have given their views on the future of CAP. Some radical proposals include the possible phasing out of direct payments over a period of time. Others suggest using CAP tools to tackle market volatility, while strengthening the position of farmers in the supply chain is also on the agenda.

Greater focus on environmental delivery – biodiversity and climate action – will play a part in the debate. The European Commission’s public consultation on the future of CAP ended on May 2nd, giving more insight into where stakeholders want to see CAP going. However, we already know that reaching a consensus on the way forward will be difficult.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Mairead McGuinness at the 60th anniversary celebrations in Rome earlier this year.

BREXIT & BUDGET It’s difficult to address the future of CAP without mentioning the departure of one of the Union’s net contributors to the budget. The UK’s decision to leave is undoubtedly the greatest challenge the Union has faced. Managing the process is complex, but so too are the consequences.

Looking back at Churchill’s comments in 1946, it is clear that even before accession the seeds of doubt regarding the UK’s role within a ‘European family’ were present.

Today, CAP accounts for 38 per cent of the total EU budget, and it is under pressure from other policy areas, not just from Brexit. There is uncertainty about both the size of the budget allocation for CAP post-2020 and the shape of agriculture policy. Formulating a policy that will deliver more environmental ambition while also supporting European farmers in delivering all of these things with a tighter budget is not going to be easy. For Ireland, we know the potential implications of a hard Brexit for our biggest indigenous sector – the agri-

Mairead McGuinness and former Taoiseach Enda Kenny pictured at the official events in Rome marking the 60th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome in March 2017.

food sector – are alarming, if World Trade Organisation (WTO) tariffs are imposed as a consequence of no UK/EU trade deal being reached.

UNCHARTED WATERS In the 60 years that have elapsed since the Treaty of Rome was signed, a secure food supply in the EU has been guaranteed. Essentially CAP brought Europe from food shortage to food plenty – a great success of the common EU policy. Key objectives of the policy have been realised. In Ireland, 69 per cent of Irish people in 2016 agreed that the EU fulfils its role in ensuring a fair

standard of living for farmers and that Irish agricultural products are of good quality, healthy and safe. I’m not sure that 69 per cent of farmers believe it’s delivering for them on the income side.

Beyond Rome, CAP will continue to evolve to meet the demands of its time. The size of the budget allocation will also find itself changing; by how much is unclear. What shape British agriculture will take is also unclear.

Will the UK adopt direct payments, will they do a complete overhaul of British agricultural policy, or choose to stick with the current EU framework?

At a time when Europe finds itself in uncharted waters, there’s an opportunity to build on the very core of the Union – its common agriculture policy. Unravelling the UK’s membership of the Union was not what was foreseen 60 years ago.

Then perhaps neither was it foreseen that the EU would grow to 27 member states and be a beacon of light for countries emerging from dictatorships and internal battles. The founding fathers, however, had vision and determination and were prepared to take risks. We need to return to that original spirit of determination that created the EU. It is essential if we are to sustain it.

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INNOVATION

The

Invention of Youth

SOME OF THE MOST WIDELY USED AGRICULTURAL INVENTIONS WEREN’T CREATED IN A LAB ENVIRONMENT, BUT RATHER BY A FARMER WHO FOUND A WAY TO MAKE A DIFFICULT TASK EASIER. CONOR FORREST SPOKE WITH SOME INNOVATIVE YOUNG FARMERS WHO DID JUST THAT.

T

here’s probably one in every community – a farmer who sees a problem and invents a solution rather than simply making do. My grandfather springs to mind – a very forward-thinking man whose farmyard was littered with implements of his own making, including farm gates and cast concrete posts. But not all of these inventors are experienced farmers who have worked the land for decades – Ireland’s younger generation is proving quite resourceful in its own right.

Make a Mark in action

Make a Mark SARAH AND MARY MURPHY

Mayo twins and secondary school students Sarah and Mary Murphy have always taken an active role in the daily running of their family sheep farm. It was on this farm that their product, Make a Mark, was devised as they routinely encountered difficulties while attempting to mark sheep using methods such as a fluid bucket and aerosol sprays. “We found with aerosol spray cans that there were a lot of chemicals in the can and that the fluids that were sprayed didn’t last long on the sheep,” explains Sarah. “Then

with the bucket of fluid, it does last that bit longer, but it’s very messy to put on and you end up wasting a lot of it.”

Though used solely on the home farm for a few years, when it came to generating a business idea for the Student Enterprise Awards the Murphy sisters decided to expand on their original prototype design and began to market the product for sale. “Our product is a gun for applying marking fluid to sheep, so what we have done is we have cut the fluid into screwing

cartridges that can screw up into the gun, and then you can mark the sheep with the proper marking fluid just as easy as the aerosol spray can,” explains Sarah.

Make a Mark was born and, after reaching the national final of the awards with their innovative design, Sarah and Mary have generated a thriving business. The core of the businesses’ marketing is done through word of mouth and by attending agricultural shows, as well as a partial marketing campaign through

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INNOVATION

PHOTO: MAKE A MARK

social media, not to mention a spotlight moment on the Late Late Show in early February. “We have Facebook and Twitter and Instagram, but we do find that a lot of farmers aren’t active social media users, so although we do get a bit of business through that, it’s mostly a direct sale through agricultural shows,” Sarah says.

“We also have a website (www. sheepmarkinggun.com), so we get sales through that as well.”

Having experienced significant success within the Irish market, the next step for Make a Mark

is international sales. “We’ve sold individual products in the UK already so we have a few in circulation, but the plan is to get some bigger stockists in the UK and then, in the coming years, to big sheep countries like Australia and New Zealand,” says Sarah.

For the two students, moving beyond the Enterprise Awards and keeping a business alive proved challenging, especially considering their age, but Sarah is adamant that starting Make a Mark has been a wholly positive experience. “It’s been a

great experience to meet a lot of people for networking and getting contacts and that kind of thing, and meeting other people in the agricultural sector that you could work with,” she says.

“We were just students so it was a challenge to go into. It can be intimidating sometimes going into big places, and some people don’t take you seriously when you’re just students. Going into RTÉ and going into places like that can be kind of challenging, but I suppose we overcame it all to get to here.”

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INNOVATION

Easy Arm PHOTO: MAEVE O’KEEFFE

DARRAGH EGAN

A Co Offaly farmer and owner of Ballyealan Engineering, Darragh Egan invented the Easy Arm when his father had to manage the heavy lifting on the farm following the death of his grandfather. The primary goal of the Easy Arm is to aid in the safe distribution of bales for feeding cattle; it can fit onto a modified standard bale handler or lift a ring feeder over a bale while feeding livestock. “I made the first prototype of the Easy Arm when my father was looking after the cattle after my grandfather died. But in August 2015 my girlfriend’s father had a stroke and he uses ring feeders to feed his cattle, so it made it easier for him to maintain his independence and make his life easier,” Darragh explains.

The Tullamore Show, a local event for Darragh, was one of the first venues for the Easy Arm’s public unveiling. After demonstrating the Easy Arm and how it can help farmers who have either little staff or a physical impediment, the judges – along with the public – were certainly impressed.

“On the day of the show I was blown away by the interest I received from the general public. I had orders for the Easy Arm from Donegal to Cork,” says Darragh. “I won two prizes for the Easy Arm at the show, in the agricultural category and the student category, and I’ll be back at the show again this year with another model of the Easy Arm in the invention section.”

After his success at the Tullamore Show, Darragh decided to branch out into other competitions, both agricultural and business based. Since then he has had success in Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur competition, winning the Best New Business category and the Overall Winner award, and he highlights the assistance provided by the local enterprise offices in Offaly who provided him with fantastic support.

Darragh intends to release an up-to-date version of the Easy Arm in the coming months, however he hopes that the majority of his upcoming products will be entirely new and innovative. Like the Easy Arm, these future products will focus significantly on farm safety. “My products will hopefully drop the number of farm accidents as [they] are designed to make farming a safe working environment, as it’s the most dangerous occupation in Ireland at the minute,” says Darragh. “The Easy Arm itself prevents back injuries as the farmer no longer has to lift the ring feeder, and also stops livestock attacking to a degree as well.”

MAEVE O’KEEFFE

PHOTO: BALLYEALAN ENGINEERING

The bale handler

Inspect 4 While working on dairy farm in New Zealand, which housed 1,300 cattle, Cork native Maeve O’Keeffe was intrigued to find farm staff treating lame cattle immediately rather than waiting to call a hoof trimmer. In her experience, the tendency was to wait until two or three were in need of treatment, incurring just the one call-out fee rather than several.

Unfortunately, the knowledge of how to treat lame cattle was useless without the appropriate equipment that would allow Maeve to carry out the task safely by herself. With this in mind, she engineered the Inspect 4, a rollover crate that restrains the animal, turning it safely on its side with all four legs off the ground.

Allowing farm staff to carry out an examination and repairs, it reduces the distress for the animal and the risk of injury for the farmer.

Convincing other farmers of its usability was one of the initial challenges. Maeve worked to market Inspect 4 at agricultural shows yet, in the initial stages, other farmers were hesitant to believe the rollover crate performed at such an excellent standard. This issue was resolved once farmers witnessed the device in use with their own cattle. “They were giving you the crossest cow and they’d be very sceptical to start off with, but as soon as they see it with their own cows in it they’re really taken aback by it,” explains Maeve.

“They just see how easy it is, and for the animal as well. They’re a lot less stressed and they can’t injure themselves because their four feet

are fully strapped down.” Maeve has since created a mobile unit that has proved very popular and, with the option of paying off the Inspect 4 unit over a three-year period, there has been a significant uptake from entrepreneurs starting out in the industry.

The Inspect 4 has won first prize for farm safety and innovation from Enterprise Ireland, including a competitive start fund. Along with additional support from LEADER, Maeve has taken part in the New Frontier programme, Best Young Entrepreneur, and is currently a Nuffield scholar, focusing on lameness in cattle. The business has since expanded to sell the tools required for hoof trimming while also offering hoof trimming and teat sealing services themselves.

The next step for Maeve and the Inspect 4 is to take the equipment overseas and, having spent time in New Zealand generating contacts, Meave feels the home of the All-Blacks would be a logical progression once the milk market recovers. “They’re starting to look up again so hopefully we’ll get back out to the [National Agricultural] Fieldays another year and start marketing,” Maeve explains. “In New Zealand all they have is a very basic upright crush, and we even lost a cow in it one morning. So that kind of pushed me on as well to think outside the box more, to make it completely different, to make it safer for the cow and to make it more physically able for me.”

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RURAL BROADBAND

AS THE ISSUE OF BROADBAND FOR RURAL IRELAND CONTINUES TO BE A STUMBLING BLOCK FOR COMMUNITIES, WE PROFILE THE COMMUNITY OF CLASHMORE, CO WATERFORD, WHICH DECIDED TO TAKE MATTERS INTO ITS OWN HANDS BY SETTING UP A COMMUNITY BROADBAND SCHEME. EAR TO THE GROUND SPEAKS TO ORGANISER RUAIRI RODDY TO DISCOVER HOW AND WHY THE SCHEME BEGAN, AND HOW THE AVAILABILITY OF HIGH SPEED BROADBAND IS TRANSFORMING THE LOCAL COMMUNITY.

Connecting

to the

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RURAL BROADBAND

W

ith parts of rural Ireland still waiting to benefit from the wonders of high-speed internet via the National Broadband Plan, it’s completely understandable and, indeed, commendable that Ruairi Roddy decided to take matters into his own hands in Clashmore, Co Waterford.

Rewind ten years, when Roddy first moved there, working as an IT professional, and internet quality was terrible in the area – it quite possibly still would be if it hadn’t been for a timely intervention on his part. “Some people were suffering on, other people were frustrated, and two of us had the ability to do something about it,” he explains, referring to Killian McGrath.

That ability and drive resulted in the foundation of West Waterford Community Broadband in 2011, and today the community in Clashmore (as well as others in Kinsalebeg and Youghal) finally has access to reliable and affordable high-speed internet, a resource that makes life in the 21st century increasingly difficult in its absence.

But it was about more than internet access – without the support and assistance of the local community, the project may not have been successful. From an early stage, Roddy and McGrath realised that their own expertise would have to be supplemented by practical support from locals in Clashmore – such as placing transmitters atop tall, private buildings.

“The community bit arrived afterwards when we needed to find the mechanism to support what it was we thought we could do,” Roddy explains. The community was happy to get behind the network, recognising the potential benefits. “I was only delighted to help them out, and now since they gave it to us it’s outstanding,” remarked local farmer Morty Barron.

However, it wasn’t by any means an overnight success. “It was 2011 when we started, so we’re knocking around a long time,” admits Roddy.

“It’s really just exploded in the last two years, but if we had our time over we would have invested more in the beginning... we just grew organically.”

COMMUNITY BOOST In modern Ireland, internet access is just as essential to businesses as it is to our social lives or education; access to a reliable network is not a luxury, it’s a

“ONE KEY BENEFIT IS THE REMOVAL OF THE ISOLATION FACTOR. THE CONNECTION BETWEEN CLASHMORE AND THE REST OF IRELAND, OR INDEED THE WORLD, MAY BE DIGITAL, BUT THAT DOESN’T DIMINISH ITS IMPACT. necessity. It’s easy to imagine how the community in Clashmore would benefit from having high-speed broadband on tap, though the advantages for each individual are different. “It’s difficult to put your finger on – because these are all individual stories,” Roddy says.

“It’s not like building a sports stadium or something like that, but you know that people can work from home, or that childcare is easier or that people can take up telecommuting jobs, or that you can get the best suppliers online, or that kids don’t feel out of place or out of touch when they go into secondary school because they have seen the YouTube videos. So everybody feels better when it’s there.”

Local businesses are among those making the most of this resource, which gives them the ability to build their online presence, network and customer base. Take Siobhan Fitzgerald, who owns Claddagh Cottages Holiday Homes. “I don’t think I’d have a business without it, not in these times... they want to know there’s WiFi in a place. They may not use it but they want to know it’s there... all my business is through the website, I’m on Facebook, Twitter, all these things, I have my own website,” she told Ear to the Ground. “I don’t think I’d have a business nowadays without it, or very little, especially a country cottage – [potential customers are] going to look and see if they have WiFi, that would be a priority I think with people now. And especially if they have kids too. The kids – they won’t go if there isn’t WiFi.” One key benefit is the removal of the isolation factor. The connection between Clashmore and the rest of Ireland, or indeed the world, may be digital, but that doesn’t diminish its impact.

“Farmers talk about rural isolation and that obviously has to help them,” says Roddy. The network also strives to EAR TO THE GROUND 47

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RURAL BROADBAND

“IN THE MODERN ERA WHEN THE INTERNET IS JUST AS ESSENTIAL TO BUSINESSES AS IT IS TO OUR SOCIAL LIVES OR EDUCATION, HAVING ACCESS TO A RELIABLE NETWORK IS NOT A LUXURY, IT’S A NECESSITY. “

Ear to the Ground’s Helen Caroll with Ruairi Roddy and Killian McGrath

reconnect farmers to their client base, the supermarkets and retailers selling their product, while also opening them up to new horizons and possibilities.

LOCAL PRESENCE As with all small businesses providing a key service, when an issue arises it’s up to Roddy and the team to fix it, with no middle man to handle any complaints, particularly for those local enterprises that have come to rely on a constant, high-speed connection.

“Business customers are extremely dependent and less tolerant of faults, and are happy to pay a premium, and residential customers’ consumption just keeps growing and growing, so there are different profiles,” he explains.

However, this model works for Roddy and McGrath – being smaller than the bigger corporations and working locally, they can troubleshoot and solve problems that arise with the network on an ongoing basis. “We have flexibility to deal with different people in different ways, so we do,” he adds.

It’s that flexibility that makes West Waterford Community Broadband different from larger competitors.

“They’re brilliant companies, they’re just not everywhere. They can’t be there and they’ve already made an economic case for where they can serve and where they can’t,” says Roddy. “The primary difference is that we get a sense of satisfaction from connecting up people who couldn’t get connected, as opposed to having to provide a shareholder return.” It seems that when money is taken out of the picture, access to a reliable network within the depths of rural Ireland becomes a greater reality.

“It’s a point of pride for us to try and figure out a way of getting to somebody who really needs us,” he adds.

But, as with everything in life, it’s impossible to reach absolutely everybody – sometimes a potential customer is simply outside the catchment area, or it wouldn’t be practical or feasible to provide a connection. However, Roddy is hopeful that the idea of community

broadband will catch on around the country, and he’s already received some interest in replicating the Clashmore model. “We’ve had four enquiries... so we followed them all up with an information pack and offered to put it out for them,” he explains.

Sharing this information will allow more people across rural Ireland to access what has become a necessary component of modern life. But despite the potentially life-changing implications, Roddy remains modest about his role in finding and implementing a working solution, instead placing the focus on community spirit. “The trick is not the technology. The trick is the community,” he says. “It’s about finding enough people who will get involved in this. And who will put up with the learning curve in order to make the business model around it work.”

They say hindsight is 20-20 and it’s no different for Roddy and McGrath. If they could start all over again, Roddy admits that he would have done a few things differently. “I would’ve been a little more ambitious before we started, because scale has solved some of the primary issues, like the quality of the network that we’ve been able to provide. As we’ve grown beyond 50 [customers] that solved a problem for us because we were able to install a business grade kit,” he muses.

Whether or not they would have done it all differently, there’s no doubt the community in Clashmore is more than happy to have been the guinea pigs for this project, opening new opportunities and avenues that would otherwise have remained closed, at least for a few more years. More than that, with concerns still surrounding the National Broadband Plan, the knowledge that rural communities can take matters into their own hands means there’s hope for rural connectivity yet.

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07/07/2017 06/07/2017 10:51 17:26

WORLD POLITICS

Forging a Path for

Irish Food

IRELAND’S AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES FACE SOME TURBULENT TIMES AHEAD, WITH BREXIT AND US PROTECTIONISM The figures make for difficult reading.

CHIEF AMONG Thirty-seven per cent of Ireland’s food and drink exports, worth over €4 billion, THEIR CONCERNS. went to the UK market in 2016. For IAN MALENEY particular parts of the horticulture or forestry industries, that number can rise REPORTS. to between 70 and 90 per cent. Half of

“I

t’s the biggest strategic issue facing the food industry.”

Tara McCarthy, CEO of Bord Bia, pulls no punches when it comes to the potential impact of Brexit on the world of Irish agriculture, horticulture and food.

When McCarthy took over the role in January of this year, she was under no illusions as to what would be the most pressing issue facing her during her first months in charge.

“There is no part of this industry that is immune to an effect of Brexit,” she says. “We’ve been involved in an industry that has had its fair share of shocks over the last 20 years, be that BSE, foot and mouth, different crises, but this is the first that affects every single part of the industry.”

the country’s beef exports go the UK. Regardless of how Britain’s exit from the EU eventually works out, the disruption to Irish industry is going to be huge.

Andrew Doyle, Minister of State for Food, Forestry and Horticulture, says that, for some companies, that disruption has already happened, with several mushroom producers shutting up shop due to wild fluctuations in the value of sterling. After the early casualties, Doyle has sensed an increasing stability but remains cautious about the kinds of obstacles that may arise in the future.

“Thankfully consumer spending in Britain hasn’t slowed down,” he says. “If anything, it’s increased a bit, which has cushioned it a bit. That was probably as big a fear as currency. The bigger fear for those sort of companies is tariffs.

Essentially paperwork, administration.

With a seamless border, goods travel and paper follows. Where you have border controls, paper goes and the goods

try to follow as quick as possible.”

Both McCarthy and Doyle point out that one of the major problems facing Irish food producers right now is uncertainty. With a projected negotiation period of two years, plus an unspecified “weaning off” time likely to come into effect after the talks conclude, it’s impossible to know what areas will be most affected, never mind how and when any changes will come into force.

Their advice? Don’t wait around.

“This is a fast-moving, consumer goods category, so we can’t all just sit there and wait for a decision to come from Brussels or a decision to come from London,” says McCarthy. “There’s a lot of emotion going around the industry at the moment.

With uncertainty, people are taking bets on things. What we’re advising is to maintain a data focus. We’re looking at multiple levels of data, scenario planning.

No one has the right answer yet, but by thinking through the variety of scenarios, you’re making your business stronger.

You’re putting in mitigations to protect yourself [for] different likely events.”

ASSESSMENT For Mark Kennedy, Managing Partner at Mazars Ireland, politicians will need to provide some sense of clarity by the end of this year. Kennedy sees two major camps in the food industry, with thousands of smaller businesses and farms overshadowed by a small number of large companies. Without a provisional EAR TO THE GROUND 51

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WORLD POLITICS

US President Donald Trump, pictured here with then Taoiseach Enda Kenny on St. Patrick’s Day 2017, has endorsed protectionist measures.

THE US AND BEYOND Of course, Brexit is not the only major change happening in the international markets. With the accession of Donald Trump to the White House, a certain style of protectionist policy has come to the fore. It’s a feeling echoed in many places around the world, not least in parts of France and Germany. With talk in the US of major changes to corporate tax policy and even the possible introduction of severe tariffs on EU beef, there is potential for major disruption.

However, Kennedy is somewhat more sanguine about that possibility.

“If we do end up in trade negotiations with a Trump administration that is more protectionist, you’re negotiating as one of the three biggest markets in the world,” he says. “We’re part of the EU team. I think that gives us a certain resilience and a voice at the table that we shouldn’t forget.”

McCarthy and Doyle are both part of the Irish government’s response to these changing markets, with McCarthy highlighting the State’s presence at international trade shows and the importance of trade missions to emerging markets – outside of the UK, EU and US – like North Africa, the Middle East and the Far East. Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed has been in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, while Doyle recently visited South Korea and Vietnam. Doyle also mentions the growing interest in places like China and Turkey for the dairy and beef industries. These excursions take a lot of time and effort to get right, but the pay-off can be huge.

“Since 2010, 50 per cent of the growth that we’ve achieved has been in

PHOTO: WHITE HOUSE/SHEALAH CRAIGHEAD

roadmap for the years ahead, he says, those larger companies will assume the worst case scenario and begin to take concrete steps to mitigate any negative effects. How the smaller players will react to those changes is entirely up in the air.

“If you think about the very large players, they will begin to gear up for a scenario where they’ll assume the worst, they’ll assume no deal,” says Kennedy. “They’ll begin to prepare themselves for that in the first couple of months of next year, just because it takes so long to do anything. The problem that gives you is that it will create a forward momentum of its own, and that’s troubling for everyone else in the sector.”

What all parties agree on is the necessity for Irish farmers and food producers to assess the fundamentals of their business, from the field to the food aisle. For anyone fearing the effects of Brexit, there has never been a better time to take an indepth look at how their business works, where there might be improvements made, and where there might be new opportunities and new markets.

“There’s an expression – you should never waste a good crisis,” says McCarthy. “Well, this is as big a crisis as an industry could face. Where are the opportunities within it? We want to come out of this a stronger industry than when we went in. It means we’re making data-driven decisions, we’re protecting our businesses, whatever the worst case scenario might be. We’re looking to protect and build an expertise so that, no matter what happens, we’re a solid industry within that.”

In the longer term, Mark Kennedy suggests that there should be some form of support coming from the EU to help with the changing business conditions.

“I think the Irish government should be making a very strong case to the EU that there is a need for transition support,” he says. “Not just for agriculture in Ireland, but for businesses that are trading heavily with the UK. That could mean a couple of sectors. If we can afford to give a bit of State aid to banks because they’re strategically important, I think there are businesses in Europe where the UK is a strategically important trading partner and we shouldn’t be shy to think about it in a sensible way, from that perspective.”

“OF COURSE, BREXIT IS NOT THE ONLY MAJOR CHANGE HAPPENING IN THE INTERNATIONAL MARKETS. WITH THE ACCESSION OF DONALD TRUMP TO THE WHITE HOUSE, A CERTAIN STYLE OF PROTECTIONIST POLICY HAS COME TO THE FORE.” international markets,” says McCarthy.

“Over that last period, our growth to China has grown sixfold, our growth to North America has doubled, our growth to the rest of Asia has doubled. So there’s been a constant focus on those markets for the simple reason that, demographically, that’s where the population is growing most. The entry into the middle class, that’s where it’s growing most. Europe will be a very high-paying, mature market, but if you’re looking for very, very strong growth figures now and to the future, we would say that is to the east.”

Underpinning all that growth is a redoubling of efforts on the home front.

Whatever happens in the next few years, Irish food will still be bought and sold all across the globe. It’s just a case of making sure the industry’s foundations are stronger than ever. McCarthy describes five pillars that define Bord Bia’s overall approach to this task: focusing on consumer insight, building better infrastructure, differentiating Irish products, improving routes to market and developing more effective marketing.

Having taken on the job in the middle of a crisis, McCarthy is confident that Irish food producers, and Bord Bia itself, can weather the storms ahead by continuing to focus on these fundamentals.

“Our strategy and those pillars are the right pillars, but we now have to review the implementation of that strategy really rigorously based on the data that’s coming through to us,” says McCarthy.

“Pre-Brexit or post-Brexit, you still want to be making your decisions based on what the consumer is telling you, you still want to have the right infrastructure and talent coming into the industry, you still want to build Origin Green as the biggest differentiator we possibly have because it’s probably more important now than ever before. You need to get the right routes to market, and you need to tell the story.

As much as possible, what we’re trying to stay motivated by is the consumer insight which is driving decision-making.

That will stand to us in the long run.”

52 EAR TO THE GROUND

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At the heart of business in Ireland

© 2017 KPMG, an Irish partnership

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30/06/2017 09:13 07/07/2017 30/06/2017 11:08 16:23

TILLAGE FARMING

IRELAND’S TILLAGE FARMERS ARE FINDING THEMSELVES UNDER INCREASING STRESS, FACING REDUCED INCOMES, DROPPING GRAIN PRICES AND OFTEN POOR WEATHER CONDITIONS. EAR TO THE GROUND LOOKS AT A SECTOR UNDER PRESSURE.

Tough Times for

Tillage

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ewind less than a year and many of Ireland’s tillage farmers were facing uncertain futures. Growing crops is a risky business at the best of times, and a difficult spring followed by heavy rains in the summer and a bad autumn affected the incomes of farmers around the country – 245 tillage farmers in the west of Ireland suffered combined losses in the region of €4 million according to the IFA, which is still working on a compensation fund for farmers who were affected by poor harvesting conditions last year. In total, the sector is said to have suffered an €80m drop in income in 2016.

In the aftermath of harvest 2016,

the IFA’s grain committee chair Liam Dunne was sombre when discussing his views on the future of tillage farming in Ireland, noting that continued low grain prices, high input costs and poor weather conditions could spell the end of the sector.

“Things are a little tighter than they would have been in previous years.

A lot will depend on what kind of a winter we get, and how well crops on the continent come out of the winter,” he told Ear to the Ground last November.

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“THE INTRODUCTION IN MARCH OF THE NEW TAMS TILLAGE CAPITAL INVESTMENT SCHEME COULD PROVE SIGNIFICANT FOR MANY TILLAGE FARMERS SEEKING TO UPGRADE THEIR FARMS OR EQUIPMENT.” harvest like this would do to people.”

Things have been perhaps a little more positive in the first months of 2017. This spring was relatively dry, with a potential boost in the form of dairy farmers buying Irish grain, which could impact harvest prices. Dunne also forecasts an increased market for straw later in the year, thanks in part to losses that farmers took in the west of Ireland in particular last year.

SPEED BUMPS The cost of farming is one of the main challenges our tillage farmers face – input costs that fail to reduce can prove very costly in circumstances of partial or even complete loss of income, though fertiliser prices experienced a significant drop at the beginning of the year. Access to finance is key, but this isn’t always forthcoming. Take the Agriculture Cashflow Support Loan Scheme, a €150m support that provided low-cost finance to qualifying farmers.

However the scheme has been criticised in some quarters as not doing enough for those who are most in need, among other concerns. “The loans are aimed at alleviating cashflow problems on farms but in some cases people are only being offered loans for one or two-year terms,” TD Pat Deering told the Farmers Journal, while it also emerged that loans drawn down through Ulster Bank were incurring a 1 per cent ‘handling fee’.

“Tillage farmers we think received about nine per cent of the money that was available. We constitute about 10 per cent of the farmers that are out there, so they probably got close to a fair share. But, on an individual basis, the number of people that [received] money was relatively small,” says

Liam Dunne, IFA’s grain committee chair

Dunne. “We would like to see a similar scheme introduced and more money made available through the investment bank, to give people a chance.”

His comments for further support echo those of TD Fiona O’Loughlin earlier this year, in advance of a meeting in Co Kildare that tackled an uncertain future for Ireland’s farmers. “It is vital that we support tillage farmers and the communities that rely on this sector.

The challenge for the Government is to come forward with new policy measures to help tackle volatility in the agriculture sector,” she said. “The Aid Scheme for Potato and Vegetable Crops was introduced in 2010 and was successful in providing vital assistance to farmers struggling to deal with price volatility. The Government should look to replicate this scheme to meet the current challenges. The €86m underspend in the Department of Agriculture’s 2016 budget shows that there is leeway to achieve this.’’

That’s not to say that measures aren’t being taken. The introduction in March of the new TAMS Tillage Capital Investment Scheme could prove significant for many tillage farmers seeking to upgrade their farms or equipment in the years ahead, with applications open until December 31st 2020. Funding of up to €26m, sourced jointly from the European Union and the national exchequer, will be paid out on eligible expenditure at a rate of 40 per cent. Maximum grant aid of €80,000 will apply per holding, though this ceiling can rise to €160,000 for applications by ‘two or more eligible partners’ registered in a partnership with the Department. The minimum

PHOTO: FINBARR O’ROURKE

TILLAGE FARMING

amount per application is €2,000 and the scheme is open to farmers with a minimum of 15 hectares of eligible crops that have been declared under the Basic Payment Scheme in the last 12 months, and who have a Department ‘identifier’.

“We would particularly recommend people to look at rainwater harvesting, because water is going to become a major issue – access to water and the cost of water,” Dunne explains. “The other thing is organic fertiliser storage, because of changes that are likely to come about in the nitrates; then there will be more kinds of fertilisers becoming available. Many farmers are under the impression that you have to have animals to get grant aid for that kind of storage – in actual fact you don’t. It’s available for tillage farmers as well.”

ONE EYE AHEAD Looking to the future is key for the tillage sector – highlighting potential challenges and opportunities in order to successfully navigate the coming years. Dunne makes mention of the potential development of Ireland’s distilling industry, which could see growth and expansion in the coming years. Though Dunne stresses that this could be several years down the road, there may be an increasing demand for Irish malting barley should that come to pass. CAP reform is also at the back of Dunne’s mind, and he notes that the drive towards payments based on area alone and an increased focus on environmental issues is putting pressure on farmers’ finances. And, of course, there’s the ever-present issue of Brexit.

“We’re not too sure how cereals are going to fare in Brexit. We’ve looked at opportunities for flour milling in the country, because first of all flour comes in from the UK and it could have a negative effect on trading across the border. We’re not too sure,” he says.

At the moment, the IFA is working on a certification scheme for compound mills who are selling feedstuffs to livestock owners, which will highlight producers that use large amounts of Irish native grains in their feeds. The scheme is likely to be in place by the end of the summer. “It’s a scheme we’re talking to various compound mills and merchants about at the moment,” Dunne explains.

“I suppose you never waste a crisis.

It takes the best of people to get out there and find new and better ways.”

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07/07/2017 22/06/2017 11:13 17:22

ENVIRONMENT

Overcoming

Constraints JOE FINEGAN INVESTIGATES THE STATE OF PLAY FOR IRELAND’S HILL FARMERS.

A

s if farming on mountains, hills and slopes on challenging land wasn’t difficult enough, payments to farmers to help bridge the gap between those terrains and more fertile lowlands are in imminent danger of being drastically reduced.

Consequently, Irish hill farmers are living in fear that funding they rely on to earn a living from those disadvantaged areas will be cut by the EU. To put it simply, cuts in payments will affect farming communities and rural employment, and could result in the abandonment of land.

Cuts already made in Ireland as a result of the economic downturn have seen many farmers’ allowances slashed by €1,000.

Hill farmers attempt to make a living from Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC), which are designated tracts of land covered by an initiative formerly known as the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme/ Less Favoured Areas Scheme, originally brought into existence in the mid-1970s and last reviewed by the Government

BIOPHYSICAL CRITERIA The biophysical criteria set out in the legislation to underpin the new system of designation are: • Low temperature • Dryness • Excess soil moisture • Limited soil drainage • Unfavourable texture and stoniness • Shallow rooting depth • Poor chemical properties • Steep slope

in 1996. As with most schemes of this type, it developed organically based on socio-economic data over many years. In 2003, the EU was lobbied to reorganise the structure of the payments based on some farmers being over compensated and others under compensated for the hindrance of their lands.

Now, the deadline looms for each member state to submit updated maps based on biophysical criteria as laid out by the EU. The maps must be in the Commission’s hands by the end of 2017, or an immediate 20 per cent cut in EU funding will apply. The word on the street is that the updated maps will be published by the Department of Agriculture shortly, allowing several months for the fine tuning and consultation stage to be conducted where farmers, organisations and associations can state their cases for more funding or different parameters under unique conditions.

“In our opinion,” says INHFA National President Colm O’Donnell, “lands with the highest levels of constraint should get the highest level of payment. Some of the prime lands are all on basically the same level of payment, which is not acceptable. We’re looking for fairness in setting the rates and I would call into question the closeness of these payments.”

The INHFA had a meeting with EU Director for Rural Development

REPRESENTATION Launched in February 2016, the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) is committed to speaking out on behalf of hill farmers in Ireland. Although the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has a designated hill farmers division, the INHFA believes it can represent farmers in disadvantaged areas with more specific and individual attention. Over 30,000 farmers in Ireland fall into the most disadvantaged grouping – Mountain Sheep Grazing (MSG) group – and the INHFA wants payments weighted more towards its members. Although most counties in Ireland have affected land and farmers, most are concentrated in Donegal, Cavan, Sligo, Leitrim, Mayo and Connemara.

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ENVIRONMENT

Josephine Hoffman in Brussels in late April, which O’Donnell used to give his association’s concerns a platform. “We’re worried that only offshore islands will be officially designated an area of natural constraint,” he says. “Earlier this year, the EU stated that the current three areas of constraint are likely to be removed as part of the review. The big danger here is that the MSG area will be replaced by something else or be merged with the next level. We wanted to make Ms Hoffman aware of our concerns and the potential problems any alterations payment scheme will have on farmers in Ireland.”

Since the organisation began lobbying in January, a three-point plan has been compiled. First, they’re seeking ‘front loading’ of €250 per hectare on the first 20ha, with the next 14ha rate increased to €170 per hectare. Finally, they’re also seeking the amount of eligible land to be increased from 34ha to 40ha. “The IFA want the annual budget for ANC payments to be increased from €205 million to €250 million. We’d like that

figure increased by a further €35 million to €285 million,” O’Donnell adds.

The IFA also wants to make sure nobody loses out as a result of any imminent changes in policy. Their Rural Development Chairman Joe Brady has, like the INHFA, been lobbying for support from farmers and officials nationwide over the past several months. The IFA also wants fairness and an increase in bands and the overall budget. But if the maps are not made public until mid-summer, is that tight time-wise to have them analysed, allow the consultation period to commence, and have the documents signed off and returned to Brussels?

“I’m confident a thorough job will be done first time round so that the analysis and consultation will take a minimum amount of time,” says Brady. “I think the Department [of Agriculture] are committed to doing a proper job and they don’t want farmers being penalised either. Under the old scheme, people have become reliant on the money and we cannot remove the payments. If rates

“SOME OF THE PRIME LANDS ARE ALL ON BASICALLY THE SAME LEVEL OF PAYMENT WHICH IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. WE’RE LOOKING FOR FAIRNESS IN SETTING THE RATES AND I WOULD CALL INTO QUESTION THE CLOSENESS OF THESE PAYMENTS.” have to change, they must change to rates related to levels of handicap in the land.”

However, if farmers find themselves excluded under the rate regime, there is a provision made in Article 31 of the relevant document under EU law to allow a kind of parachute payment be made for two years. Farmers would receive some 80 per cent of their current rate, reducing to 25 per cent in 2020, allowing those freed up funds to be distributed among other farmers meeting new biophysical criteria.

Regarding the technicalities, Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed, said in March: “The Department has commenced work on this project, and relevant technical experts are currently working on sourcing and analysing the data in relation to the new criteria. Department officials have also been in contact with the Joint Research Council (JRC) and DG Agri in the EU Commission in relation to technical issues arising.

Over the coming months this analysis will identify areas deemed to be facing natural constraints, which will be subjected to a refinement process.”

The clock is ticking...

ANC RATES MOUNTAIN-TYPE LAND: €109.71 PER FIRST 10 HECTARES (€95.99 FOR 10-34HA) MORE SEVERELY HANDICAPPED LOWLAND: €95.99 PER HECTARE UP TO 30HA LESS SEVERELY HANDICAPPED LOWLAND: €82.27 PER HECTARE UP TO 30HA EAR TO THE GROUND 59

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POTATO FARMING

Keeping On An

Peel

Even

JOE FINEGAN SPEAKS WITH SEVERAL OF IRELAND’S POTATO FARMERS, ASSESSING THE NATION’S LOVE OF THE HUMBLE SPUD IN 2017.

On the surface, times are pretty good for Ireland’s potato farmers. Big supermarkets are reporting that bags of spuds are flying out the door. But therein lies one of the problems; spuds are selling well but often at (and perhaps because of) a cut price. It’s a terrific situation for the larger growers, but not so terrific for small-time farmers reliant on shrinking local markets. The knock-on effect of supermarkets buying up potatoes is the temptation it creates for potato farmers to capitalise by over producing.

Currently, about 8,000ha of Irish land is being used to grow potatoes and according to the Irish Farm Association’s (IFA) Potato Committee Chairman Eddie Doyle, the figure needs to stay there.

“At the moment in Ireland production is matching consumption, and that leads to stable markets,” he says. “That balance very much depends on growers. Market confidence sometimes causes problems. If the price is good and the product is selling, growers grow a little extra, resulting in the market being flooded. We need to keep an even keel on things, and that’s part of my role with IFA. We can’t overprice potatoes for the consumer because they’ll go elsewhere, but spud prices are quite

good all across Europe at present.”

Doyle, who farms around 240 acres of potatoes near Mooncoin on the Waterford/ Kilkenny border, is meeting constantly with potato growers nationwide to continue to promote different aspects of the industry. “Working with Teagasc and Bord Bia, we try to promote more growth of baby potatoes. A huge proportion are imported at the moment, but there’s no reason why we couldn’t start growing them here,” he explains.

“It’s a similar situation with potatoes used in chippers – English potatoes are synonymous with chips in chip shops.

It’s big business for importers so we’re trying to encourage guys who normally import to start buying Irish potatoes.

Maris Piper and Markies are the two main varieties imported, but we can produce them just as well here these days.”

BRANCHING OUT Diversification and variety for growers is key. Take Keoghs for instance, a very large farming family based in North County Dublin. Having started out two generations ago in the 1950s growing strawberries and tomatoes, they began concentrating on potatoes in the early

Derek Keogh

1980s. After one of the brothers, Tom, had a chance conversation about exporting spuds to America, he had a lightning bolt moment to investigate producing crisps.

Some amateur experimentation in frying crisps in his kitchen ensued, and once the basic techniques were mastered, the Keoghs invested in some equipment and began producing gourmet crisps.

Superquinn was the first retailer to stock them; they sold well initially, and very quickly the phone orders began flooding in.

Today, crisp production accounts for about 25 per cent of the farm’s business, but selling potatoes still dominates. Keoghs recently signed a lucrative deal with Aldi to supply the chain with about 25 per cent of their potatoes. “We always grow a few new varieties of potatoes each year, just to try them out,” says Derek Keogh, who manages the farm along with his father Tony. “But generally we grow 80 per cent Rooster, and the rest is Maris Piper. We outsource our Kerrs and Queens production. We’ve over 60 staff members at the moment and I find we’re starting work an hour earlier this year to keep on top of things.”

The Keoghs don’t mind Aldi selling their potatoes at a cut-price – the deal

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PHOTO: DAVID LEAHY

POTATO FARMING

between grower and buyer is set in stone at an agreed price. Aldi takes the hit hoping customers will purchase elsewhere in their store to narrow the deficit. “It’s not right for supermarkets to adopt those tactics all the time, but if it gets people eating potatoes, then it’s a good thing,” says Keogh.

However, small growers are finding it increasingly difficult to tap into that market, as they’re reliant on independent grocery stores and local restaurants. In addition, the public mindset dictates that it is not fashionable to buy potatoes and vegetables from traditional shops.

The IFA’s Eddie Doyle views that as one of his organisation’s main concerns.

“Supermarkets have 90 per cent of the trade. Unless you’re tied in with the guy who supplies the supermarkets, you will find it very difficult. Even small shops and restaurants are supplied by big peeling centres,” says Doyle. “Gone are the days of a farmer dropping off a bag of spuds at the back door. Shops, and restaurants in particular, don’t want dirty potatoes. Their potatoes are arriving peeled, washed and vacuum packed.

It’s the cheapest option for them.”

Indeed, it seems that the deed of buying

potatoes is out of fashion too. Younger people have a misconception that potatoes are not that healthy and are full of fat.

But Bord Bia is trying to change that

with its ‘Potatoes - more than a bit on the side’ advertising campaign, specifically targeting the younger generation by swamping social media channels with their message. The campaign’s objectives are to promote fresh potatoes in fresh ways and to dispel the unhealthy and fattening image, and Eddie Doyle was among those involved in compiling the advertising campaign. “We’re trying to point out the sustainability of potatoes.

The budget isn’t massive at €1 million over three years, so it’s mainly targeting an online audience through social media.

We’re attempting to re-engage the Irish public with Irish potatoes,” he explains.

Keogh also expresses an interest in dispelling spuds’ unhealthy reputation.

“Diets give potatoes a bad name, but there’s no fat in them. If we can get the message across that potatoes are good for you, then the market can continue to thrive,” he says. However, there is optimism on the ground among some potato growers. Larry Whelan, who farms 100 acres outside New Ross, Co Wexford, and who served a term as his county’s chairman until last year, believes the Bord Bia campaign is having a positive effect.

“Spuds are being put in the shopping basket more often,” Whelan says. “Growers came up with some of the money involved because if you don’t advertise you get left behind – every industry needs a campaign.

It’s important that Irish farmers support Bord Bia’s initiatives because it gives a return to all growers. If we all support each other, the industry will grow stronger.”

SMALL FARMER – LARRY WHELAN, CO WEXFORD ON SELLING POTATOES “I sell to SuperValu, Centra, Londis, EuroSpar and all independently owned supermarkets in Wexford.

We sell out of a farm shop at home too. It gets very busy in the summer, but tips along all year round.”

ON 2016 YIELD “We’re selling the 2016 crop now. It’s coming out of the stores where it’s been stored at three degrees all winter. The potatoes are perfect. We’ll sell them until July when the new season roosters come out. “ ON POTATO PRICES Prices have been good so far in 2017 but price is determined by weather conditions. The amount of potatoes produced also dictate price. Overproduction tends to let price drop. 2015 and 2016 were good years – you need that every year though. Occasionally you’ll get a hard year, and it hits you very hard. The bigger farmers get hit even harder.

ON CHALLENGES FACING SMALL/MEDIUM SIZED GROWERS The input costs on fertilisers, seeds and sprays are always tough. And spuds being sold at discounted prices by large supermarket chains – the smaller shops can’t compete. Potatoes are keeping a lot of farming families in business at a time when the Government is constantly saying they need to be bringing business back to smaller communities.

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BREXIT

Thinking

CAP THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION HAS SOUGHT PUBLIC OPINION ON THE NEXT COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY (CAP), WITH ISSUES OVER BUDGET, THE ENVIRONMENT AND RESTRICTIONS ON FARMERS. TIERNAN CANNON SPEAKS WITH ALAN MATTHEWS, PROFESSOR EMERITUS AT THE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS, TCD, TO DISCOVER MORE. With Article 50 now triggered, the full implications of Britain’s exit from the European Union will now begin to come into focus, as the UK and the bloc undertake two years of negotiations before the final breakup. The bulk of the headlines defining Brexit have generally thus far concerned immigration, the free movement of labour, the future trading relationship between the UK and the EU, and the possibilities of

a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and the North. There are, however, topics that slip beneath the headlines, but which nonetheless represent pivotal concerns for both the UK and the remaining 27 EU states.

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is not necessarily a subject that captures the public’s imagination. Yet now that Brexit is a reality, the implications for both the UK and the EU’s agricultural

sector have been called into question and solutions for both must be sought. CAP was introduced in 1962 as a means of implementing a system of agricultural subsidies and programmes within the European community, supporting the development of agriculture within the EU through a combination of direct payments to farmers, financial assistance for rural development and environmental protection, and market support measures.

It is one of the fundamental policies within the EU, today accounting for almost 40 per cent of its annual expenditure.

Since its inception, CAP has gone through several reforms, the latest of which covers the years 2014 – 2020.

Even in the few years since this last CAP reform was implemented, the agricultural context in Europe has changed significantly, meaning that further reform is once again required. The European Commission opened a public consultation, seeking to summarise the performance

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BREXIT

by around seven to eight per cent.”

Essentially, if the remaining states fail to cover the UK’s contribution to the CAP budget (and it’s not very likely that they’ll want to), farmers across Europe could face a drop in direct payments. The EU will have to respond appropriately to this challenge through its future CAP reforms, but Britain too has of course entered into uncertain territory, and the future of its own agricultural sector has been called into question.

AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

of CAP, to identify its weaknesses, and to anticipate its future needs.

Though it isn’t the only notable change in circumstances, Brexit represents a major development that will require a response. The doubts created by Brexit have undoubtedly contributed to falling agricultural prices and market uncertainty, and the withdrawal of British contributions to the CAP budget may prove to be a significant blow. “We know that the UK is the second largest net contributor – probably around €10 billion a year,” says Alan Matthews, Professor Emeritus at the Department of Economics, Trinity College Dublin. “So if you compare that to the expenditure in the remaining 27 member states, that’s around seven to eight per cent of their expenditure. In other words, if we want to maintain the same level of expenditure in the other member states as we have today... we would need to raise the net contributions from remaining states

Britain, as with the other EU member states, has benefited from CAP through its two main pillars of payment: direct payments, known as the Basic Payment Scheme, and funding for the wider rural economy. These two pillars have helped to support the British agricultural sector, but now this support is in doubt.

“The first question to ask is whether UK agriculture will get funded at all,” says Matthews. “I think what we’re hearing from the British agricultural minister [George Eustice] at the moment is that he is very keen to continue to provide payment to farmers under the Pillar 2 type schemes. In other words, for land management, for innovation, investment grants, supporting farms in mountain and upland areas and so on.”

“But,” he continues, “I think [Eustice] is not going to maintain the so-called Pillar 1 type payments – the areabased payments – because they don’t really provide any obvious benefit to the taxpayer.” This suggests that there will be a reduction in public spending on agriculture in the UK, particularly through direct payments to farmers.

Given the geographical proximity and traditional interdependence between Ireland and the UK, it is impossible that Ireland will not be impacted by a reduction in British agricultural spending. If Britain decides to approach its future agricultural policies from the consumer point of view – arguments calling for free trade agreements with countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Canada and the USA – then Ireland will suffer as a result.

“That would have a knock-on effect for Irish exporters to Britain, because the actual level of prices that we would get on the British market would be lower than what we get at the moment,” says Matthews. “That’s the negative trade effect, which probably is more important in the longer term than the question of the payments.”

Not every potential development will

Alan Matthews

“THAT WOULD HAVE A KNOCK-ON EFFECT FOR IRISH EXPORTERS TO BRITAIN, BECAUSE THE ACTUAL LEVEL OF PRICES THAT WE WOULD GET ON THE BRITISH MARKET WOULD BE LOWER THAN WHAT WE GET AT THE MOMENT.” necessarily be negative, however. Given that a significant portion of the CAP Pillar 1 payments tends to go towards land prices and land rent, a reduction in Pillar 1 payments would likely see a corresponding drop in the price of land.

“Effectively that would offset much of the loss of the basic payment for those farmers that are renting land,” says Matthews. If we imagine that the prices of farm inputs – like fertilisers, chemicals and pesticides – are higher, based on farmers having extra money to spend, we could predict a reduction in the costs of these inputs based on the reduction of direct payments to farmers. “[The sellers of farm inputs] all benefit from the fact that farmers have that extra money to spend, so they can all push their prices a little bit up,” Matthews notes.

But that would change with the reduction of direct payments. “You’d see input costs coming down, you’d see land prices coming down, you’d see quite a lot of adjustment to [the] reduction in payments, which would be quite beneficial.”

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FARM ENTERPRISES

Ireland’s

Unusual Farmers

BEYOND THE TRADITIONAL FARMING VENTURES, A NUMBER OF ENTERPRISING INDIVIDUALS AROUND THE COUNTRY HAVE TAKEN THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED ON THEIR FARMS. LOUISE DENVIR DISCOVERS MORE.

O

Cléire Goats ED HARPER

Ed Harper lives on the Gaeltacht island of Cape Clear, off the south-west of Cork. No mean feat, considering he’s originally from Manchester. It’s here that he farms a herd of goats for meat and milk, one of only a few goat meat farmers in Ireland. Blind since the age of three, Ed farms with the help of a guide dog called Izzy.

“I lost the sight of one eye with measles, and I had an accident

ur countryside boasts a wide range of out-of-theordinary farming ventures, which can be both profitable and unusual. But a large profit isn’t a prerequisite for all unique farm enterprises. Many are born from passion projects, or simply the farmer’s love of the land and his or her animals.

with the other eye,” he says.

During the 1970s, Ed travelled along the west coast of Ireland in search of music and craic, so it was no surprise that he found himself on the tiny island of Cape Clear.

“My wife and I were searching for somewhere to camp in Cork, and a local woman gave us a leaflet for a day trip to Cape Clear. We asked her what was there, and she said ‘nothing’! To cut a long story short, we liked it so much we spent the whole holiday there, and we kept coming back,” he recalls.

The island has changed a lot since the ‘70s, now home to a strong tourism trade. Some tourists come exclusively to meet Ed, to attend his goat husbandry

demonstrations, and to watch and participate in hand-milking classes. “I’m very interested in farming goats – they have a strong social organisation and in those cases, if you get the loyalty of the animal, it treats you as part of the group and would follow you,” he explains, adding that these traits make the goats easier to farm. He can call the goats from across a field, and they will come to him.

At present there are 27 British Alpine dairy goats who call Ed’s five-acre farm home; 12 for milking, two replacement breeding males, and the remainder are kids or yearlings who will be sold for meat. Most Irish farmers prefer a Boer goat

Ed Harper and Izzy

when farming for meat, but Ed favours the British Alpines for their hardiness. They thrive on the rough terrain and windy conditions of the island.

The animals are brought by ferry to the mainland for slaughter, and are butchered in Cork. A delivery of goat sausages, burgers and various cuts are sent back to Ed and he sells them to visitors, locals and, on occasion, restaurants on the mainland.

Ed says that goat meat can be seen as a novelty on the island,

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FARM ENTERPRISES

PHOTO: IRISH GUIDE DOGS FOR THE BLIND/CONOR MCCABE PHOTOGRAPHY

but they make great stews. “It’s particularly popular with African and Asian tourists, and in expensive restaurants; but the amount of meat you’re getting for the cost of killing them is fairly small,” he says.

As a result, cheese-making is a way to supplement the income from the goats, and Ed has made a number of varieties over the years.

When he had a larger herd of 33 milkers he could milk in the milking parlour, but since downsizing to 12 milkers he’s hand-milking every day. He currently produces goat

milk cottage cheese, which can be frozen for the off-season.

Ed is 68 now, and is looking to the future of the farm. In years to come he might settle on the mainland, where a friend will potentially manage the herd.

“I don’t actually want to leave the island,” he says. “It would be sad to go, but the physical work gets harder.” For the time being Ed will remain on the island, for the next few years at least. But whatever happens, his goats will surely follow.

“AT PRESENT THERE ARE 27 BRITISH ALPINE DAIRY GOATS WHO CALL ED’S FIVE-ACRE FARM HOME; 12 FOR MILKING, TWO REPLACEMENT BREEDING MALES, AND THE REMAINDER ARE KIDS OR YEARLINGS WHO WILL BE SOLD FOR MEAT.”

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FARM ENTERPRISES

Turra Lodge Farm PHOTO: DES CRINION

SANDRA KELLY

The Friesland sheep

Boyne Pastures

David showing My T Affair

DES CRINION

little cream, with cow’s milk you add a little bit more cream, and with goat’s milk you add even more!” he explains. “There’s a bit of an aftertaste on the goat’s milk one. My tastebuds are sharper than most, and I’d spot that, even though others wouldn’t.”

Sugar and honey sweeten the ice-cream, and Des forages gooseberries and summer fruits for flavour. Next up on the menu is cherries – he has an experimental orchard of sweet cherries and apples on one acre, but reckons he’ll fare better with sour cherry trees. He aims to increase the size of the orchard every year and he’ll run his sheep through it every day. Grazing sheep in an orchard has two main benefits; fertilisation of the soil, and grass mowing. But his Friesland sheep aren’t well suited to orchard life, as they tend to nibble on tree bark. Des admits he’s currently researching breeds suitable for orchards. The Shropshire sheep breed won’t damage or eat bark, but bringing them in would potentially mean selling his beloved herd of dairy Frieslands.

It’s a tough choice, but he has a back-up plan if he receives ice-cream orders in the coming years. A friend has a sheep dairy in Kilkenny and they can supply him with their milk surplus.

Cherry-ripple sheep ice-cream might soon be on the menu!

Sandra’s daughter Sassy and Kid

PHOTO: SANDRA KELLY

Every odd-Saturday, Des Crinion represents a group of Meath farmers and food producers at a market in Navan. He mans the Slane Food Circle stand, selling the food group’s wares. From Rock Farm’s fresh salad bags to Boyne Valley Goats Cheese and Newgrange Gold Oil, here you’ll find a range of quality, organic foods and, if you’re really lucky, some of Des’ own seasonal produce from his farm just beside the Boyne Valley. During the summer months he produces some of Ireland’s most unusual ice-cream, churned using milk from his flock of sheep.

Most of Des’ customers are regulars at the Slane Food Circle stand, but neighbours knock on his house door or buy straight from the honesty box at the end of his driveway, where he has a fridge and a freezer to house the ice-cream and eggs from his 110 hens. Des milks 27 Friesland sheep, a dairy breed that produces milk suitable for ice-cream making, six months of the year. “The milk loses its fat content at the end of August,” Des says. “Sheep milk is funny like that, it tells you when you can’t use it any more – it doesn’t bind.”

Des churns sheep milk ice-cream on request, but he also produces goat milk ice-cream and cow milk ice-cream using fresh milk from local farms. Depending on the milk he uses, the recipe changes.

“With sheep’s milk, you add very

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FARM ENTERPRISES

With no background in farming, Sandra Kelly and her husband Eugene began breeding pygmy (miniature) goats on their land in Ballickmoyler, Co Carlow 15 years ago. What began as a pair of pet goats for their five children soon grew into a herd of 40.

The 17 acres on Turra Lodge Farm is hilly, quarried and full of gorse and bramble – the perfect territory for their animals. It’s separated into a number of paddocks, with a special area for the kids. They range from 15cm tall at birth to 53-inch tall does, nannies, wethers and bucks. Males are usually castrated, as uncastrated males urinate on their coat, causing a strong odour. The odour attracts the female members of the herd, but it makes them very smelly pets, so the family recommend buying wethers, or castrated males, to new owners.

Sandra works in the family home producing artwork for her business, Turra Crafts, and Eugene is a plumber during the day, which means their five children – Darren (24), David (23), Dan (22), Alex (20) and Sassy (16) – muck in on the farm. “There was never pocket money in this house. The children spent it all on bringing the animals to the vet, buying them feed, and buying specialist equipment,” Sandra says. “If they sold them on, that

was their little profit to keep, but you’d never make money at it.”

The pygmy goats are usually sold in pairs as companion animals and pets, and they’re regularly brought to agricultural shows for competitions. “The judges look for height and correctness,” Sandra explains. “They check their feet, teat, confirmation, coat and their teeth for underbite or overbite. Pygmy goats have a barrel tummy; they should look like a barrel on legs!”

The miniature goat isn’t the only animal the family bring to agricultural shows. After finishing his Leaving Certificate, David worked for six months on an American Miniature Horse farm in Quitman, Texas, caring for 70 miniature horses. He brought the idea home to the farm in Carlow, where he now breeds them. “We breed American Miniature Horses, rather than miniature horses,” David clarifies. “They’re a lot prettier, and a lot more refined; they resemble the Arabian horse.” One of David’s champion horses is My T Affair – a dun pinto stallion measuring just under 81cms tall. Some stallions on the farm are under 76cms tall.

Alongside the miniature goats and horses, Turra Lodge Farm is also home to pot-bellied pigs, sheep and ducks. Quite the menagerie!

“AFTER FINISHING HIS LEAVING CERTIFICATE, DAVID WORKED FOR SIX MONTHS ON AN AMERICAN MINIATURE HORSE FARM IN QUITMAN, TEXAS, CARING FOR 70 MINIATURE HORSES.”

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FISHING

I Fish We Knew

AS BRITAIN AND THE EUROPEAN UNION BEGIN A TWO-YEAR SHOWDOWN THAT WILL PARTIALLY SHAPE THE CONTINENT POST-BREXIT, DEAN VAN NGUYEN DISCOVERED THE POTENTIAL IMPACT ON IRELAND’S FISHING INDUSTRY. Article 50 has been triggered. The bullet is out of the chamber and whizzing through the air. Date of impact: March 29th 2019. Where the slug lands, nobody quite knows. But what happens in the Brexit negotiations between now and the United Kingdom’s official withdrawal from the European Union will have enormous fallout.

Among those sweating under the collar over the impending severance is Ireland’s fisheries sector. Ireland’s fishermen face the prospect of being gutted. Pick through the bones and you can find few positive slants to our neighbour’s decision to leave the EU. The UK may opt to slap a blanket ban on EU vessels, including Irish fishermen, from operating in their waters. This will deeply impact the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), rules that give all European fleets equal access to EU waters and set quotas for which member states are allowed to

catch each type of fish. If all EU member states are locked out of UK waters, Irish fishing quotas would be impacted as there will be a smaller pond to draw from. In June, the UK announced its intention to withdraw from the London Fisheries convention, which allowed several EU countries including Ireland to fish between six and 12 nautical miles from its shores.

“It is, in many respects, one of the most complicated, economically challenging aspects of Brexit,” says Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed. According to him, around 35 per cent of our fish are caught in British waters. “If the UK leaves and pulls up the drawbridge behind them and says, ‘Nobody can fish in our waters,’ that’s the scale of the challenge that our industry faces,” he adds.

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referendum. One of the most memorable (or maybe embarrassing) moments of the Brexit campaign came in June 2016 when Nigel Farage, then-leader of Eurosceptic political party Ukip, and the Labour MP Kate Hoey led a small flotilla of fishermen up the Thames River in London. There, they clashed with vessels led by the Irish singer and political activist Bob Geldof. Speaking at the time, as reported by the Guardian, Farage said: “Today’s flotilla is not a celebration or a party but a full-throttled protest. We want our waters back.”

Creed says he’s acutely aware of this opposition, but has already engaged in talks with Britain’s Minister of State at the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) Andrea Leadsom, as well as George Eustice, Minister of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), on the matter.

In these discussions, Creed says he has cited pre-European Union agreements between Ireland and the UK as potentially providing a blueprint moving forward.

“We’ve also been involved in a whole series of bilateral meetings with states that are also effected,” says Minister Creed. “They all face similar problems with their fishing fleets because they will be fishing substantial volumes in what would be determined UK territorial waters if they were to leave. We are also trying to establish common ground with them so that we can then inform the negotiating team that these are areas of mutual concern of members states who are affected on the fishing side. We’re making substantial progress in that area.”

LEGISLATION Further complicating matters is that there is currently new legislation being drafted in Ireland that would allow fishing boats based in Northern Ireland to be permitted to work in Irish inshore waters (up to six nautical miles from the coast). These waters are not subject to the Common

PHOTO: JIM LINWOOD/FLICKR (CC BY 2.0)

“IF THE UK LEAVES AND PULLS UP THE DRAWBRIDGE BEHIND THEM AND SAYS, ‘NOBODY CAN FISH IN OUR WATERS,’ THAT’S THE SCALE OF THE CHALLENGE THAT OUR INDUSTRY FACES.”

Fishing boat in Dingle Harbour

Fisheries Policy. The move has been met with some resistance. Why, after all, would we give up a potential bargaining chip?

“Our organisation would be vehemently against this for a whole lot of reasons,” says Francis O’Donnell, CEO of the Irish Fish Producers’ Organisation (IFPO).

“It’s giving away a very, very strong negotiating platform that we have at the moment. We’re giving it away in advance of Brexit. I do see some merit in allowing it to happen during the negotiations or as part of an overall package, but certainty not at the moment.”

IFPO, a body representing owners of commercial sea-fishing vessels, fears Brexit’s impact on the Irish fisheries industry will be grave. O’Donnell mentions the presence of more EU vessels in Irish waters as one concern. “All the other European fleets that are fishing in UK waters, most of them will move to the west coast and north west coast of Ireland, into Irish territorial waters,” he believes. “The early feeling at this stage is that it could have [a] very negative impact on stocks of fish and could, not necessarily cause an overall collapse in fisheries, but quotas would eventually drop for Irish fishermen because more pressure on stocks will also mean more pressure biologically on resources.”

NEGOTIATIONS While Minister Creed continues to maintain a dialogue with the British government, Brexit’s impact on Ireland’s fishing industry will largely hinge on the EU’s broader negotiations with the UK government. Last March, groups from nine coastal EU countries including Ireland met in Brussels to send a warning to the UK. As reported in the Financial Times, the groups demanded continued access to UK waters and warned that British fish supplies could otherwise lose tariff-free access to Europe.

As for Ireland’s continued partnership with a post-Brexit European Union, Minister Creed points to the huge advances made in the fisheries industry since Ireland first joined.

“Our industry today is multiple the size in terms of volume and value of the industry that was there when we joined the European Union in the 1970s,” he says. “We can fish down off the coast of northern Spain and western France.

We can fish in UK territorial waters.

When they leave, that’s the big challenge to us. We have been beneficiaries in terms of how our industry has grown; we have [been] beneficiaries on the basis that we’ve been able to fish way beyond our own territorial waters.

But we face significant challenges.”

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fforts to promote sustainability and biodiversity among Ireland’s farming community have not always been as successful as one might wish.

There has been a tendency for such efforts to be enforced from the top down, giving farmers and landowners ultimatums about what they need to do with their land in order to retain vital payments.

However, a number of recent schemes in Ireland are attempting to change that approach: they’re placing the farmer at the heart of the push for a sustainable, biodiverse agriculture.

The Burren Programme has its roots in a small book published in 2002, Farming And The Burren. Its author, Dr Brendan Dunford, was a PhD student at the time, tasked with investigating the links between the unique environment of the Burren and the practices of local farmers.

The book became the foundation for the BurrenLIFE programme, which used 20 local farms as a testing ground for sustainable farming in the area.

After a successful five-year period, the Department of Agriculture then decided to roll out that research across 160 farms through the Burren Farming for Conservation Programme. The Burren Programme is the latest stage of this on-going project. Through funding from the Rural Development Programme, the Burren Programme is available to almost every farmer in the area. Dunford expects the number of participants to top 450 next year, covering roughly 90 per cent of the Burren’s protected environment.

The Burren Programme takes a hybrid approach to supporting its farmers. They part-fund capital-intensive labour, such as scrub-clearing, irrigation and wall repair, while a results-based payments scheme is used to reward proactive farmers who produce “environmental products” on their land – clean air, clean water and diverse plant or animal life – through a field-scoring system.

After years of research and testing, Dunford is confident that the strategy is a successful one. “It’s very simple but it’s worked for farmers for six years,” he says. “They prefer this. I think they feel more respected. Nobody is telling them what to do, they’re not farming by the calendar, they’re able to use their own knowledge, experience and initiative.”

A big part of the project’s success, and one of its key innovations, is its local focus. The ideas the Programme encourages have been generated locally, often by the farmers themselves, and those farmers have been there to see those ideas develop and take root.

“The Burren is different, farming the Burren is different, so all the research took place locally and all the solutions are developed, implemented and tested locally,” says Dunford. “All along the project, the farmers have been with us every step of the way, in fact leading it every step of the way. That’s so important. At this point, the farmers have a lot of ownership over it. It’s their programme. It’s not a project for the National Parks or the European Commission, it’s a programme for the Burren, by the Burren farmers.”

Farming

Biodiversity IAN MALENEY DOCUMENTS TWO PROJECTS AIMED AT PROMOTING AND BOOSTING SUSTAINABLE AND BIODIVERSE AGRICULTURE.

PHOTO: BURRENBEO TRUST

BIODIVERSITY

Excavating the shell midden at Fanore More, Co Clare

TRUST IS KEY Of course, the Burren is more than just farms. The Burrenbeo Trust is a membership charity based in the Burren, which builds on and complements many of the ideas found in the Burren Programme, giving the wider community a chance to get involved in protecting and discovering their landscape. The Burrenbeo Trust engages people in voluntary conservation efforts, including scrubclearing, wall repair and archaeological digs, as well as leading popular monthly walks through the area. For Áine Bird, the Trust’s communication officer, it’s about making people aware of the heritage that surrounds them every day, and giving ordinary people the chance to care about it.

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“THE IDEAS THE PROGRAMME ENCOURAGES HAVE BEEN GENERATED LOCALLY, OFTEN BY THE FARMERS THEMSELVES, AND THOSE FARMERS HAVE BEEN THERE TO SEE THOSE IDEAS DEVELOP AND TAKE ROOT.”

PHOTO: MORGAN O’DONOVAN

Burren Winterage, 2013 A course in the Burren in 2015

PHOTO: BURRENBEO TRUST

One of the grazing residents in the Burren

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NATURE’S LAND IN LEITRIM At the other end of the Shannon, Dr Dolores Byrne is a project coordinator with the RBAPS pilot scheme, which is attempting to build on the results-based innovations of the Burren Programme by asking how those ideas might be implemented in areas without Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) designations.

Farm advisors receiving RBAPS training in the Shannon Callows

Hay meadow in Scrabbagh, Co Leitrim

The rare marsh fritillary butterfly in Co Leitrim grassland.

Targeting a select few townlands in County Leitrim, Byrne and a team of researchers from IT Sligo have set up a results-based payment scheme to encourage farmers towards ‘high nature value’ farming.

For the pilot scheme they have chosen to target species-rich grasslands, which often support innumerable birds, insects and flora as well as indicating good soil quality. Much like the Burren, the pilot scheme uses a field-scoring system to assess the environmental condition of a farmer’s land; the higher they score, the higher the payment they receive. Byrne says this system has helped the local farmers to see their land, particularly the marginal and typically “unproductive” parts of it, in a new light.

“They’ve never stopped to look at their land in as much detail as they’re looking at it now,” she says. “They’ve never seen the flowers that I’m pointing out to them, and they never knew what they meant, having all these flowers on their land.

All they saw was that they had rushes, they didn’t see the flowers in between the rushes. That’s a real eye-opener for them. The optics of the farm scheme has changed and they really understand what they’re getting their money for.”

Byrne also highlights the importance, and the rarity, of the idea that farming

PHOTO: DOLORES BYRNE

Redshank, Shannon Callows

PHOTO: DOLORES BYRNE

“We can use that history that exists to look, to learn from it,” she says. “It’s not just botanists coming to learn about particular species, it’s about looking at place holistically. We look at three layers – the built, natural, and cultural heritage – and how they interconnect. It provides such opportunity for people learning, from four-year-olds to 104-year-olds. It’s a real life-long learning type model.”

The Trust provides an educational programme for local schools, encouraging young students to learn about history, geography and biology with examples from their locality. Bird says the hope is that students would learn “in, through and for” a particular place; learning about where you live, using examples from that place, in the hope that this might lead to increased attachment to and engagement in that place. It’s an attempt to train what Bird calls “the future custodians.” This educational programme dovetails with the monthly walks, bringing together those future custodians with the custodians of the present: the local farmers.

“It’s the farmers who have been leading the walks, because these are the people who know the land and they are the people who are putting the work into the conservation there,” says Bird. “You now find that farmers are going on each other’s walks and they’re bringing their families. They’re getting to see each other’s farms and what’s interesting there. It’s a real community-learning type thing where there’ll be somebody leading the walk, but equally there’ll probably be 10 people in the crowd that have something to add.”

This back-and-forth between the farmers and the rest of the community is an important factor in ensuring the continued understanding and appreciation of the role farming has played in shaping the unique landscape of the Burren over thousands of years. “The people who built the wedge tombs, they were the first farmers, the Neolithic farmers, who arrived or found themselves in this area,” says Bird. “It’s all the same story.

Everybody loves a good story and if you can connect the various elements, rather than seeing them as standalone elements in the landscape, it strengthens the connection that people can have.”

PHOTO: COLUM CLARKE

BIODIVERSITY

itself was central to the scheme. She says farmers were “a little bit astounded” that they didn’t have to start doing anything they didn’t want to, or stop doing anything they were already doing. The scheme exists to encourage farmers towards certain goals, but it isn’t prescriptive or limiting.

Most importantly, it reveals a new form of value on land that, while often of immense personal significance, has begun to verge on economically unworkable.

“The fact that someone is telling them that their rushy land is valuable and is really good for lots of different things, I think it gives them that positivity that they can keep farming as a viable pursuit in the area,” says Byrne. “The economics of farming can’t be overlooked in an area like this. Most people I’ve met are part-time farmers here and they use their off-farm income to supplement the farming income. It’s not viable at the moment with the small farms that people have and the small number of livestock. So in order to keep that extensive farming going, we have to provide supports. In turn, the farmers will be delighted to stay on the land, but they do need that support.”

Brendan Dunford is quick to agree.

With more experience than most in this area, he knows keeping farmers on board, and on the land, is the most effective route to a sustainable and biodiverse landscape. “The farmer is going to be the one doing the work at the end of the day,” he says. “You can have all the policy and science that you like, but it boils down to the farmer, so we’re trying to help the farmer in every way.”

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ADVERTISING FEATURE

PROVIDING NUTRITION FOR NATURE Environmental protection and biodiversity are important issues for Origin Green dairy farmer John Joe O’Sullivan from Co Cork.

John Joe O’Sullivan took over the family farm near Rosscarbery in 1982, when he married Theresa. He now has five children and has doubled the size of the farm. He milks 70 cows, supplying Lisavaird Co-op.

Irish farmers who are certified members of the Bord Bía Quality Assurance schemes, and who participate in a farm sustainability survey as part of the audit process, are part of Origin Green.

John Joe, who is part of the Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme (SDAS), was the winner of the Small/Medium Herd Category Prize in Bord Bia’s Origin Green Producer Awards in 2016.

Speaking about the Origin Green Awards, John Joe said: “We were just doing things naturally and to the best of our ability. The audit is about measuring everyday practice. There’s nothing extra in it and I’d advise every farmer to get involved. We graze the cows outside for up to 300 days in the year. It’s a very healthy environment for them. We test the soil in each paddock regularly so that we know exactly what fertiliser to use. We also protect the clover because it’s a natural plant that acts as a soil conditioner. These are the things that provide nutrition for nature.”

John Joe also notes the importance of making good use of slurry, and improved efficiencies such as the plate cooler in the milking parlour.

Protecting the natural environment and

John Joe and Theresa O’Sullivan were the winners of the Small/Medium Herd Category Prize in Bord Bia’s Origin Green Producer Awards, presented in October 2016.

supporting biodiversity are very important to John Joe, and he has maintained all of the original hedgerows and fences on the farm. John Joe also started bee-keeping in 1978. He took a course in Gormanstown which led to a scholarship and his first swarm of bees. He has been bee-keeping ever since, which has contributed to the biodiversity on the farm. “It’s lovely to see the bees pollinating the fruit bushes and the apple trees,” he says. “My role as a farmer is to protect the things that were there before me and the things that will be left after me. I hope my children will carry that on too.”

Sustainability is now part of the entry criteria in every sector and every marketplace in which the Irish food industry competes. Bord Bia’s Origin Green is the first national sustainability programme in the world, showcasing Irish food and drink at home and abroad. Origin Green verified members now account for more than 90 per cent of Ireland’s total food and drink exports.

Bord Bia has a series of short video clips to help to explain how Irish farmers can be part of Origin Green and the benefits from it.

They are available to view at www.bordbia.ie/farmersorigingreen.

Peter, Andrew and John Joe O’Sullivan are pictured on the dairy farm at Gurrane, outside Rosscarbery, Co Cork.

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High Sky

in the

AISLING MEEHAN OF AGRICULTURAL SOLICITORS TACKLES THE TOPIC OF DRONES AND HOW THEY RELATE TO IRISH FARMERS AND LANDOWNERS. The operation and use of drones is primarily regulated by the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), which passed two pieces of legislation in 2015 – the Small Unmanned Aircraft (Drones) and Rockets Order 2015, and the Irish Aviation Authority (Nationality and Registration of Aircraft) Order 2015. Under these regulations, all drones weighing one kilogram or more have to be registered with the IAA. These regulations control the use of drones providing for the following flight restrictions: • Out of line of sight or farther than 300 metres from the drone operator.

• Over 120 metres above ground level.

• Within 120 metres of any person, assembly of people, vessel or structure not under the control of the drone operator.

• Unless the drone operator has permission from the landowner for take off and landing, and can do so without undue hazard to persons or property.

Unfortunately, there does not appear to be any penalties for breaching these restrictions on the way drones can be flown. While the IAA has the power to investigate and to prevent aircraft from flying, there are no criminal sanctions provided for in the regulations, or any way of preventing someone who breaches the regulations from flying again. Consequently, they appear to be of little use to the landowner.

TRESPASS The use of drones brings many other areas of law into play including insurance, privacy, data protection, intellectual property rights and the common law of torts of nuisance and trespass. Based on existing case law, it can be argued that flying a drone safely above another’s property at a height that does not interfere with the owner’s ordinary use of the land does not constitute trespass. The English case of Leigh v Skyviews & General Ltd from

1978 established that for airspace above land, the rights of a property owner are restricted to heights necessary for the ordinary use and enjoyment of his land. The court found that the actions of the photography company did not amount to trespass or nuisance as only a single photo was taken. However the court warned that if a claimant was subjected to the harassment of constant surveillance from the air, accompanied by the photographing of his every activity, then this would amount to a “monstrous invasion of privacy” and an actionable nuisance for which relief would be given. The courts have not drawn a line as to what exactly will constitute trespass or nuisance by drones in these instances; we need a test case to go before the courts for that clarity to emerge.

PRIVACY AND DATA PROTECTION As drones can be used to collect information about people’s private lives, the Data Protection Commissioner has issued guidance on the use of drones. It advised that the processing of personal data kept by an individual and concerned solely with the management of his/her personal, family or household affairs or kept by an individual for recreational purposes is exempt from the Data Protection Acts. This exemption, sometimes called the ‘household exemption’, would generally apply to the handling of the personal data of private persons, so long as this takes place for personal non-commercial purposes. However, if drones do capture

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personal data from third persons it will mean that the Data Protection Acts will apply and drone operators will have to ensure that the safeguards and obligations are met. Personal data would include, for instance, facial images or car registration plates. Breaches of the Data Protection Act are reportable to the Data Commissioner.

RIGHT TO PROTECT ONESELF AND PROPERTY FROM AN INTRUDER The law may be summarised as allowing the use of reasonable force, which can extend to lethal force in protecting oneself or others in a dwelling, but this does not extend to using lethal force in protecting one’s property.

However, whether shooting down a drone would be considered ‘reasonable’ is questionable. If a person deliberately damages someone’s drone or interferes with its communication system, they may find themselves liable for trespass, causing criminal damage or worse if someone gets hurt. Thus a person might be better advised to video the drone in action over the land and to report it to the gardai and the Irish Aviation Authority if they have concerns about a potential break-in.

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 May 2nd 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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RURAL ACTIVITIES

Escape Country To The

SPRINKLED THROUGHOUT RURAL IRELAND ARE COMPANIES RUNNING GREAT ACTIVITIES FOR BOTH SOCIAL GROUPS AND THOSE IN SEARCH OF ural Ireland can sometimes be CORPORATE TRAINING. stereotyped as coming in just two EAR TO THE GROUND shades: private farmland and desolate bogs. Not so. In fact, the country SPEAKS TO THREE offers activities as wide-spanning as Irish weather in the summertime.

INVENTIVE FIRMS There are, of course, plenty of famous tourist ON WHAT THEY HAVE sites, picturesque views, golf clubs, spas and other resorts dotted throughout the country TO OFFER. that rake in visitors. But there are lesser-

R

known operations, too, that use all the natural magnificence the countryside has to offer.

These firms are doing great things in both the social outings and corporate team building spheres. Here, we profile three of the most inventive, interesting and downright worthy of your attention.

The famous Coomloughra Horseshoe

The Lodge & Reeks Guiding Company

“MacGillycuddy’s Reeks and the surrounding area, we call it The Hidden Valleys of The Reeks in Co Kerry,” says John O’Sullivan enthusiastically. “It’s a brand name really. There’s lots to do for everybody.”

John runs Lodge & Reeks Guiding, a company that offers accompanied walks, hikes and climbs in the Kerry mountains, including Carrauntoohil, Ireland’s highest peak. For four generations, John’s family have been landowners in the Reeks. He spent his childhood working with his father, a sheep farmer, in the

mountainous terrain at the foot of Carrauntoohil and, over the course of his lifetime, has come to know every inch intimately.

It was demand, though, that inspired him to establish the firm.

“There was a lot of people into climbing,” says John. “After the Celtic Tiger people got into activities other than golf and cycling. Walking is inexpensive when you have your gear, which you do need for a mountain. Once you have that, it’ll keep you for a long time.”

As Ireland’s highest mountain, climbing Carrauntoohil has a

certain status for mountaineers.

The Coomloughra Horseshoe walk includes the three highest peaks in the Reeks and Ireland: Caher, Carrauntoohil and Beenkeragh, strenuous climbs that require good fitness levels. Plenty of other options are available, including the Gap of Dunloe and Brandon Mountain Range. However, the Reeks area is privately owned and should be respected by all visitors and climbers. For those who need a little help finding their way, John and his team offer guided hikes with experienced

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PHOTO: JOHN O’SULLIVAN

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mountaineers from the area itself. “People can trust a local guide knows what he’s talking about and knows where he’s going,” he says. “They can enjoy the day whether the fog comes or goes or it rains, they don’t have to worry about the navigation.”

The main draw is the incredible natural surroundings. “You’d have to travel a lot – maybe Scotland or the Alps – to get something like that,” says John. “We are very proud to have these mountains in our backyard and we do respect them in all that we do.”

John O’Sullivan

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Lough Oughter

PHOTO: SARAH777/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

RURAL ACTIVITIES

Joe and the Baileys Ladies

In the more corporate realm, The Orchard Centre in Co Wicklow offers unique team building exercises that provide key learning experiences for participants. The company’s ethos is to forge groups of individuals into teams that operate more efficiently than when they first rolled up to their gates.

“Eighty per cent of the business is companies looking to develop their own people in different ways,” says Orchard Centre Managing Director Joe Hayden. “That continues to change. In the boom years, the centre was used to nourish the existing employees they had and to give them a bit of a treat – to bring them down for fun games, team games, have some good food, maybe a bit of entertainment. When the crash came, we were involved in working with companies and organisations that had downsized and were trying to build new teams under pressure. So we were using our activity-based programmes in conjunction with their needs, to help mould new teams for these organsations.

“Thankfully, now that the economy has picked up, the centre is busy with Irish companies who view experimental learning as a way to build their teams and get the most out of their people.”

The Orchard Centre is located right at the heart of Joe and his brother Michael’s dairy farm, where their cows – or ‘Baileys Ladies’ as they’re known – produce over 1 million litres of milk each year for the popular Irish liqueur maker. The pair were first approached by the company 16 years ago, and the union has helped grow the centre itself.

“Because we had facilities on site – our conference facilities, catering, all that – Baileys wanted a farm where they could bring their

Hurling workshops aim to build team spirit

people,” says Joe. “That gained us, of course, a great reputation with corporate companies who wanted to come and see the Baileys Ladies. In a very practical way, people are learning about sustainable food production, not just about Baileys, but all that Irish agriculture and food production has to offer.”

That’s just one way the centre is intertwined with the farm on which it’s situated. Some of the team building exercises – including archery, clay shooting and treasure hunts – take place out on the compound. For Joe, his operation underlines that there’s a whole world waiting to be discovered in the countryside.

“The challenge often is how people can engage with the real countryside,” he says.

“The countryside is all family farms, most of it. There is access to the countryside through walks, greenways, which is the latest thing. Our own farm allows people to delve right into the richness of the countryside and our way of life.”

PHOTO: THE ORCHARD CENTRE

The Orchard Centre

Cavan Canoeing Sitting on a small island in Lough Oughter, the famous Cloughoughter Castle is only available for those willing to brave the water. Of all the vessels in which to make the voyage, the most thrilling is perhaps via a canoe. That’s where Sean Thornton and Cavan Canoeing come in.

Based in the heart of Cavan’s lakelands, the company operates a centre dedicated to canoeing. It’s a unique and challenging way to explore the Lake County’s waterways, landscape and distinct history. “We had lovely walkways, we had the castle, [but] there was no-one making use of the waters,” says Sean, who on top of running the business still operates his own farm. “The castle is a big hit for us in the summer.”

Cavan Canoeing offers two routes.

There’s the Castle Route, which is 7km in length and usually takes two to three hours to complete, and the Inishmore Route, offering paddlers over 8km of scenic views around Inishmore island.

Both offer several stop-off points for breaks and to crack open a packed lunch.

Those with experience can just rent the equipment, but tour guides are also available. “[In] summertime we’re quite busy with people coming and hiring their own canoe out and go off themselves either with family or a group,” says Sean.

To combat the off-season lull, Cavan Canoeing has introduced dedicated packages for school kids, showcasing that there’s more to do with your free time than your smartphone allows. “The schools come in now – the fourth years – and we bring them off now for overnight camping,” Sean explains. “We do a twoday canoe [trip] with them and camp out one of the nights. We bought a load of mountain bikes, so we’re doing the bikes as well. We’re going to start doing more biking as well around the centre and do that with the schools as well. If a tonne of kids come, we take 15 on the water and 15 on the bikes. We do that for three weeks and then we swap over.”

While the local schools might be central to the business, Cavan Canoeing also rakes in visitors from as far away as Australia, New Zealand and the US, keen on this physical but exciting way of taking in the scenery of rural Cavan.

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CAREERS

The Irish dairy industry is in need of an additional 6,500 skilled workers by 2025, or the industry as a whole is in trouble.

Sounds ominous, but that’s the view of Dr Pat Dillon, Teagasc’s Head of Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Programme. “The dairy industry has expanded by about 23 per cent in the last two years. It’s forecast to increase by 50 per cent by 2020 – which it will,” he explains.

“About 15 per cent of national cows were in herds greater than 100 cows back in 2005. Last year, almost 50 per cent of the cows were in herds bigger than 100 cows.”

These figures suggest a rapid rate of expansion within an industry currently ill-equipped to deal with this growth.

New processing facilities and additional land space will be required, though Dillon believes the industry will rise to the occasion. The issue of workers, however, is not as simple. “The one thing that we forgot about was people to farm and to manage these extra cows,” he states. “A lot of labour on farms back through the years

“ACCORDING TO THE 2015 NATIONAL FARM SURVEY CONDUCTED BY TEAGASC, OVER TWOTHIRDS OF IRISH FARMERS ARE OVER 50 YEARS OLD. THE NEED TO ATTRACT YOUNG PEOPLE INTO FARMING IS EVIDENT – PARTICULARLY WITH REGARD TO THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.” was family labour. The size of dairy farms nowadays has meant they have become very specialised and much larger, but there isn’t the availability of family labour on farms to manage these larger herds.”

According to the 2015 National Farm Survey conducted by Teagasc, over twothirds of Irish farmers are over 50 years old. The need to attract young people into farming is evident – particularly with regard to the dairy industry. The question of how to do this is not an easy one, however. “Dairy farming does give the opportunity to make a

The Future

of Dairy

very good living. If you look at it, last year the average family farm income was somewhere around €60,000,” says Dillon. This figure lies above the national average, yet dairy farming remains an unattractive prospect for young people.

To begin, Dillon suggests that better training for young people would be an advisable means of attracting them to the industry. “We’re not training enough young people coming into the industry,” he notes.

“In recent years, there has been a swing to the more academic training rather than the more apprenticeship-type training.

A lot of ITs have come into the whole thing in terms of education, but there’s no practical on-farm training part to it.”

He also proposes that career progression should be embedded within the industry, noting that young people often need to feel they can move up in their career.

The growth of the industry is already in motion, so action must be taken now.

“We’re going to see an expansion,” says Dillon, “and if we want to maximise that expansion – if we want a competitive industry going forward – we need to address the worker issue.”

Farming TEAGASC’S DR PAT DILLON HAS STATED THAT THE IRISH DAIRY INDUSTRY NEEDS 6,500 TRAINED PEOPLE BY 2025, YET DAIRY FARMING DOES NOT APPEAL TO YOUNGER PEOPLE AS AN ATTRACTIVE CAREER PROSPECT. WE SPEAK WITH DR DILLON TO FIND OUT HOW TO PROMOTE FARMING AS A CAREER FOR THE YOUNGER GENERATION.

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INNOVATION

Growing Knowledge

T

CONOR FORREST SPOKE WITH TEAGASC DIRECTOR PROFESSOR GERRY BOYLE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE ORGANISATION’S ROLE IN INNOVATING, AIDING AND ADVISING IRELAND’S FARMING AND AGRI-FOOD INDUSTRIES.

eagasc, as it exists today – responsible for research and development, training and advisory services in the agri-food sector – wasn’t always known by that name. Rewind 59 years and An Foras Talúntais (The Agricultural Institute) was set up in late 1958 to drive agricultural research and boost economic progress during a time of gloomy prospects, initialising research projects into grassland management, genetic selection, disease, biomass and much more. The new institute was established with the help of funding from the US, and began to drive research within agriculture, spreading innovative practices and helping Irish farmers to boost production.

Growing Knowledge – Fifty Years of Research and Development in Irish Farming and Food notes that among its major successes was enhanced milk production, “where advisers in the traditional dairy farming areas, working with ambitious young farmers, led the way in the adoption of improved management practices that transformed yields and incomes.”

Almost two decades later the national advisory and training body (ACOT) was established in 1980, tasked with coordinating and delivering training and advisory services for Ireland’s farmers. One of its more immediate challenges was the introduction of milk quotas in 1984, with the body’s dairy research staff focusing their efforts on developing a list of options for dairy farmers. ACOT took over the five state agricultural colleges that had been previously run by the Department of Agriculture, and undertook a major review of agricultural training policy the following year. That resulted in the Certificate in Farming, a comprehensive training programme that was launched in 1983 and was only recently replaced by the Vocational Certificate in Agriculture.

In 1988, as Ireland gazed once more into the economic abyss, both An Foras Talúntais and ACOT were merged to form one cohesive organisation – Teagasc. Among the forward-thinking steps that would

be introduced in the proceeding years were joint programmes in collaboration with industry partners to leverage their knowledge; a broader range of advisory services boosted by the introduction of the EU’s revised Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in 1992 and the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS) in 1994; and new and redeveloped training courses running the gamut of the sector.

Today, Teagasc is at the forefront of agricultural research, education and advisory services, enhancing the capabilities and possibilities of Ireland’s farmers, food industry and rural communities, and keeping apace with global developments in all things agriculture. The organisation’s annual research portfolio incorporates approximately 300 research projects (including exciting research into the human microbiome with UCC) supervised by some 500 scientific and technical staff, collaborating with Ireland’s institutes of higher education, supporting postgraduate students, taking part in EU research programmes and developing bilateral agreements with research organisations across the globe. Charged with providing scientific leadership, the issues of sustainability and efficiency continue to inform Teagasc’s research priorities, as does the external policy environment for EAR TO THE GROUND 85

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Teagasc’s award-winning Garden of Hope in association with Pieta House exhibit at Bloom 2017

PHOTO: O’GORMAN PHOTOGRAPHY

Gerry Boyle (left) at the Teagasc stand at Bloom 2017

Pictured at the launch of a Teagasc and Dairygold programme of joint co-operation to improve knowledge transfer messages to Dairygold growers are Ciaran Collins, Tillage Specialist, Teagasc, Michael Creed T.D., Minister for Agriculture, Food & the Marine, Niall Griffey, Tillage Technical Manager, Dairygold, Seamus O’Mahony, Head of Sales and Marketing, Dairygold, Mary Deane, Dairygold & Professor Gerry Boyle, Director of Teagasc

agriculture and food, with a focus on the rapid delivery of results with potential for social and economic impact, among others.

Teagasc’s research focus is now very much centred around particular platforms – genetics and grass management, for example, are two key areas with regard to ruminant livestock. “We’re now operating a common research programme across all ruminants, and I think that has led to a much greater focus on the key research questions,” says Professor Gerry Boyle, Teagasc director. “I would single out the genetics area in particular, and especially animal genomics, as being particularly successful. Now, of course, we have worked in partnership with others, particularly the ICBF (Irish Cattle Breeding Federation) and the Department [of Agriculture]. I think if you look from outside you would say that Ireland has made huge advances in the improvement of animal genetics.”

Teagasc also supports farming innovation as part of its advisory capacity, helping Irish farmers to manage their business and use technology to improve competitiveness, delivered through a nationwide team of advisors, discussion groups, newsletters and individual consultations, and other avenues. The low

level of grassland management technology adoption is something Boyle pinpoints as a disappointment, given the amount of investment at a research level. However, the improvement of the average EBI (Economic Breeding Index), something Teagasc has been actively promoting, has exceeded expectations. “We’re always intrigued [by] the contrast between the relatively low take-up of grassland management technologies and the very high take-up of EBI,” says Boyle. “Even though you could argue that the science underlying the EBI is at a much higher level of complexity. But from the farmer’s point of view, it’s a simple transaction in terms of what they need to adopt.”

Education, too, is key, with Teagasc acting as the primary education provider for Ireland’s farmers. Alongside the provision of customised training to the agri-food sector through ConnectEd, the organisation is a Quality Qualifications Ireland (QQI) registered training provider, with higher level courses provided in partnership with third level institutes. Teagasc’s own further education programmes are delivered through centres at Ballyhaise, Clonakilty, Kildalton and the Botanic Gardens,

PHOTO: JOHN OHLE PHOTOGRAPHY

PHOTO: JOHN OHLE PHOTOGRAPHY

INNOVATION

while the Walsh Fellowships Programme facilitates MSc and PhD students in pursuit of a higher level qualification.

“In our statement of strategy, it states that we see ourselves as supporting science-based innovation. Our role supports the food sector with a very strong emphasis on promoting competitiveness and sustainability. In a nutshell, we see ourselves as primarily about trying to drive productivity enhancements on our farms and in our food companies,” Boyle explains. “In the main, I’d like to think we have achieved that [during his tenure]. Productivity has increased in the agriculture and food sectors and certainly our work from a research and advisory point of view would have contributed to that. We have evolved over the years to [incorporate] a much greater focus on responding to the needs of both food companies and farms. And so we very much see ourselves in a service role.”

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT Boyle has been in the director’s seat for some ten years now, a lengthy period of time that spans the gamut of the global financial crisis, which has seen many industries, including agriculture, forced to seek alternative avenues for growth or to change tack entirely. Boyle asserts that it has been a difficult time for Teagasc, but also notes the opportunities the economic crash presented.

“It has forced us to adapt and examine the level and quality of the service that we deliver to farmers and food companies. Certainly, we have cut our development programme to fit the resources available to us,” he says. “I think we’re a more streamlined organisation at this stage, as a result of all of those measures. We have rationalised our

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PHOTO: JOHNNY BAMBURY PHOTOGRAPHY

INNOVATION

Teagasc/FBD Student of the Year Awards 2016 along with finalist Linda Hanbidge; Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, TD; and Fiona Muldoon, Chief Executive Officer, FBD Insurance (sponsor). The students who received awards all completed the Level 6 Agricultural Education Programmes with Teagasc in 2016

advisory services substantially, and I think we have sharpened where we need to focus our service delivery in terms of promoting development on farms.” The organisation has also partnered with Farm Relief Services via a national tender process, with the latter providing scheme supports that allow Teagasc to focus on its core mission. But the organisation’s work goes beyond Ireland’s borders.

Agriculture in the developing world faces myriad challenges such as rising food prices and increased pressure on natural resources. Incorporating productive and sustainable agricultural practices is key in developing a sector that can contribute immensely towards issues including food security, poverty, hunger and climate change, improving both performance and delivery.

Though Teagasc has traditionally supported overseas development, this work had been reduced somewhat until five years ago. Since then the organisation has reengaged with Irish Aid, the Government’s official international development agency, combining its expertise in agricultural research and knowledge transfer with Irish Aid’s experience in international development. This collaboration has grown in recent years to include projects in a number of developing countries, including Mozambique, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Vietnam. In Ethiopia, a collaborative project between Teagasc, Irish NGO Vita and Wageningen University is reaching its final stages, studying seed potato systems in the Chencha district. Three Ethiopian students have been supported in the pursuit of their PhDs, working at the crop, farm and community levels to identify and solve production challenges and to develop further seed potato interventions.

“We’re also doing some work in Eritrea on dairy – developing the dairy sector at farm level. It’s a very small-scale project,” Boyle explains. “We’re looking at the potential for small-scale dairy processing, and that’s something that we’ve been involved with [in Ireland] for a number of years working with artisan producers... We’ve done some work in Tanzania as well, and we’re working with the Irish Aid authorities in Kenya.”

Though Teagasc’s involvement is limited by available resources, it has received a boost in the form of retired colleagues lending their expertise to specific projects.

“They’ve enthusiastically got involved – several of them work with a variety of NGOs in this area, and we try to coordinate that as best as we can. That has been exciting work,” Boyle adds.

FUTURE Next year will mark Teagasc’s 60th anniversary, looking back on six decades and a substantial body of work, knowledge and impact. The organisation has contributed greatly to Ireland’s farming and agri-food industries and

will undoubtedly continue to do so in the years ahead, ensuring long-term sustainability and competitiveness with other markets across the globe.

But there are a number of challenges to be overcome first. Teagasc has recently published its National Farm Survey and, alongside the declining fortunes of Ireland’s tillage farmers, the report highlighted a labour shortage on Irish farms, particularly within the dairy sector, with Boyle noting that ensuring training systems are in place will be a primary concern for Teagasc in the coming years.

That’s also linked to the lack of younger people interested in pursuing farming as a career – Boyle notes that a “massive communications exercise” is required to address this. Among the steps being taken is the introduction of a dedicated careers officer in its colleges, with the task of activating interest in farming among second-level students. Brexit will also prove challenging, though Boyle notes that it has accelerated Teagasc’s work in relation to innovation, with potential markets identified in China, Vietnam and other Asian countries.

But, given the depth and breadth of its research endeavours, combined with its advisory services and educational work, as well as an aim to harness the digital revolution, there’s reason to be hopeful.

No doubt the next 60 years will continue the focus on investing in knowledge, training the next generation of farmers and agricultural workers, and promoting new and innovative technologies.

“We’re constantly scanning the horizon in the hope that we can identify emerging technologies that we need to be on top of,” says Boyle, also noting that Teagasc is interested in pushing its expertise in less traditional spheres. “...We’re convinced that we have to look at broadening our social science expertise, particularly in the areas of psychology and so on, to try and understand the reasons for low levels of adoption. We have a big agenda.”

OPEN FOR BUSINESS Teagasc promotes its work in a number of ways, including through several open days held around the country throughout the year, including the recent Moorepark Open Day on July 4th. Though Teagasc is working on developing its digital offering, people still like to see and experience things in the flesh. “Even though it’s a very traditional model, it still works,” says Gerry Boyle. “It’s still a very efficient way for people to assimilate quite a lot of information.”

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INNOVATION

Teagasc National Farm Survey 2016

Direct payments on cattle rearing farms up 11%

Average Farm Income by System €60,000

83,377 Farms

€51,809 €50,000

Average farmer aged

56

€40,000

€30,000

€20,000 €12,908

Dairy 15,639

49%

80% of dairy farms increased production since 2014

€30,816

€16,887

€16,011

€10,000

-17%

+2%

+3%

-1%

-10%

Dairy

Cattle Rearing

Cattle Other

Sheep

Tillage

€0

have an off-farm income

€690m invested on-farm 2016

Average Farm Income 2016 Cattle Rearing 19,185

Cattle Other 26,433

Farm Income

Market Output

-9%

-5%

€24,060

€59,965

+4%

€17,932

Overall Total Costs remained unchanged

Farm Income Distribution €(‘000)

Visability of Farms (%) Viable

Sheep 12,758

23%

37

14%

Milk Price down 9%

Direct Payments

Lower cereal yields & prices

Some cost reductions

% Change in Farm Income across Regions All Border East Mid

Sustainable

26%

37%

29

SWest SEast South

Tillage 7,387

Vunerable <10%

10-20

20-50

>50

34

West -20%

-15%

-10%

-5%

0%

The above figures have been reproduced based on the Teagasc National Farm Survey, in operation since 1972. These 2016 preliminary results are based on a sample of 805 farms, representing a total of 83,377 farms nationally.

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FARM SUPPORTS

Cashflow

King is

THE AGRICULTURE CASHFLOW SUPPORT LOAN SCHEME HAS PROVEN SUCCESSFUL, THOUGH THERE HAS BEEN SHARP CRITICISM FROM SOME QUARTERS. FIONA KELLY REPORTS.

When the Agriculture Cashflow Support Loan Scheme was announced last year, designed to support farmers under shortterm financial pressure due to price and income volatility, IFA Farm Business Chair, Martin Stapleton, predicted that it would be used up within three to four months. When the initiative was launched at the beginning of this year, making €150 million available to members of the farming community via three pillar banks, in just over a month all of the available money had been drawn down.

“I was surprised at how quickly the money was taken up – but not that surprised to be honest. We feel very vindicated by the take-up level of the scheme since cheaper credit to farmers is something which we have been lobbying hard for in the IFA,” Stapleton remarks.

Developed by the Department of Agriculture and the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI), the scheme provided farmers with access to unsecured loans, at an interest rate of 2.95 per cent and up to a maximum value of €150,000. The Department provided €25m of funding, including €11m of

‘exceptional adjustment aid’ that had been attained from the EU, and the additional €14m provided by State funding.

Nick Ashmore, CEO of the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI), also regards the scheme as a resounding success, and admits that he was surprised at the rapid response of farmers to the scheme. Speaking at a Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine review of the scheme at the beginning of May, however, he commented that he has learned from his experience with the SBCI as to how financially astute Irish farmers are. “They are the first to spot a good deal that helps them, and they just went for it,” he says.

According to Ashmore, despite the fact that this scheme was unique its structure worked well and definitely has the potential to be repeated again, albeit without the one-off funding provided by the EU aid package. “It is a new structure in the Irish context and one that’s used more frequently in the rest of Europe, but the Irish market has not got a strong history of risk-sharing products like this,” he explains. “The fact that we

were able to use some of the funding to bring the interest rates down did create an attractive product and one that solved the particular problem that farmers were facing at that moment in time.”

Ashmore notes that many borrowers within the SME sector, particularly farmers, remain wary of banks, and are inclined to pay down debt at a very rapid rate. Affordability was key to the initiative’s success. Many were undoubtedly enticed by the 2.95 per cent interest rate, fixed for the life of the loan, compared with rates of between 6 per cent and 14 per cent for alternative products such as overdrafts, standard variable loans and merchant credit. “Bank overdrafts are 9 per cent to 12 per cent, the Glanbia MilkFlex fund is about 4.2 per cent, and merchant credit is anywhere between 9 per cent and 10 per cent, up to 14 per cent. This is quite insidious, because many farmers do not actually realise what they are paying in that context. Standard variable rates average somewhere around 6 per cent or 6.5 per cent,” Ashmore comments. He also confirmed that the three banks involved, AIB, Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank, in line with State aid rules, did not specifically generate any extra profit out of this scheme, which was designed to be “cost-neutral”, though reports later emerged that Ulster Bank had charged a 1 per cent ‘handling fee’.

CONSTRAINTS It hasn’t been all smooth sailing, however.

One of the criticisms levelled at the scheme was that more of the loans weren’t made available on a long-term basis. Speaking at the review of the scheme at the Oireachtas hearing, Fianna Fail TD for Tipperary, Jackie Cahill, expressed disappointment at the low number of pig farmers and horticulture growers who had accessed the scheme. Martin Stapleton elaborates on this point. “One of the criticisms we had was that some of the farmers with the most need who operate on a smaller EAR TO THE GROUND 93

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scale and got themselves into the biggest cashflow difficulties, and were looking to take out a loan for merchant credit, were ineligible to get loans for more than two years,” he explains. “They wouldn’t have had the capacity to repay those loans within that timeframe in most cases – so the scheme didn’t work for them.”

Ashmore counters this criticism by outlining how, although the scheme allowed for greater flexibility (in terms of lower cost loans that don’t require traditional guarantees, and interestonly periods for longer term loans), normal lending criteria still applied. “It is important to remember that the loans were matched to the purpose of the borrowing, so if it really was working capital borrowing or a stocking loan, then it was kept to one or two years in duration – because that’s what you’d normally have for that type of lending, whereas if it was refinancing a capital investment in a new shed or a new tractor or piece of machinery, then those tended to be the longer loans going out to about six years,” he outlines.

Ashmore has also noted a trend whereby the smaller loans tended to have short-term repayment periods, whereas larger loans required longer periods of time for repayments. According to Ashmore, based on the data available from the first €60 million of the €150 million of available lending, 54 per cent of the loans drawn down were for periods of four years or more. “There is more data coming through all the time. What we’re finding is that longer loans are tending to come through later because it takes longer to arrange those loans but, largely, the book was fairly evenly split between long and short-term loans,” he adds.

BUILDING BLOCKS Although there was some criticism of the scheme, Martin Stapleton is keen to emphasise its positive aspects and stresses that his priority now is to urge the Government to build on the success of the scheme and to explore other low-cost credit options. He still sees the lack of affordable credit on the lending landscape in this country as one of the big issues facing farmers, and believes that the cost of credit here is overpriced by a factor of 2-2.5 per cent across the board on products available to farmers, compared to the credit terms available to their counterparts in Northern Europe.

“We get the response back from the banks that the reason for that is the legacy of what happened in the last decade, but our argument is that we’ve

PHOTO: CHRIS BELLEW/FENNELL PHOTOGRAPHY

FARM SUPPORTS

Nick Ashmore, CEO, Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI)

“THE FACT THAT WE WERE ABLE TO USE SOME OF THE FUNDING TO BRING THE INTEREST RATES DOWN DID CREATE AN ATTRACTIVE PRODUCT AND ONE THAT SOLVED THE PARTICULAR PROBLEM THAT FARMERS WERE FACING AT THAT MOMENT IN TIME.” paid for that for long enough now,” Stapleton asserts. “It’s unfair that the banks should rebuild their cash base on the back of agriculture instead of some of the portfolios that the banks have that are continuing to lose money.”

Stapleton explains that the low-cost loan scheme appealed to a lot of farmers who were carrying a lot of debt. He also makes the observation that access to credit in the marketplace for the past 18 months has been “reasonably good”.

“We were worried in the IFA at the start of last year that credit would be a problem, because we saw a crisis coming down the road from a cashflow point of view with low commodity prices, but I think that, by and large, the banks have responded well. But our biggest criticism has been the cost of that credit.”

Representatives from AIB, Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank, who attended the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee

review of the scheme, were also positive about the potential to explore other lowcost credit products for farmers, using similar structures in the future. According to Nick Ashmore, although the window of opportunity to deploy the specific type of funding model used in the Agriculture Cashflow Support Loan initiative is now closed, he does hope to engage with the banks and Government departments to devise other loan schemes for the sector in future. He cites the existing Agriculture Investment Loan Scheme and the recently introduced low-cost agricultural equipment leasing scheme as other SBCI credit facilities that currently serve the farming community. He also reiterates a point he made at the Oireachtas hearing that just under one-quarter (23 per cent) of all loans drawn down through SBCI since March 2015 were to members of the farming community.

Ashmore’s observation regarding the appetite to attain credit supports Martin Stapleton’s assertion that other low-cost credit models need to be found to provide credit for farmers. The IFA is keen that the Government should recognise the need and build on the momentum of this scheme.

“There’s an onus now on the Department of Agriculture and the SBCI to come up with another way of providing cheaper credit to farmers over the coming months,” Stapleton insists, “and although we do want to see the data once all the money has been drawn down, we don’t want to leave it too [long] before we go back into discussions about how best to find other similar models that will serve the needs of farmers in the future.”

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T: 021-7334066 E: info@odonovaneng.ie W: www.odonovaneng.ie

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IRISH HOLSTEIN FRIESIAN

National YMA Calf Show Finals 2016

ABOVE and TOP LEFT: IHFA pure Irish Friesian open day, June 2016

PHOTO: MARIA KELLY

Emerald Expo 2016

TIERNAN CANNON PROFILES THE IRISH HOLSTEIN FRIESIAN ASSOCIATION (IHFA), THE WORK THEY DO, AND THE CHALLENGES THEY FACE.

PHOTO: ADRIAN DONOHOE

A Fine Pedigree

The Holstein Friesian cow is a dairy or dual-purpose animal with the ability to produce a large quantity of quality milk.

The breed is vital to the success of the dairy industry in Ireland, and indeed around the world. The upkeep and integrity of the breed is imperative, and the Irish Holstein Friesian Association (IHFA) recognises this, seeking, as it does, to protect and develop the breed here in Ireland.

The IHFA has its roots in the first Irish Holstein Friesian Club, which was formed in 1927 under the auspices of the British Friesian Cattle Society. The Irish Friesian Breeders Association (IFBA) was then formed in 1965 as part of the British Friesian Cattle Society, which later became the Holstein UK and Ireland (HUKI), before the IHFA was finally established in 1994.

The organisation is directed by a board that is directly elected by its 3,700 members, spanning 15 club areas. Its main goal is to ensure the validity and upkeep of the herd book of Holstein Friesian cattle in Ireland, which ultimately is in place with the goal of breeding profitable, long-living and durable cows that suit various dairy farmers’ systems. IHFA operates an open herdbook that allows ‘grading up’ to pedigree status.

There are numerous herds throughout the country keeping good ancestry records and milk recording who could

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IHFA Ploughing pavilion

PHOTO: MARIA KELLY

National YMA Finals 2016

“ITS MAIN GOAL IS TO ENSURE THE VALIDITY AND UPKEEP OF THE HERD BOOK OF HOLSTEIN FRIESIAN CATTLE IN IRELAND.” PHOTO: ROGER JONES

PHOTO: MARIA KELLY

IRISH HOLSTEIN FRIESIAN

National Dairy Show 2016 Champion line-up

benefit from the added value of pedigree.

This is achieved in three generations.

Charles Gallagher, who has served as the IHFA’s Chief Executive for the past ten years, outlines the primary goals of the herd book. “The aims and objectives of the herd book are obviously at present to promote genetic diversity – the best breed to suit all dairy farming systems – and to improve the quality of livestock through genomics,” he says.

The IHFA provides a type classification service to its members and to all dairy farmers, which helps with breeding decisions as it identifies bulls with the appropriate biological diversity to suit all systems. “The pedigree cert itself contains three generations of ancestors. You can trace the animal back to its foundation,” Gallagher says.

“So it’s an assurance of quality, and it’s traceable. It’s giving the farmer a snapshot of the history of that animal.”

CHALLENGES AHEAD The credibility of the Holstein Friesian breed is extremely important for the Irish dairy industry. The ten years that Charles Gallagher has served at the helm of the IHFA have seen many changes to the industry, and given the cataclysmic events of recent times it would appear

that the organisation and industry as a whole must again adapt and prepare for impending changes on the horizon.

“With Brexit now coming down the road, it’s going to be a challenge in terms of our winter producers in particular,” says Gallagher. “The British market is key whether we like it or not. We joined the EU in 1973 and the whole emphasis was to have a broader market, but when we look at the figures, I think 70 per cent of all our exports are still to the UK, so I don’t think we’ve been overly successful in that sphere.

“One of the biggest issues I see myself around Brexit is to do with food taste of the consumer that we’re dealing with.

The British market and the population, they like their fry in the morning.

So do we, here in Ireland. We have similar tastes. You go to the continent, it’s very much a different taste.”

A particular concern for Gallagher is the future trading relationship between Ireland and the North. It remains unclear quite how Brexit will impact this relationship, but rumours of a ‘hard’ Brexit and the possibility of a reinstated border between the two weigh heavily on those who have traded freely over recent decades. “Our main market is Northern Ireland for our winter outlet of cattle,” he explains. “They are the main

purchasers of females in the wintertime, and that’s going to be a very big challenge if Brexit comes with all we’re hearing.”

The future direction of the industry is unclear at the moment, which means the work of the IHFA is as important as ever. Perhaps one of the most important functions that the organisation serves is to engage directly with those that work within the industry. As such, the IHFA runs a number of events throughout the year. “[The events] are integral, in terms of providing workshops and training,” says Gallagher. “We run two open days every year; one for the Holstein Friesian – which is our main sector – and also for a small population of pure Friesian cows.”

The IHFA National Day took place this year in Crossnacole in Co Wicklow on July 6th, and the Friesian National Day takes place in ‘Mountain Herd’, Fethard in Co Tipperary on July 19th. A number of other events are held throughout the year, and they all seek to inform dairy workers of the intricacies of the Holstein Friesian and how best to get the most out of the breed.

As Gallagher puts it: “We are patrons of Agri-Aware who do a wonderful promotion for school-going children. We’re very conscious that the nutritive value of milk and milk products from the black and white breed is promoted to all the population.”

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HEMP FARMING

Hemp Horizon on the

A POTENTIAL REPLACEMENT FOR SUGAR BEET, A BREAK CROP ONCE GROWN EXTENSIVELY AROUND THE COUNTRY, INDUSTRIAL HEMP HAS YET TO TAKE OFF IN IRELAND IN ANY MEANINGFUL WAY. CONOR FORREST SPOKE WITH KATE CARMODY, A KERRY FARMER WHO HAS ALREADY HARVESTED HER FIRST CROP OF HEMP AND IS BUSY PROMOTING ITS POTENTIAL FOR IRELANDâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S SMALL FARMERS.

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HEMP FARMING

E

arlier this year the government released its Action Plan for Rural Development, a much fêted document that outlines the various ways by which it intends to revitalise rural communities.

While the comprehensive plan covers a variety of actions such as targeted tourism initiatives, investment in facilities and measures to boost job opportunities, one particular topic was missing – the development of industrial hemp production.

Industrial hemp is a truly interesting commodity, one that has been around for longer than you might have thought. A variety of the Cannabis sativa plant species specifically grown for industrial uses, hemp is thought to be one of the earliest crops cultivated by mankind – its use as a fibre dates back at least 10,000 years and has been a source of food, textiles, paper, rope and much more for millennia. As an agricultural crop it had all but disappeared from the world’s markets by the 1930s, due in part to the development of synthetic alternatives, however in the last decade or two it has experienced something of a resurgence as part of the hunt for alternative non-food crops.

According to organic proponent, biochemist and hemp farmer Kate Carmody (alongside a growing cohort of people throwing their weight behind this less than traditional crop), hemp is the answer to a lot of problems facing rural Ireland in the 21st century.

“Hemp, to me, is an answer to rural depopulation. In fact, it’s essential if we’re going to talk about rural renaissance,” she explains. Its myriad uses include plastics, biofuel, bird feed, oil, livestock bedding and as an insulating material for construction, but in Ireland it’s ideal for use as a break crop that could replace the once exalted sugar beet. Today oilseed rape is often used in its place, but can prove less than useful for the rotational system. Low input requirements mean low costs and a suitability for organic systems growing hemp, while a high density crop and an ability to shade out surrounding weed growth and boost soil health also make it an attractive proposition.

Kate is one of several members of the Kerry Hemp Partnership, which aims to bring about a resurgence of Ireland’s hemp industry. Focusing initially on the north Kerry region but with an eye on the entire island, the group seeks to put in place the necessary information and supports for those interested in growing the crop, in terms of education, agronomy, machinery and markets.

Kate first stumbled on industrial hemp and its potential while involved with the TRADEIT project, a European Commission initiative providing support for the traditional food sector by encouraging collaboration between stakeholders such as SMEs, food networks, technology providers and academic institutions. Travelling around Europe in her capacity as an organic cheese producer, her interest in this once formidable crop was piqued. “I did my research on hemp, and I just found it to be such an interesting crop in terms of everything that we’re failing on in terms of climate action, sustainability, our environment and giving a value-added product for all farmers,” she explains.

IRISH HEMP Ireland has form for hemp growing, historically speaking. During her research into the crop, Kate discovered that during the era of the Napoleonic Wars in the early 19th century, the British Empire surveyed Ireland for its hemp growing potential, with north Kerry and west Limerick among the areas earmarked as ideal growing grounds. “I like the old ways of doing things. People were much more in touch with the world around them than nowadays, when it’s all tech everything, which is not very real in my opinion,” says Kate.

“The more research I did, it just became a no-brainer. Because what has happened here in north Kerry is that the small farmers have been abandoned by the commodity farming system. We’ve seen a massive exodus of people, what I call an unofficial land clearance policy in north Kerry/west Limerick. And that’s an emotive thing to say, but it’s true.”

Kate’s first crop of hemp was set on May 21st 2016 on four acres of waterlogged land by the sea in north Kerry. Hemp grows from seed to between 14 and 18 feet tall in a mere three months, and can be dual-cropped for seeds, flowers, shiv (the outer bark), and bast fibre; an inner and super-strong fibre. Cultivation requires few inputs – irrigation, fertiliser and pesticides aren’t needed. Sowing begins from late April onwards using a conventional seed EAR TO THE GROUND 99

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drill, with mowing occurring in August/ September at the end of the growing season. The crop is left on the ground for about a month in a process known as retting, a weakening of cell tissues that unravels the stems from the rest of the plant. Then it’s raked into swaths and baled, and should be stored and covered to maintain the quality of the fibre.

However it’s not as simple as buying a packet of seeds and picking out a suitable plot of land. To grow hemp fibre for building materials as Kate does, you first need a contract with the International Hemp Building Association, which develops, promotes and supports the production and use of hemp-based construction materials and by-products (the new Kerry Hemp Partnership will be issuing contracts to its farmers this year). Then, as it’s a controlled substance, you’ll have to apply for a permit to grow your hemp with the Health Product Regulatory Authority (HPRA) rather than the Department of Agriculture. You’ll also have to get Garda clearance, and there are certain restrictions such as growing your crop out of sight. It’s something of a lengthy process, and Kate isn’t too impressed with the hurdles potential hemp growers face, nor with the misunderstanding that’s currently out there – smoke industrial hemp and you’ll wind up with a headache rather than a high.

“It’s not complicated, it’s just bogged down with unnecessary bureaucracy,” she explains. “Because industrial hemp has less than 0.2 per cent THC, if you smoked a whole field of hemp you wouldn’t get high on it! That’s something that I’m really emphasising, because people get confused.

The HPRA themselves are very confused, because they’re bringing out a new Cannabis Bill and they’ve lumped industrial hemp [in] with it. We’re trying to stop that from happening, because that will kill the industry. Bureaucracy shouldn’t be holding back innovation, but it does, because people – they want you to fit in a box.”

Once you have the all-clear, the possibilities are almost endless. Kate explains that industrial hemp produces four times more wood pulp than trees per acre – 96kg of seeds results in around five or six tonnes of dry matter. One acre of hemp will also produce 1kg of cannabidiol (CBD, used for therapeutic purposes) from the resulting hemp seeds, which has a market value of around €33,000 once refined. “And it’s not hard to refine it,” Kate notes. That’s just one of any number of uses. Arigna Fuels, one of several companies involved in the EU AGRIFORVALOR biomass project, is currently analysing Kate’s high energy hemp crop as a potential alternative fuel source, while the cultivation and harvesting process itself has the potential to create local jobs in the coming years.

Neither can the environmental impact be overlooked, and Kate has outlined the crop’s potential to help Ireland meet the Sustainable Development Goals produced by the United Nations, particularly SDG13 which recognises the threat of climate change across the globe – particularly relevant following the Trump administration’s refusal to recognise the dangers of changing climates. Land rejuvenation and weed control are among the crop’s abilities; the rhizome system removes soil contamination and brings nutrients to the fore, thus improving water and soil quality for proceeding crops, while leaves dropped to the ground are eventually worked into the soil by earthworms, providing further nutritional value. Its use as a biofuel can provide one alternative to fossil fuels that are releasing large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, while the impact on biodiversity is limited – the crop is grown over a period of five months with the land then returned to farming use.

“It’s an ideal break crop, where sugar beet was before, for cleaning up land. If you look at plastics [that can be created] out of hemp, you can produce biodegradable plastics that biodegrade within 12 months. Petroleum oil plastics take 500 years,” Kate says. “The human race is heading for annihilation if we carry on the way we’re going. To me, hemp is the answer, along with all the other ‘scatty’ things that people say I’m interested in. I think to create a model of rural renaissance, hemp has to be at the heart of it.”

PHOTO: KERRY’S EYE NEWSPAPER

HEMP FARMING

Kate Carmody with her hemp crop

CULTIVATION The interest in hemp’s potential exists beyond the borders of Kerry – the crop has also been the subject of a number of research projects in Teagasc and its predecessor An Foras Talúntais. Over the years the organisation has investigated its use as a feedstock for paper manufacturers and as medium-density fibreboard. More recently, Teagasc’s research has focused on the bioenergy sphere, looking at the various varieties available, soil types, fertilisation and harvesting techniques. What they found was a crop that will grow fine when essentially left to its own devices.

“We managed to successfully grow the crop over a good few years without any inputs of either pesticides, insecticide or fungicides. The seeding rate was fairly low – we used seeding rates of about 30kg/ ha and we got our seed from our co-op in France,” says John Finnan, research officer at Teagasc’s Crop Research Centre in Carlow. “The crop is very thrifty in the way that it uses nutrients, it can be grown without pesticides, insecticides or herbicides in our experience, and doesn’t need an awful lot of seed.”

The use of machinery to harvest your

hemp crop depends on the variety. With Teagasc harvesting the crop for biomass, they were aware that the stem of the crop is very strong, essentially a rope – if you use certain machinery the stems will simply wrap around it. “For example, if you used a certain type of rotary mower it would just wrap around the drums of drum mowers. So we tended to use either old finger bar mowers or disc mowers without a conditioner. Alternatively, you could use a drum mower where the two drums were separated by a reasonable distance,” John explains. “When it comes to raking the crop into swaths, something like a haybob wouldn’t work because the stems would just wrap around [it]. So we used swathers with a cam type, [which] just folded the stems over into a row.”

When it comes to baling, then, the process is made much easier by cutting hemp stalks into sections during the mowing process. Those growing hemp for the seeds should use a straw walker combine rather than an axial flow version – if you use the latter then the stems will

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HEMP FARMING

simply wrap around the rotating parts of the straw recovery system. “The choice of machinery is important,” he adds.

THE ROAD AHEAD Since her hemp endeavours were first chronicled in the Irish Examiner last year, Kate explains that she has become something of a ‘hemp guru’, with people from all around the country seeking her advice. “People came to me from all over the country, I had emails from all over the world. The article had 2,000 shares on Facebook within 24 hours. That’s the interest in it. I still have people every week asking me how do they grow hemp, how do they get the licence,” she says.

Given the clear interest that’s there, the next step is to form a hemp cooperative for the purposes of buying and selling hemp seed in order to comply with legislation.

It will also provide a source of expertise for interested parties, alongside planting and harvesting equipment. Growth and stimulation of the markets for the various products arising from hemp production

is also key – there’s no point in growing 10,000 acres of hemp if the current market will only support a small fraction of that.

Kate tells me that an initial verbal agreement has been made with the HPRA that would allow for the submission of one application detailing where all farmers are growing their hemp, which she hopes will

be in place for 2018. All farmers would have to do then is to add it to their Single Farm Payment. “My mission is to make it easy for farmers to do it,” she says.

“The psyche in this country is to accept bad governance, and I won’t allow that to happen. As far as I’m concerned, hemp is the salvation of our small farmers.”

NETTLE FARMING Kate is clearly an entrepreneur at heart, and is constantly on the look-out for new ideas. Though efforts to get hemp production off the ground and running are still under way, she’s already identified nettle growing as her next project, with several plots already in existence across her farm for the benefit of the local wildlife. “They’re growing them in Holland. You know the fibre in nettles, if you weave it, is like silk?” she explains. “There was a huge nettle industry in Ireland over 100 years ago. There’s a weaver here in Listowel who works on the Aran Islands, she was telling me all about it. This is what small-scale agriculture should be about – integrating biodiversity with making an income for small farmers.”

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RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural Ireland

Taking Action for

EAR TO THE GROUND INVESTIGATES THE GOVERNMENT’S RECENTLY ANNOUNCED ACTION PLAN FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT. Earlier this year the Government announced an ambitious plan for rural Ireland. The Action Plan for Rural Development is the first whole-government strategy aimed at improving prospects and delivering change for those living and working in rural Ireland. The plan sets out 270 actions under five key pillars, which aim to improve the economic, social and cultural fabric of rural Ireland.

“There was a recognition at Government level that while the economic recovery had taken hold, many rural communities had yet to reap the benefits.

So with this plan, we’re ensuring that every department in the Government has rural Ireland to the forefront of their mind and will rural-proof its policies,” explains Heather Humphreys, Minister with responsibility for regional development and rural affairs when we spoke. “Rural people have concerns like everyone else. They want the prospect of a good standard of living; they want their families to be able to get jobs and live and work locally. We’re focused on supporting sustainable communities, driving job creation, maximising rural tourism, encouraging cultural activity and creativity, and improving connectivity in rural areas. This plan also includes a commitment to ensure that services are maintained for rural communities.”

PLAN IN ACTION One of the key objectives is job creation, and the government has pledged to create 135,000 new jobs in rural Ireland by 2020. Regions are being encouraged to focus on a particular strength, with a range of actions being rolled out relating to entrepreneurship and job creation to build on their unique strengths.

Increasing the apprenticeships and traineeships available in rural areas will improve job opportunities for young people. Initiatives will be rolled out to develop the renewable energy sector and financial services sector in rural Ireland.

Another key focus is to increase FDI in rural areas by 40 per cent by 2020.

Jobs will result from a number of other objectives too, like increasing tourism to rural Ireland by 12 per cent by 2019.

In terms of agriculture, the agri-food sector will be supported through the implementation of Food Wise 2025, and it’s predicted that over the next decade Ireland can increase the value of its exports by 85 per cent to €19 billion and should deliver a further 23,000 direct and indirect jobs. Improving broadband and mobile connectivity will play a major role, and the Government has committed to accelerating the rollout of high-speed broadband and ensuring that all homes and businesses

in rural Ireland are connected to broadband as early as possible.

Minister Humphreys believes that bringing life back into towns and villages is key to realising their potential. “If we’re serious about rural regeneration we need to start with our towns and villages. We’re going to be investing in at least 600 towns and villages, at least €60 million in the next three years. We’re rolling out a pilot initiative in the next half of the year to encourage people to move back into town centres, and I’m looking at rolling out a grant scheme to incentivise people to come back into the centre of the town,” she says. A proposed review of legislation could see the introduction of a range of measures aiming at bringing disused units back into use in towns and villages, as well as converting commercial properties to residential usage without the need for permission. “We have to accept

“WE’RE FOCUSED ON SUPPORTING SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES, DRIVING JOB CREATION, MAXIMISING RURAL TOURISM, ENCOURAGING CULTURAL ACTIVITY AND CREATIVITY, AND IMPROVING CONNECTIVITY IN RURAL AREAS. “

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RURAL DEVELOPMENT

KEY OBJECTIVES

135,000 NEW JOBS BY 2020

600+

TOWNS SUPPORTED

INCREASE OVERSEAS VISITORS BY

12%

SUPPORT

4,000

COMMUNITY PROJECTS

PHOTO: MICHELLE GHEE

Double INVESTMENT IN FLOOD RELIEF

Former Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Minister Heather Humphreys at the launch of the Action Plan for Rural Development

that the trend is changing and some retail shops may not return to use as commercial units. We want to make it easier for people to live in towns because that brings back a vibrancy.”

THE ROAD AHEAD How will such a wide and varied plan be monitored and its impact assessed?

Humphreys says, “the actions in the plan are very specific and they’re timebound. Over the 270 actions we have somebody responsible for every one of them, and we have set up a monitoring committee to ensure the commitments are met. The monitoring committee includes a range of bodies, including government departments and other rural stakeholders. The committee will meet regularly and progress reports will be published every six months. It will be very clear what has been achieved and if something hasn’t been achieved.”

Humphreys has been travelling around rural Ireland over the last few months and says feedback to the plan has been positive. “There’s a great commitment and spirit in rural Ireland, and there’s a real can-do attitude. I see my role as enabling local people to do what they

think is best for their community. I want to take a ground-up approach to rural development. I want committees to come together, I want them to look at the projects that will benefit their town both economically and culturally, and to work with local authorities to achieve them.”

Though the rural affairs brief has since moved to TD Michael Ring in the recent Cabinet reshuffle, Minister Humphreys

40%

INCREASE IN FDI IN REGIONAL AREAS

noted her delight at being given the opportunity to support rural Ireland.

“I’m from rural Ireland, I live on a farm and am married to a farmer; I have worked for most of my life in rural Ireland,” she says. “I feel passionate about rural Ireland, I see the challenges but I see huge opportunity. I want to enable and empower communities to look to a bright future.”

IFA WEIGHS IN The IFA is among those who have welcomed the Government’s action plan. IFA President Joe Healy believes that “with a well-funded plan, significant inroads can be made. It’s an important step towards delivering on the commitment to rural-proof government policy and revitalise rural Ireland”. In terms of farming, Healy says: “Agriculture is the backbone of the rural economy and the jobs that flow from a vibrant farming sector, both directly and indirectly, cannot be underestimated in the government’s rural plan. The food and drinks industry as well as the wider agri-industry adds value to what farmers produce”.

He also agrees that rural areas must be made more attractive to live and invest in.

“The report contains some significant proposals (…) which have the scope to really revitalise rural Ireland,” he explains. “Many areas need a good infrastructure including the provision of a fast broadband service. This will help the strong entrepreneurial spirit that exists in rural Ireland.”

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IRISH FOOD TRAILS

of A Taste

Home IN NEVEN’S IRISH FOOD TRAILS, THE WELL-KNOWN CHEF TRAVELLED THROUGH EIGHT DIFFERENT COUNTIES, MEETING SOME OF IRELAND’S TOP CHEFS AND FOOD PRODUCERS. VALERIE JORDAN GETS THE LOW-DOWN FROM NEVEN ABOUT WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THE IRISH FOOD INDUSTRY.

When I speak to Neven Maguire he’s in the middle of filming the third of his Food Trails series – this time in Italy. He’s just had his morning coffee, prepared for him by Italy’s top barista.

Not a bad way to start the day.

Last year the celebrity chef embarked on a foodie tour of the Basque country and La Rioja – two Spanish regions famous for their food. But the second series, and the one on the menu today, saw Neven take a foodie tour of Ireland, travelling through Longford, Dublin, Kilkenny, Wicklow, Wexford, Cork, Tipperary and Limerick.

And although Neven has been involved in the Irish food industry since the age of 12, he says there’s still a lot for him to discover.

“The Food Trails was a fantastic opportunity to see what’s happening in the food industry in Ireland. It’s

changing so much; you’re always discovering new producers, and that’s what I find exciting,” he explains.

When he’s not filming, Neven is usually hard at work at his own MacNean House & Restaurant in Blacklion, or writing a new cookbook. The series gave him the opportunity to actually get away and eat at the restaurants of some of the chefs he’s long admired, from Wade Murphy’s 1826 in Limerick to Gary O’Hanlon’s Viewmont House in Longford and Garrett Byrne’s Michelin-starred Campagne in Kilkenny.

“It wasn’t all fine dining, but the chefs showcasing their signature dishes and their philosophy on local food,” Neven recalls. “It was great for me to be able to learn from them, but it was also important to showcase what they do and to show viewers what fantastic chefs we have in this country.”

While it’s tough to pin Neven down on a food highlight of the trip – of course there were several – it sounds like Garrett Byrne’s chicken pie was particularly memorable: “It sounds very simple but it was the nicest chicken pie I have ever tasted. The attention to detail, from the puff pastry to the chicken to the way he made the sauce – it was delicious. It was local chicken and he was passionate about where he was getting his produce. That was really special.

“It all goes back to that same thing, and that’s using local, seasonal produce,” he adds. “There are wonderful stories behind Irish food and where it’s coming from. Let’s be very proud of putting our producers on the menu because I think our customers should know what they’re eating. There’s a huge appreciation and appetite – pardon the pun – to know where food is coming from now.”

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IRISH FOOD TRAILS

Neven with Wade Murphy, 1826

“IT ALL GOES BACK TO THAT SAME THING, AND THAT’S USING LOCAL, SEASONAL PRODUCE. THERE ARE WONDERFUL STORIES BEHIND IRISH FOOD AND WHERE IT’S COMING FROM.” THE CRAFT OF FOOD The trail also led Neven to some of the country’s top producers, individuals and organisations on the cutting edge of food production. He highlights dairy producers Valerie and Alan Kingston of Glenilen Farm in West Cork, who he met to find out more about their ethos, and how they make their signature cheesecake. In Portlaoise, he caught up with Helen Gee, the founder of G’s Jam, and discovered how she had built her business but remained committed to her product, its quality, and its consistency.

Another high point, he says, was meeting Pat Whelan of Whelan’s Butchers, Clonmel.

“What Pat Whelan is doing for butchery and teaching young people is fantastic. The way he communicates about the product and the origins of the meat,” Neven explains. “He’s using his own beef and selling and educating people about all the lesser-used cuts of meat.”

Another aim of the series was to illustrate the beauty of the Irish countryside. Neven was based on the Shannon Princess in Lough Ree, and says he was blown away by the waterways. Although the Shannon begins at Blacklion, where Neven is from, he’d never taken a trip along it and found it a great way to explore and appreciate the country. The series also highlighted the depth and breadth of craftspeople and artisans around the country, such as the

glass-blowers at Jerpoint Studio, the master cutler Rory Conner, in Co Cork – who made Neven his own unique oyster knife – and the potter Nicholas Mosse, in Kilkenny.

“Nicholas Mosse was a real highlight,” recalls Neven. “His skill and his passion for what he does are wonderful. I found it very inspiring. He’s a very humble man, but a man that has been doing his pottery all his life and he’s still as passionate as ever.”

From his vantage point within the industry, Neven feels that food tourism is an increasingly important part of the business in Ireland, and explains that our former reputation for bland, traditional food and a limited menu is definitely changing.

“We offer a lot of good things at a lot of different levels, but it’s all about the good produce. We’re seen as very natural, very wholesome and very green. And I think there has never been a better time to be eating in Ireland. There are some brilliant people working in the food industry – from the chefs to the hotels, to the cafés and the suppliers. There’s great excitement and a great movement,” he says. “I’ve seen a huge change in Irish food, Irish tourism, and the Irish culture in a way. The food experience is now a big, big part of tourism and everyday life. We’re a small country but we certainly box above our weight when it comes to produce. Everyone is talking about our produce and the quality of our

Neven with Pat Whelan and staff

Neven with Valerie and Alan Kingston

ingredients, because it is second to none.”

So what’s next for this well-travelled chef? Despite his expeditions on the continent, Neven is by no means finished with the Irish portion of his foodie trails, and there are plans to film a new series in Ireland next autumn.

There’s plenty left for him to discover on home shores, and there are always new names, new players, and new producers emerging – especially now.

“I feel very privileged that I can do these programmes showcasing great people, great chefs and our wonderful country,” he says. “And not a day goes by that I don’t learn something.”

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07/07/2017 17/05/2017 14:07 12:38

IRISH ANGUS

THE IRISH ANGUS CATTLE SOCIETY IS CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF EXCELLENCE IN 2017, WRITES ORLA NÍ SHEAGDHA.

Pedigree

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IRISH ANGUS

A

chieving ‘Best in Pedigree’ is not something most cattle farmers will necessarily be too worried about, but the All-Ireland Championships in Roscommon is one of the calendar highlights for the Irish Angus Cattle Society. The event takes place each September in Strokestown and attracts competitors from across the country vying for the coveted pedigree Angus title.

The competition is not limited to adults – through the IACS Youth Development Programme, younger farmers have the chance to develop and hone their breeding skills.

“There are three different age groups in Strokestown every year competing,” states John Farrell, President of the Irish Angus Cattle Society. “What we have done in the last few years is, normally the winner of the senior handlers from the previous year will actually judge the young handlers the following year.”

Although Farrell would like to see more involvement with the younger generation, those who do get involved seem to be very interested. In particular, there is a high number of girls showing in the All-Ireland Young Handlers in Roscommon each year. This youth involvement is facilitated through the workshops run by the society. These ongoing workshops are aimed at providing young people who have an interest in pedigree animals with the basic skills to pick out their best animal, prepare it, and train it for competition.

“Back in 2006 we set up the Youth Development Programme where we did a lot of work with the youth,” explains Farrell, “travelling around different locations around the country and doing workshops covering things like clipping, how to pick out an animal, the good points of an animal and the bad, how to show an animal, and making halters.”

CELEBRATIONS This year’s All-Ireland event will be particularly memorable as it marks the 50th anniversary of the Irish Angus Cattle Society. Each exhibitor at the competition in Strokestown will be presented with a special medal as a thank you for supporting the Angus breed over the past five decades.

However, it is not all about rosettes.

From its foundation, the Irish Angus Cattle Society has worked tirelessly to ensure the highest quality of the beef produced by its members, and the

The late William Stroker, Kilteevan, Co Roscommon, a past president of the Society. Pictured with his prize-winning bulls in the RDS in 1967, the year the Society was formed.

Carrigrow Mrs Dunbar, sired

by Nightingale Dunbar and bred by J & F Appelbe in Cork.

Sold for €8,300 in 2016.

association has grown rapidly since its humble beginnings in 1967. “A few breeders approached the Department of The Irish Angus Cattle Society was recognised at the recent Hall of Fame Awards in celebration of its 50th anniversary. L-R: Oliver Flanagan (National Agriculture to see Hall of Fame); Patsy Keenan; (Secretary, Irish Angus); John Farrell (President, if they could set up Irish Angus); and Michael Flanagan (Chairman, National Hall of Fame). an Irish herd book,” says Farrell. “The reason for that is at the time, the Scottish according to the IACS. This would put herd book wouldn’t accept registrations Angus cattle as the biggest pedigree of pedigree calves of AI.” beef breed in Ireland, just pipping The Department not only gave the Limousin, which would have been the proposal the all-clear but also supported traditional leader in previous years. the set-up of the Society and ran the There are a number of key administrative side of things until 1999, developments that have helped the when the Society decided to branch Irish Angus breed to reach the number out on its own. The IACS is currently one spot. One such milestone is the staffed by Patsy Keenan and Breeda formation of the Irish Angus Producers McWeeney, who have been with the Group over 20 years ago. Six Angus organisation since 1999. They run breeders came together in 1995 operations from the Carrick-on-Shannon to coordinate the production and premises bought by the society in 2007. marketing of Angus beef on the Irish Since those early days the number market. The organisation subsequently of Angus cattle registered in the Irish partnered with meat processors Kepak herd book has built up year on year, and ABP Food Group in supplying with over 9,311 registrations in 2016

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ANNIVERSARY

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IRISH ANGUS

WHY ANGUS? certified Angus beef to retailers such as Tesco and Aldi. Farrell lauds the contribution of the group to the growth of Angus cattle registrations in the herd book. “It kick-started when factories were looking and willing to pay premium for Angus and that helped out the breed to no end, and in the 20 years it has been going from strength to strength,” he says.

Each meat plant slaughtering certified Irish Angus cattle has to meet certain criteria, including the use of polled Angus cattle sired by a registered purebred Angus bull or AI. Twenty-two years later, the Irish Angus Cattle Society continues to work closely with the Irish Angus Producers Group to ensure the quality of meat produced under the Certified Angus Beef Scheme still meets these high standards. In more recent years, the IACS has become involved with Maxwell Livestock Ltd. to meet the growing demand for Angus cattle abroad. The livestock exporters supply pedigree Angus bulls and heifers all over Europe and further afield, with more enquiries coming from further afield. This in turn has contributed to the growth of the breed in Ireland.

ATTRACTION Globally, Angus is considered to be the biggest beef breed in the world and John Farrell provides some insight as to why that is.

“The quality of the beef would be one and, from a dairy point of view, easy calving and short gestation would be very important in the dairy herd,” he explains.

Although Angus calves are relatively small at birth, they grow and develop quickly into beef animals, which renders them suitable for the butcher’s trade. Angus cattle, including crossbreeds, are naturally polled, meaning farmers avoid the need to dehorn their cattle. They are also docile animals making them easy to rear, and the hardiness of the breed means they are able to thrive and mature quickly on simple, natural and homegrown fodder in extreme weather conditions.

The past five decades have clearly been a successful period for the society with cattle registrations increasing year on year since the opening of their own office in 1999. Angus cattle are widely used in the dairy herd with 225,000 cross-calves sired by Angus bulls and AI last year. “There were a couple of years where we went down a little bit,” Farrell notes. “But the graph is going up and up. It’s going rapidly up [in] the last two years and I suppose that’s directly proportional to the dairy herd expanding.”

For Farrell, the future of the society lies in retaining their position as the premier beef breed in Ireland, and in being careful not to lose focus of what the breed is – namely easy calving and easy fleshing.“I think we need to focus on what the breed is all about and why the breed is where it is, and focus on that and keep going in that direction,” he says.

Fifty years after its formation, the Irish Angus Cattle Society continues to work closely with the organisations that have contributed to its success. The society is still governed under the Department of Agriculture as it works to develop and improve the breed. The association also avails of the farm management services provided by the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF), as well as working with various AI stations across the country. The society has a few surprises planned to celebrate its golden anniversary – alongside the Strokestown All-Irelands in September, John Farrell mentioned the annual dinner dance in Carrick-on-Shannon. “On Saturday November 11th, in the Bush Hotel, we’ll have a dinner dance as we have every year, but there’ll be a few special surprises on that night to celebrate our 50th,” he says.

The growth and development of the Irish Angus Cattle Society over the last 50 years has certainly given its members much cause for celebration. Who is to say what the next 50 will bring?

According to the Irish Angus Cattle Society, Angus cattle are characteristically black, polled beef type animals. The colour of their coat is either black or red, though minor white markings behind the naval may be permitted for classification. Hair length is short to medium, with a silky feel and medium thickness. The animals’ skin is also black.

In terms of proportions, the head is between small and medium in length, with a broad forehead and a wide, black and polled muzzle. Scurs (underdeveloped horn growth) are an undesirable feature. The Angus cattle’s body is typically long with a straight and wide back, a deep body and chest, with an underline that is parallel to the back. Hindquarters are long, wide and fully fleshed – the flesh should continue down to the hocks (the joint between the tarsal bones and tibia).

Irish Angus produce relatively small calves at birth without too much difficulty. These calves grow quickly, resulting in early maturing beef animals of high quality, making them an attractive breed for the quality butcher trade, as does their high carcass to liveweight ratio and the low percentage of bone in their joints. A hardy and adaptable breed that is suitable for beef production under a range of production and environmental conditions, Irish Angus are also suitable for crossing with dairy breeds.

• EASE OF CALVING: Difficult calving can result in a serious economic loss for farmers in terms of both calf and cow mortality. Renowned for its ease of calving, the Angus breed is suitable for farmers seeking a calf per cow every year, as a result of its size and the short gestation period.

• HARDINESS: With breeding taking place to a large extent in Ireland’s west and northwest, where difficult grazing and weather conditions are commonplace, the breed’s suitability to weather extremes and less than favourable grazing conditions is well recognised.

• SUCKLING: Angus calves grow quickly and produce relatively early and high quality beef animals. Angus cows make ideal suckler animals due to excellent milking ability, ease of calving and high fertility rates.

• POLLED: Angus cattle are naturally polled, a trait that can be passed on to future generations through cross-breeding. This also means that the often distressing dehorning process can be avoided.

• TEMPERAMENT: Known as a breed that is placid and easy to rear, the Angus’ quiet temperament is advantageous for suckler farmers, while dairy farmers find the breed suitable for bucket feeding.

• OVERALL: The IACS describes the Angus breed as the ‘best all-rounders’, taking into account the easy calving, early maturity, high fertility, placid temperament and carcass quality.

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FORESTRY

Creating a

Landof SIGNIFICANT NEW INVESTMENT INTO IRISH FORESTRY WILL BOLSTER COMMERCIAL WOOD PRODUCTION, CREATING JOBS AND SUPPORTING INCOMES IN RURAL IRELAND. BUT THERE ARE CHALLENGES AHEAD AND ISSUES TO BE CONSIDERED.

Trees News of investment in an agricultural sector is always welcomed, but quite often this good news brings with it some challenges. For instance, what does it mean for the people already in the sector – will it boost their business or bring in more competition? Or does the investment bring with it some conditions, such as a change in ownership or control?

A recent announcement has confirmed details of a major investment into Irish forestry, to the tune of €200 million – a significant sum of money for the sector and very much welcomed in general. The specialist forestry investment fund, Dasos Capital, has launched a new initiative that is expected to generate about €112 million of investment in private forestry across Ireland. This initiative has been backed by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), representing the first Irish agricultural project to be supported by the Investment Plan for Europe, which is looking to raise at least €315 billion of new investment.

Within the project, the EIB will provide €28.5 million and the ISIF will give €55 million, bringing the overall investment to about €200 million.

Additional investment from other sources is expected as the project continues.

INVESTMENT There are approximately 19,500 private owners of small forests across Ireland, and many of these forests were supported by land-based grants. These grants are now expiring as the plantations reach an age that requires more scale-efficient forest management. The new investment from Dasos aims to address this issue, in order to ensure a more predictable supply of wood from these forests and from new forestry land. The European forest investment fund also hopes the investment will perform crucial upgrades to our forestry infrastructure, and support direct land acquisition, lease contracts, afforestation and other forms of land management. Dasos’ ultimate aim is to create a professionally managed portfolio of about 15,000 hectares of Irish forest in the future.

The initiative has been widely welcomed, with the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Andrew Doyle, stating at the launch that the investment will help Ireland reach its planting targets of 8,400 hectares by 2020. “This significant investment in Ireland’s forestry sector will underpin continued expansion and development of the industry. The most recent forecast of timber production in

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Ireland highlights the maturing nature of this sector where much of the State’s investment in past decades is now ready to be harvested,” he said. “This announcement today will help ensure that this economic potential is realised by consolidating smaller forests under a single management plan. The mobilisation of timber from privately-owned forests is a key objective of my Department and this investment fund will make a significant contribution towards achieving this goal.”

The initiative was also welcomed by Phil Hogan, the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, who stated that forestry land represented a valuable source of income and jobs in rural areas, while also playing a key role in creating a more environmentally friendly economy. “Forests help to keep our rural areas vibrant and sustainable, providing over three million jobs in the EU. They also play a major role in the protection of EU biodiversity and represent a key sector in the transition towards a low-carbon and climate friendly economy,” said Commissioner Hogan.

“Continued investment in the sector is therefore a win-win for our economy, for our local communities, and our environment. This strategic partnership with the European Investment Bank will help to achieve these objectives, deliver the Investment Plan for Europe and support jobs and growth in rural Ireland.”

CHALLENGES REMAIN While the investment on the whole is excellent news for the Irish forestry sector, challenges do remain and will need addressing. Pat Collins, the Irish forestry chair at the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), warns that farmers should take advice and think carefully before making any quick decisions about their forestry.

“The IFA supports and encourages the active management of the private forest estate by farmers and forest owners

Pat Collins, Irish forestry chair, Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA)

groups. The European Investment Bank and the Ireland Strategic Fund has created a strong market demand for semimature Sitka spruce plantations as well as agricultural land for afforestation,” he explains. “There is no doubt that for many farmers, when forest premiums stop and the crop will not reach maturity for another 15 years, selling the forest can be an attractive option. However, I would really encourage farmers to consider the potential value. Currently semi-mature plantations are selling for approximately €5,000 per hectare, just 20 per cent of the market value of the timber crop at maturity. Farmers and private investors are earning in excess of €25,000 per hectare for well-managed productive forests at clearfell and the land remains in their ownership. I believe the market for semi-mature plantations is immature and that they are currently undervalued.”

So what’s the answer? Collins explains that it’s about clear management

PHOTO: FINBARR O’ROURKE

FORESTRY

“THE IFA WOULD LIKE TO SEE GREATER INVESTMENT TO SUPPORT FARMERS AND FOREST OWNER GROUPS TO INCREASE EFFICIENCY AND COMPETITIVENESS,

BY STRENGTHENING COORDINATION IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN TO ACHIEVE ECONOMIES OF SCALE. “ throughout the sector. “The IFA would like to see greater investment to support farmers and forest owner groups to increase efficiency and competitiveness, by strengthening coordination in the supply chain to achieve economies of scale. This model has proven to be very successful in other European countries with a more mature private forest sector. It also has the additional benefit of supporting the mobilisation of less commercial smaller plantations,” he says. “The mobilisation of the private forest estate represents a major challenge for forest owners, but if the product is managed and mobilised locally through forest owner groups, the economic return to rural communities will be enormous.

With the demand for timber continuing to increase and new opportunities arising to add value to the product through the bio-economy, I would prefer to see farmers and rural communities benefit from the potential of the sector.”

INVESTMENT IN PUBLIC FOREST As part of this investment in Irish forestry, the EIB announced a €90 million long-term loan to Ireland’s state-owned commercial forestry company Coillte to fund planting, forest management and forest road construction and maintenance over the next four years. This investment will fund replanting of more than 35,000 hectares of forest, as well as constructing and upgrading over 1,600km of forest roads. In addition, the project will improve maintenance of 1,000km of publicly accessible walking routes and mountain bike trails in forests around the country.

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TIERNAN CANNON TAKES A LOOK BACK AT THE FTMTA FARM MACHINERY SHOW AND THE MACHINES ATTRACTING THE MOST ATTENTION The mission of the Farm Tractor & FROM FARMERS IN Machinery Trade Association (FTMTA) is to promote the highest standards of 2017, AND PROFILES professionalism in the farm machinery THREE IRISH MACHINERY industry in Ireland. Alongside the provision of training and advisory MANUFACTURERS WHO services for its members, the FTMTA is the brains behind two of the most ARE EXPORTING THEIR successful agricultural shows in the PRODUCTS AROUND country – the FTMTA Farm Machinery Show and FTMTA Grass & Muck.

THE WORLD. The Farm Machinery Show was launched in 1989 and has grown from an attendance of 9,000 to over 20,500 in 2017. The latter was first held in Gurteen College in 2010 and immediately surpassed all expectations

and visitor numbers, with 7,500 attendees. 11,000 people attended the last event in May 2016, and Grass & Muck is slated to return to the Gurteen College site in May 2018.

The FTMTA events are supported by some of the major international and domestic machinery brands, and the Association’s chief executive Gary Ryan is proud of the array of exhibitors and participants at the event. So, from his vantage point at the helm of FTMTA, what machinery is proving popular among Irish farmers these days, and why?

“All machines around grass technology – whether seeding, harvesting or feeding – have remained very popular in recent years, as dairy and beef farmers look to extract the maximum advantage from our grass-based production systems,” he notes. “What was interesting at EAR TO THE GROUND 115

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PHOTOS: ALF HARVEY

FARM MACHINERY

Grass & Muck 2016

Taking in the sights of Grass & Muck

John Deere tractors on show at Grass & Muck 2016

this year’s Farm Machinery Show was that, despite the challenges facing the tillage sector, it proved very active in relation to precision technology in the cultivation and spraying areas.”

In relation to tractor size, Ryan claims that the average horsepower of tractors sold in Ireland since 2008 has increased from 100 to 120. “There is a definite trend to larger tractors and always has been. There were over 7,000 new tractors a year sold in the first few years of the 1960s and less than 2,000 last year, but there was more horsepower sold last year,” he says. “The scale of farming is getting bigger all the time, but in the absence of labour, this means more work to be done by bigger machines, such as diet feeders and slurry tankers. Bigger implements require bigger tractors to power them.”

HI-SPEC ENGINEERING LTD One of the domestic exhibitors at the Farm Machinery Show is Hi-Spec Engineering Ltd., a family-owned and run company established in 1988 and based in Co Carlow. Hi-Spec specialises

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in designing, manufacturing and maintaining high quality, innovative and reliable machinery for use throughout the agricultural industry.

“Our most popular products are our range of SA-R vacuum tankers, manure spreaders and diet feeders,” says sales administrator Jim Nolan. “We’re also finding that our Kompactor push off trailer is increasing in popularity due to the benefits in reducing costs and increasing safety for contractors.”

The Kompactor is a multi-purpose trailer, with a unique compaction and

off-loading mechanism that makes it ideal for transporting and off-loading a wide variety of materials such as silage, woodchip, grain and industrial products. The company has exhibited its products at a number of agricultural shows over the years, including FTMTA’s Farm Machinery and Grass & Muck shows. “The advantage of these types of events is that they are agri-machinery focused,” says Nolan. “We find them quite successful as we receive a high number of serious enquiries, due to the focused nature of the events.”

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FARM MACHINERY

PHOTOS: ALF HARVEY

“THE SCALE OF FARMING IS GETTING BIGGER ALL THE TIME, BUT IN THE ABSENCE OF LABOUR, THIS MEANS MORE WORK TO BE DONE

BY BIGGER MACHINES.”

FTMTA Show 2017

DAIRYPOWER EQUIPMENT Down in Blarney, in the heart of one of Ireland’s most scenic regions, Dairypower Equipment has been providing solutions to farmers for the past four decades. A familyrun business, the company was set up by John O’Donovan in 1973, initially as a milking machine company. Dairypower has since expanded its product range and its market, and now exports its range of equipment to almost 30 countries.

James Manley, Sales and Marketing Manager for Ireland and the UK at Dairypower, explains that despite the fact that the company exports to many countries around the world (France and the UK are particularly strong markets), the Irish market remains essential.

“The home market would be our bread and butter market,” he tells me.

The company’s slurry aeration system has proven particularly successful since its introduction to the Irish market in 1998. The system is approved by the Department of Agriculture and has been exported abroad to countries

such as the UK, France, Czech Republic, and Cyprus since 2009. And, as Manley explains, the company is currently seeking to improve its aeration systems through a partnership programme with a third-level institute. “We’re actually doing studies on it at the moment in the dairy campus in Leeuwarden in the Netherlands, in conjunction with the University of Wageningen,” he says.

KELTEC ENGINEERING LTD. These events have also attracted Keltec Engineering Ltd, which started as a general fabrication and engineering business in the mid-1980s by Thomas Sheedy, but has since evolved to develop and manufacture a wide range of equipment from universal spreaders to bale handlers. The company is based in Kilmallock in Limerick, but has distributors all over the world.

Domestically, the company exhibits many of its products at the FTMTA machine events. These events, as sales rep Mark O’Donnell explains, are less about making direct sales but rather connecting and engaging with customers.

“It’s about meeting the customers and getting feedback,” he says. “We would sell products, but mainly it’s about talking to the customer.”

A particularly popular product is the Keltec bale slice, which the company developed back in 2009 and is now sold in over 45 countries.

The bale slice has a system of grab, cut and removal and is controlled by one double-acting hydraulic service, useful for loading diet feeders, circular feeders, or for use in feeding passages.

“The bale slice would be good for us over the winter, we’d sell a lot of them. They’re easy to ship you see.

An awful lot easier to transport,” says O’Donnell. “It’s very seasonal if you’re concentrating on a domestic market. But once you start to export, it’s all year round because naturally, when it’s summer here it’s winter in New Zealand and vice versa.”

For more information on the Farm Tractor & Machinery Trade Association (FTMTA) and its annual events, visit www.ftmta.ie.

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MENTAL HEALTH

Back from

Black

Mr

“T

here wasn’t a day I didn’t enjoy it, you know?” entrepreneur and inventor Dickie Weldon remarks about his former career as a farmer in Rush, County Dublin. Dickie took over the farm from his retiring father in 1992, harvesting around 40 acres of mixed vegetables every year.

By the time he was finished with it, the farm had grown to 400 acres supplying to multiple supermarkets nationwide.

WE SPEAK WITH DICKIE WELDON, WHO RECALLS HIS FARM ACCIDENT ALMOST SIX YEARS AGO, HOW HE COPED WITH THE MENTAL AND PHYSICAL INJURIES, AND HIS NEW CAREER AS AN INVENTOR AND ENTREPRENEUR IN KILKENNY.

Blessed with a savvy mind for business and a fountain of creativity, Dickie also designed agricultural machinery during his tenure on the farm. “Back in 2000 I designed and built the first ever harvester built on tracks... for harvesting through winter in the bad,

wet conditions – because we had built it on tracks it enabled it to travel no matter what the weather,” he explains.

The harvester, endlessly useful in the Irish climate, was featured on Ear to the Ground back in 2000, which was to be Dickie’s first but not last time on the show, albeit for very different reasons.

The event that changed his life occurred in November 2011. “That was the start of what was to come,” Dickie reflects. “Long story short, I

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MENTAL HEALTH

“YOU NEVER NEED ANYONE TO TELL YOU HOW THE HEAD IS, I KNEW MYSELF I WAS BACK AND EVERY DAY FROM THAT I JUST GOT STRONGER AND STRONGER.”

The ProFitStick

Dickie Weldon on Ear to the Ground in 2000

ended up in the thing.” Dickie spent an agonising 18 minutes with his arm caught in the machine he had designed and built, rendering his arm useless.

“They told me I’d never use my arm again, I didn’t believe them, I laughed at them. I said in a few weeks I’ll be back, but I wasn’t and I didn’t,” he recalls. “That 18 minutes knocked me for six, I will never recover from it.”

After a year Dickie realised that he would have to give up on his hardbuilt farming enterprise. He packed everything in, got rid of the equipment and moved down to Kilkenny three years ago on St. Patrick’s Day. It was to be the start of a new life for Dickie, though he didn’t realise it at the time.

In the aftermath of the accident he describes how he experienced episodes of depression, an “attack from Mr Black”. His life had changed drastically, from working for himself, being out in the fresh air for 18 to 20 hours a day, to being bedbound for months

Demonstrating the ProFitStick for Ear to the Ground presenter Darragh McCullough

at a time due to crippling depression, losing his appetite and the will to live.

“Every day in my life I was laughing, there wasn’t a day in my life I wasn’t laughing about something, and everything just turned from all that gorgeous daylight to black,” he explains.

“The whole brain closed down, and he [Mr Black] was only bringing me one place and that was into a grave.”

BEATING THE BLACKNESS Dickie fought back, however, and lived to tell the tale. He began rehab in Beaumont Hospital, undertaking 30-minute sessions. However, this wasn’t enough, and there was a spark in that entrepreneurial part of his brain. “I made this plastic pipe to try under my arm

that would bend, and I was able to lift the arm then with the good one and let it move itself,” he says. The ProFitStick was born, a multifunctional fitness aid that can also be used when recuperating from an injury or medical procedure.

Dickie enrolled in IT Carlow, made his prototype, and is now supplying the ProFitStick to numerous stores around Ireland, including McGuirks Golf and Halpenny Golf. Building on the brand, he now has a new model in the works, the ProFitStick massage roller, which is hitting the shelves this season. “All of a sudden I was back in business,” Dickie remarks. “You never need anyone to tell you how the head is, I knew myself I was back and every day from that I just got stronger and stronger.”

When asked what sort of advice he would give to other people suffering from depression, Dickie notes that he doesn’t have the answers – everybody’s situation is different, and there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. “I knew, if it happened to me tomorrow... I would do it in a couple of weeks, it’s hard to explain,” he comments.

“But when you don’t know what’s happening to you, you can’t fix it.”

The one certainty he has to offer is a simple mantra. “Never give up, find something that works for you, and live to tell the tale.”

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TECHNOLOGY

SIZE MATTERS

Agri cultural EAR TO THE GROUND PROFILES SOME OF THE LATEST FARMING INNOVATIONS ACROSS THE GLOBE.

Goodbye to browning

T

he world’s first ‘nonbrowning’ apple has hit shelves across the US this year as part of a trial process, with an official debut due later in the autumn. The Arctic apple is the product of some nifty biochemistry.

Typically when apple cells are ruptured, whether by biting, slicing or bruising, a plant enzyme known as polyphenol oxidase (PPO) mixes with other polyphenolics (chemical substrates that have roles including supplying aroma and flavour) in other cells, resulting in a brown colour.

Arctic apples, however, produce virtually no PPO, meaning that no chemical reactions and no browning occurs.

Photo: Okanagan Specialty Fruits

“The small number of genes (four, to be exact) that control PPO production were identified several years back, when the apple’s genome was mapped,” says Okanagan Specialty Fruits. “To create a non-browning Arctic version of an existing apple variety, our science team uses gene silencing to turn down the expression of PPO, which virtually eliminates PPO production, so the fruit doesn’t brown. This genetic transformation is aided by modern science tools.”

Scientists in the UK have developed a synthetic molecule that, when used in crops, can increase both the size and starch content of wheat grains by 20 per cent. Developed by Oxford University and Rothamsted Research with the aim of solving food insecurity across the world, the study discovered that using a synthetic version of a particular sugar known as T6P, which boosts growth as wheat grains grow, could improve yields.

A modified version of T6P has been used successfully under lab conditions, and could also enhance the ability of plants to recover from drought. The next step will involve attempting to replicate the experiments in the field in different environments. Professor Ben Davis, who works at Oxford University’s Department of Chemistry, said that the results of the study could revolutionise farming in the years ahead.

“The tests we conducted in the lab show real promise for a technique that, in the future, could radically alter how we farm not just wheat but many different crops. The ‘green revolution’ in the 20th century was a period where more resilient, high-yield wheat varieties were created, an innovation that has been claimed to have helped save one billion lives,” he explained.

“By developing new chemical methods based on an understanding of biology, we can secure our food sources and add to this legacy.

That way we can make sure as many people have access to enough food as possible and that the less fortunate can be rescued from unexpected hardship.”

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TECHNOLOGY

The Multi Tool Trac

It’s Electric

M

eet the Multi Tool Trac, a less than conventional tractor that makes use of electrical power for more sustainable farming. Built on a completely electrical powertrain, with a 210hp six-cylinder engine acting as a range extender, the Multi Tool Trac can operate implements attached to the front, rear and between the front and rear wheels – its track adjustment system allows the distance between the wheels to be adjusted on the fly depending on the crop or other requirements.

The tractor is built with a system known as Controlled Traffic Farming in mind – using the same tracks while traversing, resulting in better soils and yields. Testing is still underway, with the first commercial models expected to hit the market by 2019/20.

The company isn’t the only one searching for more earth-friendly machinery – John Deere recently unveiled its first prototype powered solely by batteries, the SESAM, which it says can last up to four hours on a full charge.

TACKLING TB

Researchers at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A&F University in Shaanxi, China have reportedly developed cows with increased resistance to bovine tuberculosis, according to a study published in Genome Biology. The team used gene-editing technology to add a new tuberculosis-resistant gene to the cow genome, with no untoward side effects detected. A total of 11 calves with new genes were produced, with tests showing that the transgenic animals (organisms into which DNA from an unrelated organism has been inserted) demonstrated increased resistance to the M. bovis bacterium, which causes bovine tuberculosis. “Our study is the first demonstrating that the CRISP/Cas9n system can be used to create transgenic livestock with no detectable off target effects,” said lead author Dr Yong Zhang. “Our work has led to the discovery of a useful position in the bovine genome that can be targeted with this geneediting technology to successfully insert new genes that benefit agricultural livestock.”

SAFER SHAFTS Farming is a dangerous business, so much so that the HSA has again confirmed the profession as the most dangerous in Ireland. Tractors and other farm machinery are the main cause of accidents on Irish farms – tractors falling over, falling from ATVs, or becoming caught in PTO shafts. The latter is the focus of Waterford brothers Noel and Ger Hickey, who have devised a retrofittable hydraulic product for vacuum slurry tankers known as the Safeshaft, a more spaceefficient and safer alternative to the traditional mechanical drive system. With an oil flow requirement of 40L per minute, tractors of almost any age, type or size can be used to power the drive.

Though safety is the main focus, other benefits include increased manoeuvrability of tractor and tanker.

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TECHNOLOGY

Minister Michael Creed and Dr Alan Riordan PHOTO: GERARD MCCARTHY

FARMING ON FILM The Mebiol Research and Development Center in Japan has discovered a way to grow plants in almost any location, using polymer film. The film, a highly absorbent material used in disposable nappies, among other items, can soak up water and nutrients, using less water and resources than more conventional methods.

Microscopic pores also help to block disease and remove the need for pesticides.

“Plants can solve many of society’s problems – from lifestyle diseases to environmental issues,” chemical physicist Yuichi Mori, who invented the concept of film farming, told the South China Morning Post. “I envisioned a world where we could take plants everywhere.”

Sensing Danger

M

inister for Agriculture Michael Creed has announced funding of over €1 million for SCOPE, a new research project that will tackle crop disease in barley and potato crops. A collaborative project involving Teagasc, Dublin City University (DCU), University College Cork (UCC) and Tyndall National Institute, the aim is to produce pathogen-specific nanosensors that can deliver realtime and on-site detection of plant diseases.

“I am delighted to announce over one million euro in funding for this important, collaborative research project, which has the potential to make a very real significant contribution to the sustainability and competitiveness of the Irish tillage sector through innovative solutions to address the major challenge of high crop disease pressures,” said Minister Creed at the announcement.

Barley is Ireland’s largest cereal crop, with demand for feed and malting barley set to increase in the coming years. The crop here is susceptible to rhynchosporium, also known as leaf scald, which can cause significant yield losses.

“A vital step in addressing barley and potato crop disease is the implementation of adequate surveillance strategies so that rapid, in-field diagnosis can be made. By inter-connecting crop pathology, immunochemistry with nanotechnology, SCOPE will generate prototype nanosensors for both leaf scald and aphid-delivered viral infections,” said Dr Alan O’Riordan, Research Fellow, Tyndall National Institute.

“The diagnostic system will deliver in-field results in minutes while current lab tests can take up to one week. Consequently, this will ensure that decisions to spray are made on the presence or absence of any disease, in contrast to current systems based on stages of crop development.”

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TECHNOLOGY

DESERT FARMING In the Star Wars universe, moisture farming was one of the most important occupations on the desert planet of Tatooine, using vaporators to draw moisture from the air. Back home on Planet Earth, moisture farming could soon become a reality, thanks to researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

A study published in the journal Science outlines the result of their work – a technology that fuses metal and organic matter, powered by heat from the sun, and can capture water vapour from the atmosphere. The study reports that the technology can harvest 2.8L of water a day at humidity levels at low as 20 per cent, which could prove highly useful for dry or inhospitable regions like the Kalahari Desert or Altor 14.

Tough on Terrain

A

mong the innovations on display at the recent FTMTA show in Punchestown was Bomford Turner’s Flailbot, a wirelessly-operated track mower that can tackle difficult terrain without any danger to the operator. Operated by remote control and powered by a 40hp Perkins engine (a larger 70hp version is also available), Flailbot can work on slopes of up to 55 degrees, and is designed for use in banks and ditches, near railway lines, in forested, hilly and mountainous areas, among others. Alongside extendable tracks, a tough underbody that protects the engine and other important components, and an integrated roll bar that allows the mower to be hoisted, interchangeable heads extend Flailbot’s uses to stump grinding, loading, raking and much more.

THEFT ALERT New sensor technology developed at Central Queensland University in Australia is intent on tackling livestock theft.

Partnering with state body AgForce, the university’s Precision Livestock Management team is testing the effectiveness of sensors in preventing and detecting stock theft, having designed an animal sensing platform that uses GPS location to monitor animal movement.

“Stock theft can range from small incursions paring off a handful of animals from larger groups, all the way through to major criminal operations in which entire herds are mustered into portable yards and shipped out in semi‐trailers,” said project leader Associate Professor Mark Trotter. “In all cases the opportunity to steal is a result of the inability of the farmer to constantly monitor the location and behaviour of their livestock.”

SPOTLIGHT: BHSL Irish agri-tech company BHSL, which turns chicken manure into a source of energy, has been making waves across the Atlantic of late. According to the Irish Farmer’s Journal, the company launched a $3 million project on a farm in Maryland in February, demonstrating how the US poultry industry can effectively tackle the environmental challenges it faces.

Water from Waste

D

ublin-based Alchemy Utilities has launched a new form of renewable water purification plant at the 2017 SEAI Energy Show. H20 Optima runs on energy generated from waste food, which the company hopes will greatly reduce the carbon footprint of Ireland’s food production and agricultural sectors, particularly meat and dairy producers with high energy and water usage.

A fully automated system, H20 Optima can produce clean drinking water for more than 20,000 people per year.

“I believe this is ground-breaking technology for Ireland’s agri-food sector and it will help Ireland to drive its way to world leadership on the Global Circular Economy grid which our Government is determined to conquer,” said CEO Richard Griffin. “Sustainable farming

and food production are very high on Ireland’s economic agenda as the global population expands at record rates, and both food and water are set to become dangerously scarce if dramatic action is not taken fast in many countries. This leaves Ireland in a unique position as a country with substantial food production capability. It is well-known that the Government wants to double the country’s food exports by 2020 and Alchemy can provide the best technologies to assist that without pushing up the carbon footprint.”

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SAFETY

Farming

Safely MINISTER MICHAEL CREED HAS URGED FARMERS IN IRELAND TO MAKE FARM SAFETY THEIR PRIORITY THIS SUMMER. As the schools break for the summer and activity across the sector rises as the harvest gets underway, Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed has issued an appeal to farmers and contractors to prioritise farm safety.

“Farmers and contractors are taking full advantage of the current excellent spell of weather and are literally making hay while the sun shines. This of course means longer working days and added pressure to get seasonal harvesting work done,” he said in June.

“This weather also means a lot of children are out and about on farms, and it is critical that safety is foremost in everyone’s mind and that we take steps to avoid injuries, or worse, the loss of life. I have too many times seen the devastating impact that farm accidents can have on a family.”

animals such as bulls, rams or female animals with newborn offspring, and prevent access to any dangerous heights. If you’re employing contractors, make them aware of the potential presence of children around the farm.

Being conscious of safety around farm machinery is also key. This time of year often necessitates long working hours, and working with high-powered and dangerous machinery when fatigued can increase the possibility of an accident.

Tractors and other farm tools should be well-maintained and serviced as necessary – breakdowns could lead,

“THIS TIME OF YEAR OFTEN NECESSITATES LONG WORKING HOURS, AND WORKING WITH HIGH POWERED AND DANGEROUS MACHINERY WHEN FATIGUED CAN INCREASE THE POSSIBILITY OF AN ACCIDENT.”

not only to potential accidents, but also to delays and additional costs and pressure. Guards should be in place on all machinery, such as PTO shafts, and only competent and licensed drivers should operate machinery.

The Department also advises farmers to wait until machines have come to a complete stop before clearing any blockages, to remove the keys from tractors and other vehicles while carrying out maintenance, and to be careful while on public roads – drive in a manner suitable to the conditions and your load, be wary of other road users, and ensure all lights, indicators and tyres are in good working order. The Health and Safety Authority’s guide to essential tractor safety checks can be downloaded from www.hsa.ie /eng/Publications_and_Forms/ Publications/Agriculture_and_Forestry/ Essential_Tractor_Safety_Checks.html.

Farm accidents can have a devastating impact, causing severe injuries or often death. Taking simple steps to ensure a focus on safety, conducting regular checks and identifying potential hazards can go a long way towards mitigating any incidents and making farms a much safer environment for all.

SAFETY CONSCIOUS With schools on holidays and the weather picking up, the danger for children is much greater. Contractors are being asked not to allow children to ride in tractor cabs, and parents or guardians should prevent children from playing on the farmyard or in fields when silage is being made or the harvest is underway. Open water tanks, wells and slurry pits should be fenced off, keep them away from dangerous

RISK ASSESSMENT It’s always a good idea (and a legal requirement as part of your safety statement) to carry out a risk assessment of your farm and its environs, to identify any potential weaknesses and mitigate risks before they present a problem. You can easily complete a risk assessment online using the HSA’s risk assessment tool – visit www.farmsafely.com.

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ADVERTISING FEATURE

Forestry Forecast Ireland’s forestry sector has a number of important roles to play.

Since 1980, over 19,000 new forests have been created as a result of the financial support provided by the State to plant new forests. Forestry in Ireland is now entering a new phase in its development, where many of the owners of these forests are beginning to gain the commercial benefits of their forestry investment. The most recent forecast shows that roundwood timber production will double on the island of Ireland by 2035, from approximately 4 million cubic metres to almost 8 million cubic metres. With increased production being matched by significant investments in technology and production capacity by sawmills and board manufacturers, the industry is also poised to expand in the years ahead. This expansion is expected

to increase jobs in the forestry sector well beyond its current level of 12,000.

It is important not to lose sight of the importance of forestry in areas other than timber production and job creation. Forests have an important role in climate change mitigation, protecting and enhancing the quality of our water, promoting biodiversity and providing for outdoor recreation and amenity. These ecosystem services, which contribute to human health and sense of well-being, are closely associated with broadleaf woodlands and native forests in particular. According to the National Forest Inventory (2012), over one-quarter of the forest estate contains broadleaves. So far, the Forestry Programme 2014-2020 has established

over 1,600 ha of new broadleaf forests with support from the Department of over €23 million for landowners in the form of grants and 15 annual premiums.

FURTHER INFORMATION ON SUPPORTS PROVIDED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, FOOD AND THE MARINE IN RELATION TO BROADLEAF PLANTING CAN BE FOUND AT WWW.AGRICULTURE.GOV.IE/FORESTSERVICE/GRANTSANDPREMIUMSCHEMES2015-2017/

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 a510 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;

FARM FORESTRY, WHY LANDOWNERS SHOULD PLANT TREES

• 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/ grantsandpremiumschemes2015-2016/

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COMPETITION

POPULAR IRISH ARTIST DEBORAH DONNELLY LAUNCHES FIRST HOMEWARES COLLECTION

A FABULOUS HOMEWARE HAMPER FROM DEBORAH DONNELLY

Ear to the Ground and Artists at Irish Table Top have teamed up to celebrate the launch of a new collection of homeware items from popular Irish artist Deborah Donnelly. One lucky reader will receive a hamper worth over a150.

Inspired by Deborah’s instantly recognisable colourful and humorous paintings of farmyard animals, the range will add immediate warmth, quirkiness and character to homes. Donnelly’s playful depictions of farmyard animals such as cows, ducks and hens echo her signature impressionist style along with her use of bright, bold and rich colour palettes.

A collaboration project with Artists at Irish Table Top, there are currently over 30 pieces available, with the range set to expand over the coming months.

Key items include hand-painted mugs and spoons, oven dishes, pot holders, wooden serving trays, miniature keepsake boxes along with luxury duck cotton accessories such as aprons, tea towels, table runners and cushion covers.

Deborah Donnelly’s collection is the perfect way to introduce colourful, playful and impressionist Irish art into homes at affordable prices.

Prices range from a12 to a40. The collection is currently available from House of Fraser Dundrum and shortly in Arnotts, and can be purchased online at www.artistsatirishtabletop.com.

TO BE IN WITH A CHANCE OF WINNING THIS GORGEOUS PRIZE, SIMPLY EMAIL ETTGCOMPETITIONS@ ASHVILLEMEDIAGROUP.COM WITH YOUR NAME, CONTACT DETAILS AND ANSWER TO THE FOLLOWING QUESTION:

FROM WHICH BEAUTIFUL COUNTY WAS THIS YEAR’S BIG WEEK ON THE FARM BROADCAST? A) TIPPERARY B) CAVAN C) KILDARE

TERMS AND CONDITIONS Closing Date: August 31st 2017. Competition not open to employees of Ashville Media Group or Artists at Irish Table Top. No cash or gift card will be awarded in lieu of prize. Winner will be selected at random. The winner will receive a hamper of homeware items from Deborah Donnelly worth over €150. Applicants must be over 18 and this offer is subject to availability.

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COMPETITION

CONNOLLY’S RED MILLS HAS LAUNCHED ITS NEW FLAGSHIP STORE IN CO KILKENNY.

A €250 VOUCHER FOR CONNOLLY’S RED MILLS

Nestled in the scenic farm country of Co Kilkenny in Ireland’s sunny south-east, Goresbridge has been the home of the Connolly family business since 1908. For people who value their animals – whether as high performers or as family pets – Connolly’s RED MILLS has been the automatic choice of nutritious feed for over 100 years, and the fifth generation of the Connolly family continue this proud tradition today. Connolly’s RED MILLS is quite literally the feed of champions, and is trusted by leading racehorse owners and trainers worldwide.

To celebrate the opening of their new flagship store in Cillín Hill, Kilkenny, Connolly’s RED MILLS has teamed up with Ear to the Ground to offer one lucky reader the chance to win a fabulous voucher worth a250.

The voucher can be used in-store or online at www.redmillsstore.ie across a selection of carefully chosen and exclusive brands. From Dubarry, Ariat and Musto to Jack Murphy and Horseware Ireland, Connolly’s new purpose-built equestrian, agri and pet superstore has something for everyone.

TO BE IN WITH A CHANCE OF WINNING THIS GORGEOUS PRIZE, SIMPLY EMAIL ETTGCOMPETITIONS@ASHVILLEMEDIAGROUP.COM WITH YOUR NAME, CONTACT DETAILS AND ANSWER TO THE FOLLOWING QUESTION: WHICH CURRENT LEINSTER AND IRELAND RUGBY PLAYER HAILS FROM A FARMING FAMILY IN CO WEXFORD, AND TOOK PART IN THE 2017 LIONS TOUR TO NEW ZEALAND? A) JACK MCGRATH B) SEAN O’BRIEN C) TADHG FURLONG

TERMS AND CONDITIONS Closing Date: August 31st 2017. Competition not open to employees of Ashville Media Group or Connolly’s RED MILLS. No cash will be awarded in lieu of prize. Winner will be selected at random. The winner will receive a voucher to spend online or in-store at Connolly’s RED MILLS worth €250. Applicants must be over 18 and this offer is subject to availability.

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07/07/2017 10/03/2016 12:10 26/01/2016 15:08 09:04

CRAFT BEER

EAR TO THE GROUND CHECKED BACK IN WITH THE GUYS AT MESCAN BREWERY TO SEE HOW THEYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;RE UPPING THEIR BREWING GAME WHILE MAKING USE OF LEFTOVER GRAIN.

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unning a craft brewery is a challenge at the best of times.

But add veterinary work and some farming into the mix and suddenly you’ve got a lot on your 1 plate. Just ask Cillian Ó Móráin, co-founder 2 of Mayo-based Mescan Brewery. He’s been 3 4 ml ℮ ol 0 juggling both jobs since 2013 when he and his 3 3 %v 9,3 Alc. colleague Bart Adons decided to dip their A B toes into the business of craft brewing.

C “I have scaled back the veterinary work since the start of February this year,” explains Cillian, speaking by phone from the brewery, which is located on a small working farm in the foothills of Croagh Patrick. “I went part-time doing the veterinary job but I still do a full share of the out-of-hours work so that involves weekends and nights. For daytime work I’m part-time, and that means I’ve a lot more time in the brewery than I would have had when Ella was here.”

Ella McSweeney visited the brewery in late 2016 and 1 the changes that have taken place since then give some 2 3 indication of the demand for Mescan Brewery beers.

4 ml ℮ “It’s difficult,” says Cillian. “Particularly at this time of 330 % vol 5 Alc. year because we’re flat out with lambing and calving.

A B That means when you’re on call at weekends, C you’re getting very little sleep. It is tricky but it

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is much better than it was last year.”

Mescan is still essentially a two-man operation. Cillian, originally from Dublin but who settled in Westport over 15 years ago, and Bart, from Genk in Belgium, met while working in the UK as vets. Their love of beer and a desire to change career prompted them to set up a microbrewery on Bart’s farm using old dairy machinery.

Together they now brew seven styles of Belgian beer, most of which are sold locally and in Dublin, with a small number exported periodically to Belgium and Russia through the pair’s own contacts.

While it’s still very much in its infancy, Mescan Brewery holds big ambitions for the year ahead. “We’re about to start making wider distribution,” Cillian explains. “A company called Premier International Beers in Dublin will start distribution for us really soon and we’re hoping that will be the next leap forward.”

All of Mescan’s growth to date has been organic, so the opening of new distribution channels will be their first real push for business. “We have never looked for a customer up until this point and we weren’t in a position to up until very recently, but now that we’ve upped our production we’re ready for the next bit of expansion, so hopefully this year will be a year of a big increase for us,” Cillian adds.

KEEPING IT REAL According to legend, Mescan was a monk, a friend and personal brewer of St. Patrick.

It ties in nicely with the brewery’s location at the slopes of Ireland’s holy mountain, Croagh Patrick, not to mention the fact that throughout the centuries, Belgian beer was produced by monks. It all makes for an endearing story at a time when consumers are looking for authenticity, and a time when the mass beer producers are keen to jump on the ‘craft’ bandwagon.

ut Sto

THE IMPORTANT STUFF: MESCAN’S BEERS

BLOND: Westport Blond Beer Refreshing golden ale and by far Mescan’s best seller. It outsells all other Mescan beers combined.

WEISS: Westport White Pale coloured with frothy white head.

Refreshing and subtly spiced with floral, citrus and yeast notes.

STOUT: THE WESTPORTER Dark ruby in colour, densely flavoured with sweet and bitter notes complementing coffee and caramel roasted maltiness.

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discourage weeds “Neither Bart nor I would be comfortable n if you spread contriving something so the fact that 72 N° agh iso Cro ed a them onslopethe there is an easy story to tell makes that nd s of namground S l la a e r It’s son bee t of Ir the ntain. per beer on style Wes and things around unnecessary,” says Cillian. “We don’t have ted mouthe an’s ains ian- the loca holy riend Mesc ieft e Belg wed in y is nd’s ks f that the Ch vert. W elf r e e ort w Irela atric id Br ith o con hto ims e grow.” breyou to embellish anything that we do or that Pare p sa trying , sw t can atrick r St. It is ience ying t trick roduc s e p d a s tr M P fte er. a ew ted au was St. P can’s se. r brSo, happens here. We literally just tell it as it is, rick hat year Mes cou from ilita one We fac m Pat hink t yed ion of t of o wh to t e enjo derat wes e v h o e t ha . In m now,lik ouwhere would Cillian and the fact that that’s a little bit quirky, a ld ed in y w ionall rew lly b as ana occ like Mescan Brewery to little bit different, suits us and makes the ale rtis a e s r, g u in ee mho dur Vo l e n s e t le b gh l far kers tport sty roa be? “I would like to be lying story easy to tell, and people ian- do ditlike iona wor that.” es of C named l a in the sun. W zy and orld Belg nd. r t es land lop . It’s rsona Irela on is a susta in the ody, fiz new w spicey eer f Ire s r e in pe eer le b st o y, the The simple and stylistic branding om Sais wed to of toil ht in balso y ou efor awake at night wondering how s fr arth on ounta and n’s b ins -sty he We n enjo lass b . d bre days ry, lig s note the e o a e m a ia t T t c t d . g g ng n is d Citru lance ned to a e bottle Bel wed in . o a to spend the money,” he jokes. wery is elolacnad’s throiclyks frietnhat itMhesthe Cohiecfonverste. lf adds to the product’s appeal.lo“I’m h ditio r in ly b Sais eshing ectgoing con pou t in t Bre t a aid w Ir him e refr s perf ours. bottle ht and dimen re ast n b rick , St. P t is s nces trying trick roduc p flav are prig st se e o a Y h c , s u “This time next year, I wouldMes like to call it a happy accident because st the ea er Pat fter er. I audie was St. Pa n’s p . ops yea ur be r, store the y a rew ted k a e T, H C ll o clea aving b ilita tric k that Mesc cours HEA -6 ° er to Y, W , le e: 4 of fac m Pa o thin joyed ion of to have another member way we have always done thingsA beis RLE tur king est of staff o era % vol ter, BA w p drin wh like t e en derat e th tem lc. 6.2 g wa nel v er o e a g in m W ld h . In d be ke A prin e pa vin employed full-time. our own standard,” says Cillian. “We ur a S sid y Ser ml ℮felt ewe I would like : O ay t . ts: wou ionall y br hy 330 redien re: see m nce ing as nall rn but frot , c a g befo a a c h is In o t it ted rto for Bart and I be paying t strongly – particularly Bart – about using s W sire rform w a nd r , a r la y e e Bes n v y ee Ire haz rbo tly Lo the d he pe wer rt, le b Vo l e n s e t and ell ca g. Sub ast Bre estpo to om t -sty ourselves atinthe ds the shaped bottle that we use because it’s can the red ,W ian because ye he ad ay fr lou , w ch Mes allagh Belg nd.

-co Crisp t quen s and at t aw le la Kils a e s s p ad. e y ir citru rnes h h t t l momentIr Powe classic Belgian shape... The branding came ll urs hedon’t, t a tua wir nd ral, bitte ga ite er is ven le s r’s ml ℮ wh eshin ith flo int of t be ay e ent bee 330 % vol hea ut m . A g he and I would about completely organically... we wanted refr ed w d a h . 8,5 in w aze b bottle tore t lc n spic es, an A h s io ES PIC like us to noftinish. t in susp’setnrsademtatrokm ofptohuer will re something simple and something that tied t, S eas o s s, Y Yea in of it the b f the e.

Hop , S o c ig n T be selling us to the place, so the logo was drawn by A or tle o end aran T, O C HEA set r the l appe -6 ° e: 4 Y, W nea ditiona tur RLE twice as my wife on the back of an envelope. I have era vol er, BA p tra m t a te l 5% Bart and Cillian in 1 much beer as Serv0inmgl ℮ Anlcts.: Spreinegswide pane a nephew who does a bit of graphic design, °6 h 33 redie re: s Mescan Brewery N d oag d r n o g C f f e we are It’s InBest be ewery ort, Irela so he turned it into the logo that we have es o now. nam l land r slop It’s sona eer f Ire tp the ntain. per beer le b est o an B h, Wes y c n t s o d s W based on her doodles. We picked what an aintention Me allag n’s ains ed mouour tnot gian the loca holy riend Mesc ieft e Kils Bel wed in y is d’s ks f that the Ch vert. W elf ic get wealthy h n wer lan to s Bre or to we like. We never approached anything bre k , Ire . Patr said es wit to co k him uce n a g c St It is ien ryin tric prod sc tric ud s t t. Pa n’s from the point of view that this will workMe Pa aftebrreweilr.have S employees; ed a wa 20 se. ca itat rick hat Mes cour fac m Pat hink t yed ion of est o w t enjo ratof the h w the because it’s a good marketing strategy.” to videa e the e d o e in d lik ld ha . In m we y bre wou ionall lly brewery is to enjoy it.”

Unlike most other brewers, as ana the guys occ rtis a h , y r e oag alt beingredients m Despite greater demand t at Mescan leave very few to , f Cr ed le d Vo l e n s e y ing y and es o nam l -st m r elan n r ia d. slop . It’s ersona r wa l nutt and lg , bee of Ir e n e d h e t ntain B rela ip ie iona o more tyle est and more widespread waste. It makes one wonder craft on d p be t s it bod why n-s the W of I ted ly mou nd an scan’s ftains o r ia ull h add beer a T f g c , l . t u in x lo ho ie . We rie Me Be wed ned d po yeas ple y wit urs. A y is d’s ks f that the Ch all rt lf om ruita distribution, Mescan won’t be brewers don’t operate Con “Bart he ditio anused ic h vo nve sethat wer lan Bre f lafarm. con ight g t bre k , Ire . Patr said es wit to co k him uce and amel f an g tle upr avin c esc Patric ter St It is udien tryin Patric prod ar ur. bot store g, le c M e r. s r a f ’s changing its approach to brewing. to keep sheep, cattle andsapigs at one lying n se. a ewe ted vo wa t St. scabeer ar, drinkinstage,” s a cle r r k r a t u e e b s ric ha M ilit co be er re Yea fac m Pat hink t yed ion of st our ur be befo ttle. ps, o we o It will continue to use all All yhave explains Cillian. “When we wh to t e enjo derat around. henatural ss a , Ho bo bit °more C in t EAT enjo a gla in the like ld hav . In mo ed 7-10 , WH o : w t Y t e e y n E u r r L ll e b R tu l wo iona ingredients – the water comes from time we’ll probably go backinseinto the The point of dim lly era % vopigs r, BA a as ana mp ate el occ rtis g te . 8,5 w r, a and vin ℮ Alc Spring e pan Ser mlto bee Croagh deep underneath via a id little bit because they were nice But our brewery is ear terPatrick s s:have. t p le t e e V n y 0 o lens it h 33 redie re: se -st wit op b alt ian . fo ale d h e m nd d Belg relandthe brewery t be spring beside the malt, at the moment the set-up is justIngBescattle and about pleasure en traine ce th te aand lan I ld e f o s la n y Ir o g e a r bala e p g y wer rt, hin and njo lass Bre stpo n th res es fectly an ofrom To e a g e – and hops and yeast Belgium can , We After the cattle eat all of the brewer’s grains. and pride. It’s Ref al notcome er , cle ed. r into t in th p Mes allagh n r p io flo s to Cris ils dit pou dimen s. es urget con t and tright. se take the time nto brew day there is a lot of grain leftK over, lecraft not that we’re o some. the t h s v t o ea rig fla our re b up e y v rs a store ing th ast bee lear,that “One of the flathings which has most of the starch gone but all av we do that trying to take over Yeis r , le u s , c o p All beer inking , Ho °C EAT our ore dr is that WH 4-6 weEY,mature very anti-commercial of the protein still in it. We feed that to the the world, but if we re: L u bef tle.

R t era % vol ter, BA ot mp wa nel g te Alc. 5,5 ingbefore our beer for manyb months we cattle, which they love. The other solid bycan grow the business vin pa Ser ml ℮ ts: Spr side 330 redien re: see d effect bottle it, because that has a huge product is the hops – you can’t feed those n so that there’s a decent o g f la In t be y Ire wer rt, Bes Bre stpo on the flavour,” says Cillian. to stock but they are compostable so we living for Bart and I, and can gh, We “A more s e M alla Kils commercially-minded brewery wouldn’t compost them for Bart’s vegetable garden. maybe one or two others, do that because it’s very expensive to have They make very good mulch because they we’d be very happy with that.”

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CHERRY: Westport Kriek A new offering from Mescan Brewery, a Belgian-style ale produced with sour cherries.

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STRONG BLONDE: Westport Extra Packs a punch at 9% ABV, and is a crisp, medium-bodied tripel with sweet and spicy aromas.

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SAISON: Westport Saison A traditional farmhouse ale brewed to sustain the workers during long days of toil in the sun – perfect for the farm!

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TRIPEL: Westport Red Tripel Complex, full-bodied, malty and fruity with additional nutty and caramel flavours.

Comes in a reddish colour giving it an Irish slant.

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TRANSPORT

TIERNAN CANNON LOOKS AT THE BROADER ISSUES IN PUBLIC TRANSPORT FOR RURAL IRELAND, AND HOW PRIVATE BUS COMPANIES ARE FILLING THE GAPS.

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The effectiveness of Ireland’s public transport system, whether in the form of Dublin Bus, the Luas in Dublin, Iarnród Éireann or Bus Éireann, regularly pops into the public eye and is often called into question by its workers and the general public. Rural Ireland in particular can feel aggrieved – after all the cities are comparatively well-served by hundreds of routes from buses, trams and trains, while services further down the country are often scaled back or removed entirely, contributing to a sense of isolation for those without other means of getting around.

The Irish government has expressed a desire to improve the existing rural transport structures in the country, namely through its Action Plan for Rural Development, which was welcomed by current Minister for Transport Shane Ross who noted his continued commitment to ensuring connectivity in rural regions. The Action Plan, which augments the Rural Transport Programme (RTP) with an additional budget of €2.19 million in 2017, states that the government wishes to work in conjunction with rural communities to assess current routes, implement improvements and develop new routes where possible. “The Plan recognises that the provision of a high quality, interconnected system of transport in rural Ireland is key to these areas. Arising from the Programme for Government, the Plan commits to conducting a full review of public transport policy, including the rural transport dimension, to ensure that it meets the needs of rural communities,” Minister Shane Ross stated earlier this year.

The solution won’t be simple. The development of a functioning transport network in rural Ireland is complicated.

The needs of those living there are as varying as you’ll find in towns or cities – students going to college, parents dropping children to school, people heading to work, or pensioners heading to the shops in local towns. Part of the problem lies in the prevalence of once-off housing. This refers to individual houses that are located outside of towns and villages, away from larger settlements.

PRIVATE SECTOR One-off houses are certainly a distinct However, the gaps that are left by the feature of rural Ireland, and many would State’s inability to serve rural Ireland argue that it is a person’s right to build are, in certain cases, being filled by such homes. But as a result of once-off operators within the private sector. housing, the sheer area that requires Some will argue that services like Bus the use of public services is stretched, Éireann Expressway are undercut by meaning that the State may struggle to the private sector, and perhaps in some sufficiently maintain funding for these cases there’s truth to that argument, areas. It is not feasible to run a transport but there’s no doubt that the increasing link to large areas with extremely low lack of State-funded transport links populations. As such, public transport in rural Ireland has created a niche tends only to serve the more built-up that companies such as Donegal-based urban areas of the country, or along Bus Feda have sought to exploit. major arteries on the road network.

Bus Feda is a family-owned business,

“BUS ÉIREANN DON’T REALLY NEED TO LOOK INTO OUR AREAS – WHERE THEY NEED TO BE LOOKING AT ARE AREAS THAT DON’T HAVE THE LINKS OR THE FREQUENCY OF SERVICES THAT WE HAVE.” currently run by Brian Ó Dónaill. The company was established in 1961 when Brian’s father, Feda, returned to Donegal from working in Scotland to set up a taxi service in his native Ranafast and the surrounding area. After 10 years of local taxi work, Feda purchased a 29-seater bus and began to transport people from all over the county to and from Glasgow. The company expanded its services further in 1981, when Brian’s uncle Michael was studying in University College Galway (now NUIG). “He realised there was a need for Donegal customers to have a service home on

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use of the free travel pass, meaning that holders of the pass are entitled to travel along any Bus Feda route free of charge. This is particularly beneficial to the elderly, who might otherwise be completely isolated from the more urban areas of the county and beyond.

BUS FEDA FLEET IMAGES COURTESY BUS FEDA

PUBLIC SERVICE

“HOWEVER, THE GAPS THAT ARE LEFT BY THE STATE’S INABILITY TO SERVE RURAL IRELAND ARE, IN CERTAIN CASES, BEING FILLED BY OPERATORS WITHIN THE PRIVATE SECTOR.

a Friday and back then to university on a Sunday, and hence our Galway to Donegal service was born,” Brian explains. “That really is our bread and butter now, from September to April.”

Today the Galway to Donegal service is Bus Feda’s most popular service, while it continues to operate its service to Glasgow and back. In addition, the company has a fleet of 15 vehicles for private hire. Obviously, Brian O’Donnell is a businessman, but he is proud of the service his company provides to those

who need it most in rural Donegal.

“Let’s imagine if [our service] wasn’t in place, what would happen? People, especially elderly people, would have absolutely no means of moving from their rural spots to the likes of Letterkenny or even the nearest town,” he says. “There are four companies in our area that run services from all the rural areas here in west Donegal. There are up to eight departures a day from some of the villages here to Letterkenny, where then they can connect with any service they want – so what we do for them is vitally important.”

And it’s open to all – Brian points to the fact that Bus Feda accepts the

Despite the fact that he runs a business operating within the private transport sector, Brian believes that, in the most underserved rural areas of the country (whether by public or private routes), more State investment should be made in public transport. “We run a twice daily service to Galway. Another operator here runs a twice daily service to Dublin, a third operator runs a daily service to Belfast, and a fourth operator runs a twice – sometimes three times – daily service to Letterkenny,” he explains. “So our area is definitely unique in that it is absolutely spoiled for choice. Bus Éireann don’t really need to look into our areas – where they need to be looking at are areas that don’t have the links or the frequency of services that we have.”

Of course, it’s not only the services themselves that are problematic. The roads themselves are a huge problem for transport operators, as O’Donnell can attest to. “The fact that we’re in rural Ireland means that we travel a lot of undesirable roads to get to the major hubs of Letterkenny, Sligo and Galway,” he says. “So our maintenance bills are obviously going to be higher. Our fuel bills are excessive as well, because we have to travel these extra hours in the morning, and that’s usually on roads that are not [to the] national standard.”

There are no easy fixes for the public transport network in rural Ireland.

Fresh planning and investment in infrastructure are vital to improving these links. Rural communities themselves will need to be consulted to ensure that communities and individuals can connect and are not left isolated.

Significant investment, and not in piecemeal format, is key – better roads will need to be built and appropriately maintained, better coordination could be fostered between private and/or public operators to the benefit of travellers, alongside greater State subvention in public transport companies like Bus Éireann. None of these requirements will be overcome overnight, but it is a subject that urgently needs to be engaged with so that the rural Ireland can get on the road once more.

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SPORT

Bowling Success For

CRICKET IS RAPIDLY GAINING IN POPULARITY IN IRELAND, BUT WITH GAA STILL DOMINATING RURAL AREAS, DOES THE SPORT HAVE A ROLE TO PLAY OUTSIDE OF URBAN CENTRES? EAR TO THE GROUND INVESTIGATES. We’re all familiar with the hullabaloo that accompanies test cricket matches in England and other select far-flung countries. But in recent years the Irish senior men’s team has been making headlines, leading some to speculate that cricket may finally be ready to take a spot as one of Ireland’s most popular sports, alongside rugby, football and, of course, our own GAA games.

Cricket Ireland CEO Warren Deutrom has seen the growth first-hand, having been at the helm now for ten years.

“When I first joined, it was estimated that about 11,000-12,000 people were playing the game – and it was difficult to know if those numbers were regularly involved in cricket or were just sampling the game,” he explains. “We can now accurately count participation, and by the end of 2016 we had just over 52,000 people who were involved in the game.

We are also now the second biggest sport on social media in Ireland.”

There is also visual evidence that the sport is growing in popularity.

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“For the last two matches we played against England in Malahide, we had 10,000 people turning up to a game,” says Deutrom. “As a business we now turnover about €6.5 million, whereas we used to turnover something like €250,000 when I first arrived. So by any measure – just in terms of the size, the scope, the scale, the growth of the organisation – we’re growing.

Our task now is to make sure that we capture and keep that interest so that in the future, there is that number of kids playing and engaging on a more frequent basis with the sport.”

Above, below and left: Members of Bagenalstown Cricket Club

PHOTOS COURTESY BAGENALSTOWN CRICKET CLUB

RURAL PARTICIPATION One of the question marks over the sport is whether its popularity translates outside urban areas and within GAA strongholds. Deutrom explains that the focus first was on the “shop window” of the sport, the men’s senior team, and now that they’re making headlines and drawing crowds, the focus has shifted to making the most of the interest in the game by developing the sport on the lower rungs and at a provincial level.

“We began by reintroducing our inter-provincial competition,” explains Deutrom. “Now we’re trying to make the game a much more mainstream sport, and so we’ve brought aboard a participation director whose role is to try and engage and provide greater empowerment to our provincial unions. It’s about investment in clubs, it’s investment in unions, it’s investment in administration, it’s investment in development officers, in facilities, in trying to do as much as we can to help within the narrow resources that we have.”

One of the oldest clubs in Ireland is Bagenalstown Cricket Club, which was established in 1843, and now has three teams in the Leinster Cricket Union, a youth team and a Schools programme.

“We have 45 registered for senior cricket this year, plus a junior section,” says the club’s honorary secretary, Michael Dick. “We’d be one of the more vibrant cricket clubs outside Dublin. That’s just the registered number. We have a really committed, voluntary group of players who are passionate about bringing the sport to a wider audience, and to especially get young people involved.

Not enough young people are playing team sports and they’re so important for learning how to work as a team, the wins, the losses and so on.”

It’s not just about the sport, however.

Michael says that cricket has an important role in rural areas, simply

because it’s very inclusive. “We have a great mix of ethnicities in the club, as well as ages, as it’s the sort of sport you can play at any age and at any level.

Cricket is a global sport – we have guys from Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, England, just to name a few,” he explains. “It’s a great way of integrating with a community; I think our little cricket club does a greater role than most to help people integrate into our communities.”

Cricket is most definitely a minority sport, especially in rural areas, and in order to grow the sport, more investment is needed. “Our work at the club is done purely for the love of the sport, but we would hope that funding might come to develop the club further in the future,” says Michael. “The success of the senior team has raised awareness of the sport, but the problem is a lack of funds. For instance, we have two youth teams coming through, and we coach ourselves on a voluntary level, as we don’t have the funds for full-time coaching. We also get calls a lot from teams wanting to play here, and while we’d love them to come and play, we

don’t have the funds to bring them over.”

Plus, despite the rise in awareness of cricket, GAA is still very much dominant in rural areas, so more work has to be done to attract young people to the sport. Michael is keen to point out that cricket has a lot to offer young sportspeople. “We’re in the heartland of GAA here. But cricket is a global sport, and it offers a real opportunity for youngsters to travel the world and see amazing places,” he says. “And women too. There seems to be a tendency in Ireland for women to give up sports, and team sports in particular, as an adult, but look at the Irish women’s cricket team – they get to travel everywhere and it’s all expenses paid.”

While there are challenges, it’s clear that cricket is a sport on the up – and is set to get even bigger, especially considering that Ireland was rcently granted Test status. “...We won’t immediately be within the fixed competition of the test countries, we’ll start slowly, with matches that don’t necessarily have any competitive impact, so we’ll give the players the opportunity to learn the ropes, learn the system, learn the rhythms of the format, and then we’ll take a decision in the future about whether or not they’ve learnt enough to bring them into the test competition itself,” says Warren Deutrom.

“The move will give us that sense of being a major nation within the game.

Then, the bigger goal is to make cricket mainstream and put clear water between ourselves and other minority sports – in other words, we want to stop being perceived as a minority sport. Making us mainstream is probably about culture change, and culture change takes time.

But who knows? If I’d even said ten years ago that we were going to make cricket mainstream, there would have been an element of ridicule. Every time we’ve set ourselves an ambitious benchmark to put something in place, we’ve achieved it, so why shouldn’t we dream?”

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ART

Art Outhouse in the

IAN MALENEY DISCOVERS THE INTRICACIES OF COW HOUSE STUDIOS, A RURAL ART STUDIO THAT OFFERS A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE ON ART AND LIFE. Hidden away on a 180-acre farm in Rathnure, Co Wexford is Cow House Studios, an artist-run school and residency led by husband-and-wife pair Rosie O’Gorman and Frank Abruzzese.

Rosie grew up on the farm, which until this year was still farmed by her father, Michael. Frank is originally from Philadelphia, and the couple met while they were both living and studying art in San Francisco over 15 years ago.

After graduating from their postgraduate degrees, both Rosie and Frank moved back to their respective homes for a year, a time that Frank says really helped to clarify what the next step in their lives would be. In 2005 they approached Rosie’s parents about converting some of the farm’s buildings to facilitate a more artistic purpose. With their encouragement, Frank moved to Ireland in 2006 and the couple lived in Dublin for two years while researching, planning and eventually building what would become Cow House Studios.

“WITH THE HELP OF THE WHOLE FAMILY THEY TURNED THAT STONEWALLED OUTHOUSE INTO A MODERN, LIGHTFILLED STUDIO SPACE.”

The idea had taken root years before, when Rosie had first gone to Dublin to study art in NCAD. During her time there one of the farm buildings was converted to a studio for her – and later her two younger sisters Edel and Sinead – to use. “We had literally been making drawings in notebooks for years,” says Rosie. “What will we turn this building into, what will we

turn that building into? Just between ourselves, privately dreaming about it.”

When the dream began to become reality, it was largely due to the energy and support of Rosie’s parents, Michael and Mary. Michael became project manager for the conversion of the old cow shed, built by Rosie’s greatgrandfather in 1916, and with the help of the whole family they turned that stone-walled outhouse into a modern, light-filled studio space. Another building became accommodation for visiting students and artists.

“My Dad was very supportive from

Video projection in the woods, by student Maeve Coughlin

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ART

“THEY’VE SEEN A LOT OF FACES – AND A LOT OF DIFFERENT ARTWORK – COME THROUGH THE FARM GATES OVER THE LAST DECADE, AND ROSIE SAYS THEY REMAIN VERY OPEN TO AND CURIOUS ABOUT THE CONTEMPORARY ART THAT COW HOUSE FOCUSES ON.” Immersed in nature

the beginning,” says Rosie. “As a farmer with four daughters, three of us going to art college, all very creative, I don’t think any of us were necessarily going to go on and take over the farm.”

INSPIRATION Cow House Studios opened in 2008, just as the initial shockwaves of a global economic crisis were being felt. Having already spent two years on renovating and getting everything ready, Rosie and Frank were far too committed to turn back. Though the early days were tough in many ways, Frank says the climate forced them to learn a lot in a short space of time. “I think it made the business a stronger business,” he says. “It instilled a certain discipline and a certain frugality that I don’t know we would have had if we had started in the boom times and things were so easy. We really struggled for every student that first year.”

There are two main strands to activities at Cow House. The first is an annual programme of residencies for artists at different stages of their careers, from those straight out of university to wellestablished names. A handful of artists come each time to stay for a few weeks, working through various themes or prompts in order to progress their work.

The second strand is educational, with a summer teaching programme that sees dozens of teenage students arriving for three weeks at a time – sort of like a mini-Gaeltacht for art. They have daily classes with Rosie and Frank, as well as workshops with visiting artists and day trips to Dublin’s museums and galleries.

The summer programme is particularly international, with the majority of the students coming from the United States.

While the culture shift might be quite a shock, not least because they’re not given the studio’s Wi-Fi password, Rosie says that they work hard to make the experience as smooth as possible.

‘Personal StreetLight’ sculpture by student David Maginley

“The things that they might find challenging would be homesickness or being shy or feeling out of their comfort zone, especially being that age,” she says.

“We really do try to make it a positive, often transformative experience for them.

They’re young, they’re open, they’re travelling, they’re in a new country, they’re meeting people who are curious and love art like themselves. We really challenge them to think about how it isn’t passive, it’s about connecting with the world in some way.”

Frank says that people are often surprised by the numbers of students who want to come to rural Ireland and experience, even just glancingly, life on the farm. “Maybe it’s not that interesting for someone from Ireland to come to a farm for three weeks, especially a teenager,” he says. “But for a kid who lives in the middle of

Studio interior

Looking at a large painting from the mezzanine

Brooklyn, that is interesting. For a kid from L.A., that is a cool thing to do.”

SUPPORT Despite now being retired from farming, Rosie’s parents are still very active in and around the studios. They’ve seen a lot of faces – and a lot of different artwork – come through the farm gates over the last decade, and Rosie says they remain very open to and

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ART

Painting in the studio

Video projection in the snow by artist Laurie Lax

Studio exterior

Admiring a painting by artist Marisol Malatesta

Rosie and Frank leading a critique with students Sinead giving a casting demonstration

Accommodtion interior

curious about the contemporary art that Cow House focuses on.

“My parents are drawn to things that are more traditional, say landscape or recognisable imagery, whether it’s a painting or a drawing or whatever,” she says. “Dad will always be popping his head into the studio and seeing what they’re making. They enjoy that feedback and that interaction with my dad because he’s full of stories and history about the place.”

“I think our artists have a lot to learn from the farming community, and perhaps more than the farming community has to learn from the artists,” adds Frank.

“A lot of people from cities, from other countries, they have a very romanticised view of what farming is and they don’t really get how hard it is. It’s hard to understand how hard it is unless you see it every day. I think it’s cool that people

can come here and see that this is how it is. I think there’s a respect gained there. I think there’s a real reciprocal thing there.”

Listening to both Rosie and Frank, it’s clear that the back-and-forth between the art and the farmstead, between the art world and the rural community, is what makes Cow House Studios special.

In a compromise that many farmers would recognise, the couple have to do without a clear division between the personal and the professional, but this is a subject on which they’ve learned to see the bright side.

“Life and work, especially the way we are, are very woven together, sometimes very indistinctly,” says Rosie. “That can be challenging sometimes, but for the most part it’s really nice to feel your work and life are really close together. I think we feel very lucky that we could potentially raise our own family in a rural setting like this, knowing that Cow House would be part of that.”

“I do have to remind myself of that every once in a while,” concludes Frank with a laugh, “but in the end I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

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WILDLIFE

WILDLIFE

Guarding the

LIKE MUCH OF IRELAND’S VULNERABLE WILDLIFE, THE RED GROUSE IS UNDER THREAT. EAR TO THE GROUND’S ORLA CONNOLLY TAKES A LOOK AT THE BIRD THAT HAS LONG CALLED IRELAND HOME, AND EXAMINES THE ERADICATION OF BOTH ITS ENVIRONMENT AND FOOD SUPPLY.

Grouse

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WILDLIFE

The chief cause of Ireland’s dwindling red grouse population can be pinpointed as the loss of habitat due to human interference. Afforestation is a notable concern for wildlife conservationists as, while it does provide environmental benefits, it has also and primarily caused a fragmentation among the already limited red grouse population due to their preference for open moorland. It also enables predators such as the golden eagle, hen harrier and fox to conceal themselves as they hunt the grouse.

In addition to the spread of new forest land, the burning and overgrazing of heather, a purple-flowered Eurasian heath – which acts as both food supply and home to the red grouse – is thought to be a hugely significant factor. Typically heather grows abundantly on moorland and heathland, but due to increasing demand for farming land it has been blanket burned and cleared from many areas.

So why is this food source being eradicated, particularly from the hillside?

“It’s associated with hill farming – sheep farming on the hills – the sheep prefer to eat grass to heather, so farmers burn heather off to encourage the growth of grass,” says Pádraic Fogarty, Campaigns Officer with the Irish Wildlife Trust (IWT). Pádraic believes that in order to be effective in the attempt to increase the red grouse population, there needs to be a focus on both afforestation and the destruction of heather for farming purposes. “If we’re going to do anything about it, we really need to look at farming in the hills, we need to look at forestry and this habit of putting plantations all over the place,” he explains. “We need to start valuing these spaces in ways other than just how we can make as much money out of them in as short a time as possible.”

HABITAT MANAGEMENT In Leitrim, the red grouse population has been managed by the Boleybrack Habitat Management Project since 2007, when a survey discovered that there were only four pairs of red grouse left in the area. Over the last decade the group has attempted to reverse the decline of the red grouse population and create a sustainable upland management programme in order to enhance the upland wildlife and landscape on Boleybrack Mountain.

Controlled burning is used to remove damaged heather and encourage more plentiful and healthy supplies of the plant.

This method has garnered favourable results in terms of red grouse population growth, and in 2014 a survey estimated 98 pairs of red grouse were on the

mountain. However, some wildlife groups don’t fully approve of the practice of controlled burning as it can affect other species of wildlife also. “I would be very supportive of the work they’re doing in their area because if they didn’t do anything, the red grouse would disappear completely, but we would be concerned that the solution to this problem is seen as fire,” says Pádraic. “I would commend them for doing the work they do, I just wouldn’t think it would be the way forward for saving the habitats and the birds across the whole country.”

Many wildlife conservationists like Pádraic also believe that the government can do more for species like the red grouse and sites such as Boleybrack by encouraging native forests as opposed to pine plantations.

“If we had something like that in Wicklow, Connemara, Kerry, Donegal and all of the other places where it’s needed, we could start seeing the heather coming back. And if the heather came back, we could have the red grouse and if we had the red grouse, we’d have the golden

“THE RED GROUSE IS A SYMBOL OF ALL WE STAND TO LOSE ON HILLS AND THE BOGS. I WOULD SAY THE SITUATION IS PRETTY URGENT.” eagles and all of those things would fall back into place,” he explains.

The population resurgence of the red grouse has been greatly aided by the efforts of wildlife groups and organisations such as the Boleybrack Habitat Management Project. However, the species is still firmly on the Irish Red List of Birds of Conservation Concern. “The red grouse is a symbol of all we stand to lose on hills and the bogs,” Pádraic warns. “I would say the situation is pretty urgent. We’d have to do something fairly quickly if we want to save these species.”

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COMMUNITY

Ireland’s Rural

Readers

EAR TO THE GROUND CHATS TO THREE BOOK LOVERS USING LITERATURE TO BRING LIFE TO THEIR COMMUNITIES.

“We don’t just sell you a book, we’re a place to visit, become immersed in and participate in community events.”

So says Neil Paul, manager at Books@One in Louisburgh, Co Mayo. The community bookshop established in August 2016 is a product of the One Foundation, a privatelyfunded philanthropic organisation developed by the Ryan family (of Ryanair fame), which chose the small Mayo town as the location for this pioneering enterprise. According to Neil, it’s part of a new movement of independent destination bookshops emerging in Ireland, which give a great snapshot of the town and community where they operate.

The US has been a major proponent of destination bookstores throughout the years; think City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco where Beat writers like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg hung out in the 1950s. While Louisburgh might not aspire to develop a whole new generation of internationally renowned writers, the aim is to create an

atmosphere where people engage with books in a communal way through events such as readings, book club meetings, book signings and even poetry battles.

“It’s a place to find out what’s going on in the area and the world or to just relax and enjoy a coffee, a browse and a chat,” explains Neil. “It’s also a social enterprise, meaning that any profits go right back into making the experience at Books@ One an even better one and benefiting the community as a whole by promoting literature and the arts, encouraging social inclusion and partaking in rural regeneration.”

Of course, rural isolation is a major issue facing many people throughout Ireland. The latest census figures show that in recent years there has been a significant decline in the population of many rural and peripheral areas in counties across the country, and these areas are not being repopulated. It often results in dwindling services such as post office and garda station closures, less connectivity

“PEOPLE, LIKE BOOKS, CAN BE FULL OF SURPRISES AND THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT THESE CLUBS AND EVENTS THAT HELP PEOPLE CONNECT AT A WHOLE NEW LEVEL.“ EAR TO THE GROUND 151

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COMMUNITY

THE CLUB SCENE Another outlet enabling people to engage with their communities through books is the ubiquitous book club. For Arthur Shirran, it took the rejection of not being allowed join what he didn’t realise was a women-only book club as motivation to set up his own.

“It started when I was on the last train to Sallins from Dublin one Friday night and had bumped into two friends,” he recalls. “We had all been at separate work Christmas parties. When we reached Sallins we decided to have a pint together

in the Railway Inn. When we were in the pub we met four ladies (one of whom was the wife of one of our group), who were having their book club Christmas drinks.

As a keen reader, I asked could I join but I was told that it was a women’s only book club.

It prompted the group of us to set one up ourselves and, unlike many new year’s resolutions, we started it in the new year.”

The Novel Book Club in Sallins, Co Kildare has 12 members who meet once a month to discuss a given book agreed by members at the previous meeting. The typical meeting involves each member taking turns to review the title, giving it a mark out of ten. This is followed by a group discussion on the merits and demerits of the book, concluding with a member of the group pitching two options for next month’s choice, with each member casting a vote. “The meeting itself is very fluid with people arriving late, leaving early, buying drinks and taking toilet breaks,” explains Arthur. “The better books result in a longer book-related discussion, while the weaker books are dealt with swiftly.”

Arthur says there is an equal split between fiction and non-fiction books being covered, with a light bias towards Irish non-fiction titles. “The best discussions to date have been the great ‘what if’ questions about the non-fiction books,” he explains. “For instance, we read The Siege of Jadotville and we discussed the options available to the Irish commander and whether he made the right decision. For the book Dead Wake about the sinking of the Lusitania, one of our members is a naval architect who gave a fantastic insight into ship design, which added to the information already detailed in the book.

The fictional books have also generated deep discussions about various topics.”

Arthur echoes Neil’s sentiment of how social gatherings around books play an important role in community life, one solution to rural isolation that doesn’t focus on the pub and which offers people the chance to meet others and form PHOTO: EAMON WARD

within communities, with many locals left suffering from loneliness, fear and isolation. These trends highlight the need for more community-based initiatives that encourage social engagement.

And what better place to start than with a past-time loved by so many?

“Books are a great way for people to come together – especially in a rural environment where quite often you might need an excuse to go into town,” says Neil. “Whilst it’s true that it’s possible to feel isolated in big cities surrounded by people, in rural communities there’s a very tangible geographical dimension to this. That’s why it’s important to create events and reasons for people to come together, to make the effort.

“Also, books aren’t just the domain of intellectuals – all kinds of people enjoy books and chatting about books. The pub has long been a social focal point in rural Ireland, but there are some who don’t feel drawn to that kind of environment or perhaps would be more likely to walk into a book club alone than into a pub.”

Neil, whose background is varied having worked behind the scenes on blockbuster films such as the Harry Potter and Alien series, is clearly passionate about community activism.

He was involved in setting up Louisburgh HQ in 2012, a drop-in centre aimed at promoting the area to businesses, community groups and tourists. With Books@One, he aims to bring together people with a shared love of books.

“Just about any gathering in the name of literature is bound to bring about animated conversation and wonderful interactions,” he says. “It’s a great way to discover those little elusive nuggets about people that you may never have gleaned under normal circumstances; learning what makes them tick. People, like books, can be full of surprises and there’s something about these clubs and events that help people connect at a whole new level.”

Community bookshop Books@One in Louisburgh, Co Mayo

Author Donal Ryan, Sarah Bannin, Arts Council, Emer O’Connell, EBCF chair, author Anne Enright and Paul Perry, Ennis Book Club Festival Director

A reading at Books@One

friendships. “Our members all happen to be men (not by design) between 40 and 55 years old with busy family and work commitments. The book club offers something different where we can meet people outside of our normal circle of friends, family and work to discuss a common interest,” he says.

Leisure reading groups such as Arthur’s have become a fully fledged phenomenon in recent decades and are found everywhere from offices to schools to religious communities and, increasingly – and perhaps tellingly – online platforms. So, in an age of advanced technology and social media, do book clubs have much of a future?

Arthur certainly thinks so. “Book clubs will continue to be important as people still crave meeting others in person. We are social creatures. In my own case, one of the reasons I started the book club was that I found my attention span was reducing as a result of the ‘quick fix’ of social media,” he says. “One benefit of the book club is that you are forced to read books that you normally wouldn’t and as a result might learn

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COMMUNITY

Sunday Symposium sports and politics panel at the Ennis Book Club Festival – Patrick Deely, Alison O’Connor, Paul Kimmage, Sonia O’Sullivan and Christy O’Connor PHOTOS: EAMON WARD

Poet Paul Durcan with local second level students pictured at the Ennis Book Club Festival

more. It is a good solution to the recent criticisms of the modern media’s ‘echo chamber’ and ‘fake news’, particularly surrounding the Brexit referendum in the UK and Trump’s election in the US.”

LITERARY FESTIVITIES One major proponent of the humble book club is the Ennis Book Club Festival, which was formed 11 years ago when a group in a book club in Ennis felt there was space for a festival dedicated to book club members where readers and authors could meet. As Ireland’s only book club festival, each year it brings a wide selection of writers to readers at unique and innovative events in the vibrant town of Ennis.

Cora Gunter is part of the new festival committee that came on board over two years ago, joining as the representative for Clare County Library.

She says this year’s event, which took

place in March, enjoyed a 30 per cent increase in attendance figures from across the country. This was bolstered by the introduction of events for children and young people, which were well-received by local audiences.

As with Arthur, Cora believes book clubs have the ability to enrich people’s lives both in rural and urban settings.

“It is a social outlet where people gather to discuss the merits or not of a book,” she says. “It also encourages members to try different genres or authors. Reading has so many benefits but is also a habit – a book club can give a little structure to help people keep to their reading.”

From a personal perspective, Cora says book clubs have broadened her own knowledge of books, authors and writing in general, describing it as a great social outlet where those with a

love of books and reading can gather to share their interests with others, and form friendships and bonds. So what makes the ideal book club meeting? The right numbers, a bit of preparation, and the proper snacks seem like the order of the day. “My ideal meeting is about eight people,” says Cora. “More makes it difficult for everyone to get a chance. We have a list of questions as it helps keep our discussion on track. Also, good coffee and chocolate chip cookies is a bonus!”

The Ennis Book Club Festival will return in 2018 running from March 2nd to 4th with its usual unique mix of readings, discussion and chat for all lovers of a good book. “We have just started creating our wishlists,” says Cora. “We will pass those onto our festival director and hopefully get as good a mix of authors and poets as in previous years.”

A FAVOURITE CHILD We asked Neil Paul of Books@One the impossible question of what his favourite book was. “You’re making me choose a favourite child or dog,” was his initial reply. “This answer could also vary according to the day of the week. Another great love of mine is history, so if I really had to be pinned down on this I’d say Persian Fire by Tom Holland. There have been so many great ones though...”

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ANIMAL RESCUE

My Lovely Horse to the

Rescue

(L-R): Deborah Kenny, Cathy Davy, Timmy, and Martina Kenny

WITH A NAME INSPIRED BY THE ICONIC FATHER TED TUNE, MY LOVELY HORSE RESCUE WAS SET UP TO RESCUE, REHABILITATE AND REHOME HORSES IN DUBLIN AND THE GREATER LEINSTER AREA. CO-FOUNDER MARTINA KENNY TALKS TO ORLA CONNOLLY ABOUT THE ORGANISATIONâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S WORK WITH THESE VULNERABLE ANIMALS. 154 EAR TO THE GROUND

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ANIMAL RESCUE

Martina Kenny, Cathy Davey and Deborah Kenny founded My Lovely Horse Rescue in 2011 after witnessing the harsh abuse and abandonment horses in their local area were being subjected to. “Myself and Cathy used to walk our dogs together in Dublin and we’d see a lot of horses and kids on horses. There was a hidden part of the park where kids would tie the horses and just leave them,” Martina explains. After calling the authorities on repeated occasions and seeing no relief in the frequency of these type of events, Martina, Cathy and Deborah felt they could put their previous experience in animal rescue to good use.

Since setting up My Lovely Horse Rescue, the trio have constructed an entire set of services for the protection and rehabilitation of abandoned and abused horses. As Martina notes, “We rescue, we rehabilitate, train, we foster out, we put horses out for adoption and then we also try to visit schools and teach them about animal care and about how expensive a horse can be.” While the organisation primarily covers areas in the immediate Dublin region, an increasing number of calls are being received by the rescue organisation from more distant areas such as Cork, Galway and Limerick.

PUBLIC EDUCATION When they’re not rehabilitating or rehoming abused or mistreated animals, Martina and the other members of My Lovely Horse Rescue are promoting the widespread knowledge and understanding of animal rights legislation.

One of their aims is to get a slot in the Garda training college in Templemore, providing new recruits with training focused on animal welfare legislation.

“At the moment we are making it into ten easy points on how they’ll deal with the horse control area and the horse control welfare issue,” Martina tells me. Along with educating the public, the organisation is also lobbying the government to change the laws surrounding horses in urban areas. “We want to make a change in horse ownership in the urban areas where horses shouldn’t be. We want a ban on horses in public parks, wastelands and back gardens. It’s just not right, it’s just wrong,” she adds.

Each year the ISPCA receives around 16,000 calls in relation to animal cruelty.

Martina believes the reason behind these exceptionally high numbers, in comparison to countries like Switzerland where animal rights are a core political

priority, is down to legislation and enforcement. “Their laws do not allow it, people are heavily fined and imprisoned for animal cruelty. It’s just not tolerated, whereas here it is tolerated,” she says. In order for a significant decrease in these incidents, Martina feels the government needs to become a more active force in animal protection. “I think that the legislation needs to be enforced, we all think that. We think that the councils and the Department of Agriculture really need to step up their game,” she notes. “They need to listen. They could save a lot of money in the long run if they don’t just mop up the problem and actually put things in place to stop it.”

FORCE FOR CHANGE The team behind My Lovely Horse Rescue is leading by example. The organisation has three volunteers monitoring its Facebook page at all times for urgent messages or reports of animal cruelty.

While the frequency of these messages

can range between 30 to 50 on a daily basis, once a report has been made to the charity they alert their volunteers to act as quickly as possible. However, Martina expresses concern that until other animal protection organisations operate in a similar manner, the problem of animal cruelty will continue to exist in Irish society. “Nobody knows who to call,” she explains. “Our very well paid organisations that should deal with that animal cruelty close at five o’clock or half four sometimes. Then they don’t open until Monday morning and all anti-social behaviour goes on after hours, so that’s night-time and weekends.”

This work is funded entirely by external support, largely from members of the public. The founders were very grateful that in the last year My Lovely Horse Rescue received its largest

“SINCE SETTING UP MY LOVELY HORSE RESCUE, THE TRIO HAVE CONSTRUCTED AN ENTIRE SET OF SERVICES FOR THE PROTECTION AND REHABILITATION OF ABANDONED AND ABUSED HORSES.” Singer and My Lovely Horse co-founder Cathy Davey with Ear to the Ground presenter Ella McSweeney in the latest series

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ANIMAL RESCUE

Cathy Davey

government support to date in the form of a €10,000 grant yet, with overheads that include €26,000 per year spent on hay alone, the organisation is primarily sustained by volunteer participation and fundraising efforts. One of their most valuable events takes place at the Irish music festival Electric Picnic. “Every year we have a big section and it’s called My Lovely Ranch... we bring some of the horses and Grant the donkey and all of the rescue volunteer dogs and we go down there,” says Martina. Thanks to their name – inspired by the Father Ted episode in which Fathers Ted and Dougal pen the eponymous track in an endeavour to win Eurovision – the charity receives a significant amount of attention at the festival. Playing on the popularity of the cult show, the charity has used its platform at Electric Picnic to hold contests such as the ‘A Rubbish Song For Europe’ competition, which rewards participants for bad rhymes and even worse costumes. Each year at Electric Picnic the writer of the infamous tune itself, Neil Hannon, performs a

rendition of My Lovely Horse for the crowd in an effort to raise funds.

“It’s really worked. Neil comes to different occasions and sings My Lovely Horse for us, so that’s funny,” says Martina. “This will be our fifth year at Electric Picnic and the area gets bigger every year. The organisers are so kind to us.” Co-founder Cathy Davey, who also has a career as a successful musician, typically joins Neil onstage to entertain the crowds.

With mounting calls for services each week, Martina notes that all donations are most sincerely welcome and appreciated by My Lovely Horse Rescue, and highlights the fundraising efforts of larger corporations as a vital support for their work. “Marks & Spencer are amazing,” she says. “We have Marks & Spencer bag packs and the Grafton Street Marks & Spencer are raising money within the shop which they are going to use to do up our quarantine area. I love the fact that so many companies come and help and think like that.”

Despite the obstacles surrounding

funding and legislation, My Lovely Horse Rescue has helped approximately 350 horses to date. Noting her certainty of the fate of those animals had they not intervened, Martina, alongside Cathy and Deborah, fully intends to continue their work for the foreseeable future.

“Our biggest challenge would be running it like we care and never losing that,” says Martina. “Getting people on board and believing in what we wanted to do, believing that My Lovely Horse Rescue can make a difference, which I think we are, and we’re thriving.”

HOW TO HELP Interested in helping My Lovely Horse Rescue to keep doing what they do best? Members of the public can adopt, foster or train a horse, volunteer at the rescue centre in Kildare, set up fundraising events or donate or buy equestrian tack. For more information, visit www.mylovelyhorserescue.com.

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ADVERTISING FEATURE

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30/06/2017 15:42

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BOOKS

Shelf life WHITTLED AWAY: IRELAND’S VANISHING NATURE

BY PÁDRAIC FOGARTY

The Collins Press, 300 pages, €19.99

Ireland’s natural resources have not always (or indeed are seldom) prioritised by the powers that be, taking a backseat to more pressing matters or simply the result of poor mismanagement. In his fabulous new book Whittled Away: Ireland’s Vanishing Nature, ecologist Pádraic Fogarty has called on the government to do more to safeguard our environment. “I am convinced that if we had more political leadership to recognise that protecting nature is as important as, say, health and education, then we could not only stop the damage that is being done but make our country a richer and more fulfilling place to live in,” he writes. The book charts the grim failures this country and our natural world have experienced over the years, including the decimation of wildlife habitats and populations, coastal communities struggling to make a living from the sea, and national parks that could not be considered ‘well managed’ under any definition. However, Fogarty still remains hopeful for the future, and outlines his harmonious vision for Ireland’s environment, including farming in tune with nature, creating forestry that can be of benefit to both people and wildlife, and the return of long-lost species such as wild boar and cranes.

Prioritising our natural world, he exhorts, will bring benefits to our health, wellbeing and our livelihoods.

CULTURE

COMING HOME: ONE MAN’S RETURN TO THE IRISH LANGUAGE

BY MICHAEL MCCAUGHAN

Gill Books, 265 pages, €14.99 A personal and entertaining account of his determination to master Irish beyond the usual cúpla focal, journalist Michael McCaughan uncovers a language that combines a rich history, wit and a broad range of emotional density within its vast dictionary. McCaughan’s lesson is simple – with determination and effort, you can return to our national language at any stage of life. Probably.

MEMOIR

INSIDE THE MONKEY HOUSE: MY TIME AS AN IRISH PRISON OFFICER

BY JOHN CUFFE

The Collins Press, 192 pages, €12.99

The sum of 30 years of guarding Irish prisons, John Cuffe’s memoir is a captivating insight into a gritty world of which most of the public are unaware. Revealing some raw truths from his life’s work, including a fractious relationship with the Department of Justice, it’s an interesting and in-depth insight into the secrets that lie behind those high walls.

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BOOKS

FOOD

FINN’S WORLD

BY FINN NÍ FHAOLÁIN

Gill Books, 288 pages, €22.99

Finn Ní Fhaoláin’s twin passions are food and the sea, and she combines both in Finn’s World. A great collection of recipes and ideas that have crossgenerational appeal, all of which are gluten-free, it’s accompanied by Irish culture, wit and energy – saucepans at the ready.

CHILDREN

THE LOTTERYS PLUS ONE

BY EMMA DONOGHUE

Macmillan, 320 pages, €10.99 Already an international bestselling author for adults, Emma Donoghue has turned her attention to the younger generation with this delightful look at how a family’s summer is turned upside down with the arrival of their grumpy granddad.

Accompanied by wonderful black and white illustrations by Caroline Hadilaksono, the book is full of fun, charm and plenty of heart.

FOR MY FRIEND...

IN A DIFFICULT TIME

BY FERGUS GRIMES

Available from Veritas Books & Book Haven, 48 pages, €5

Life in rural Ireland can often have a negative impact on one’s mental health, whether as a result of living in an isolated area, a lack of job opportunities and resources, or the struggle that many people face in farming today.

However, the reaction to a declaration or revelation of mental illness is often extremely off-putting. People rarely feel embarrassed about having to take time off work or seek medical advice for a physical ailment, but when it comes to mental illness there’s a tendency to avoid or skirt around the topic. “There is a strong social stigma attached to mental ill health, and people with mental health problems can experience discrimination in all aspects of their lives,” says Mental Health Ireland, a body established in 1966 to promote positive mental health.

“Many people’s problems are made worse by the stigma and discrimination they experience – from society, but also from families, friends and employers. Nearly nine out of ten people with mental health problems say that stigma and discrimination have a negative effect on their lives.”

That stigma is what led pharmacist and psychotherapist Fergus Grimes to pen For my Friend...in a difficult time, an interesting pocket-sized book that tackles a difficult topic facing Irish society today. The book examines the reasons as to why people may suffer from poor mental health – from job loss and financial difficulties to family breakdown and abuse – how they can recognise the signs, and the steps they can take to get back on track. Written in a simple and easily digestible manner, the book also includes a list of useful phone numbers and websites should the reader wish to seek further help.

“It’s a way for people to broach what can quite often be a delicate issue, to let people know you’re thinking of them in difficult situations, and to provide support,” Fergus explains. “[Poor mental health] is really the scourge of modern Ireland, and it’s not getting any better.

The idea was that [the book] would be around the house forever, and that it is very simple and light-hearted.”

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10/07/2017 10:48

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SUMMER BBQ RECIPES

JOHN KELLY, HEAD CHEF AT MOUNT JULIET ESTATE, SHARES HIS TOP RECIPES AND FIREPROOF TIPS FOR A SUMMER OF MOUTHWATERING BARBECUE FOOD. FOR DESSERT, TRY THE SILKY PANNA COTTA WITH LEMON JELLY RECIPE FROM EXECUTIVE CHEF KEN HARKER. EAR TO THE GROUND 163

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SUMMER BBQ RECIPES

How to make

B

c

a

a

INGREDIENTS 250g cup olive oil 1 tsp sea salt ½ tsp ground black pepper ½ tsp paprika ½ tsp cumin ¼ tsp cayenne pepper 2 cloves garlic, chopped 3 tbsp chopped onion 2 tbsp Worcester sauce 1 tsp mustard Mix all the ingredients together. Place your chosen meat into a zip bag and pour in the marinade. For best results always do the day before and turn the meat in the fridge every couple of hours.

BACON, PANZANELLA SALAD INGREDIENTS • 300g thick-cut bacon, cut into 2.5cm pieces

1.

Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat and add bacon in an even layer. Fry until crisp, about 5 minutes. Transfer bacon using a slotted spoon onto a paper towellined plate and set aside. Remove half the bacon fat and reserve.

2.

Make croutons: Return pan to medium heat and toss bread in bacon fat; season with salt and pepper. Toast until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer croutons to a bowl and set aside.

3.

Add remaining bacon fat to sauté pan and toss with garlic over medium heat. Sauté until garlic is softened and fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir together with balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper.

4.

Add rocket, tomatoes, red onion, parsley, and croutons; toss together with dressing. Top with bacon and basil and serve immediately.

• 2 loaves ciabatta bread, torn into small pieces • Sea salt • Freshly ground black pepper • 2 cloves garlic, minced • 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar • 500g rocket • 500g very ripe tomatoes, mixed varieties and sizes, cut into bite-size pieces • 1 small red onion, thinly sliced • Chopped parsley and basil

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SUMMER BBQ RECIPES

GREEK PASTA SALAD INGREDIENTS • 500g of farfalle/penne or dried pasta • 200ml extra-virgin olive oil • 3 tbsp red wine vinegar • 1/2 tsp fresh oregano • 1/2 tsp garlic • 1 large cucumber, chopped

p

5

• 500g cherry tomatoes, halved

ip

B B Ui

1.

2.

5.

• 1/2 red onion, chopped • Freshly ground black pepper • 2 tbsp dill, finely chopped • 500g crumbled feta • Sea salt

In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook the pasta according to package directions until al dente. Drain and transfer to a large serving bowl.

Make dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, red wine vinegar, oregano and garlic powder.

Add cucumbers, tomatoes, olives and onions to serving bowl. Add dressing and toss until evenly coated. Season with salt and pepper and add dill, then top with feta.

Always source good quality fresh ingredients (ask your butcher), and use fresh fish, fresh herbs and salads also.

Always ensure the BBQ is very clean before use, and above all check that meat is cooked fully.

3.

4.

1.

2.

3.

• 100g Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped

When buying a BBQ, always buy quality as often the cheaper ones will not last. Make sure you buy the correct fuel for the type of BBQ you have.

Many people try to cook too many things.

Cook maybe two meats and one fish and give more time to your salads as often there is more food left than eaten. Less is more.

Allow the BBQ fuel to burn to the correct stage, as often people become too impatient and throw everything on too early when it’s still too hot, and end up with food that is burned on the outside and raw in the middle.

Above all make a plan – allocate one section for your salads and one for your actual BBQ time and you will feel in greater control and end up with a better result.

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SUMMER BBQ RECIPES

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SUMMER BBQ RECIPES

STICKY BBQ RIBS INGREDIENTS • 2kg of pork ribs • (ask your butcher to prepare them) • 100ml olive oil FOR THE MARINADE • 1 fresh red chilli • 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger • 2 cloves of garlic • 150ml unsweetened apple juice • 100ml white wine vinegar • 2 heaped tbsp tomato ketchup • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard • 100ml low-salt soy sauce • 100g soft brown sugar

1.

2.

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/gas mark 6. Preheat your barbecue.

Drizzle a little oil over the ribs, season with sea salt and black pepper and rub all over to coat.

3.

Make the marinade. De-seed and finely chop the chilli, peel and grate the ginger and garlic then place them all in a medium pan along with the apple juice, white wine vinegar, tomato ketchup, mustard, soy sauce and brown sugar.

4.

Whisk the ingredients together and place the pan over a medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened. Put the ribs in a large roasting pan, brush with the marinade and cover with foil.

5.

Cook in the oven for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until the meat pulls away from the bone easily.

Baste the ribs with the marinade after 30 minutes. After 1 hour of cooking time remove the foil, baste and cook, uncovered, for the final 15 minutes, basting halfway through. Once your barbecue is hot, transfer the ribs to it. Cook over a mediumlow heat for 5 to 10 minutes.

Transfer the ribs to a board and cut them up. Serve in a big sharing bowl in the middle of the table.

PANNA COTTA WITH LEMON JELLY PANNA COTTA INGREDIENTS • 1 litre cream • 75g sugar • 500ml milk • 700ml natural yoghurt • 7 leaves gelatine • 3 lemons’ juice and zest

LEMON JELLY INGREDIENTS • 100ml lemon juice • 100g sugar • 100ml water • 1.5 leaves gelatine

FOR THE PANNA COTTA Soak the gelatine in cold milk until it has bloomed. Then warm on the stove until it has dissolved (at approx.

60°C) and once it has, stir in sugar to dissolve. To the cream add the yoghurt, lemon juice and the zest.

Now add the warm milk and pour into glasses. Allow to cool and set.

FOR THE JELLY Combine the sugar, water and lemon juice and allow gelatine to bloom, then warm until dissolved. When the jelly has cooled to almost its setting point, pour a thin layer over the already set panna cotta and return to fridge. When set, garnish with fresh raspberries, dried lemon zest and edible flowers.

How to make

Bbq saUce reCipE INGREDIENTS 1 chopped sweet onion 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced 1 tbsp olive oil 1 (32 oz.) bottle ketchup (such as Heinz) 1 cup of firmly packed dark brown sugar 1 cup of apple cider vinegar 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper 1 tsp Worcester sauce 1 tsp salt 1/2 cup of apple juice 1/2 cup of honey 1 tsp celery seeds 1/2 tsp dried crushed red pepper 2 garlic cloves, minced

Sauté onion, minced garlic, and jalapeño pepper in hot olive oil in a large saucepan over mediumhigh heat for 4 to 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in ketchup, dark brown sugar, vinegar, apple juice, kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, Worcestershire sauce, honey, celery seeds and dried crushed red pepper. Bring to the boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low; simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.

Allow to cool. Use immediately, or refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 1 month.

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07/07/2017 16:11

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HEATING SOLUTIONS

07/07/2017 26/04/2017 16:13 12:25

MOTORING

Mini

ENLARGING THE MINI’S NEW COUNTRYMAN OFFERS A MORE REFINED AND PRACTICAL VERSION OF ITS COMPACT CROSSOVER. BUT WILL IT ATTRACT A GREATER AUDIENCE? CONOR FORREST GOT BEHIND THE WHEEL TO DISCOVER MORE.

T

he new Mini Countryman might have ‘Mini’ emblazoned front and back, but there’s nothing small about it. The second generation of Mini’s chunkier compact crossover is larger and wider than its predecessor, though it’s a little sharper and leaner on the outside.

Looks might be subjective, but it’s fair to say the new Countryman isn’t good-looking in the traditional sense. Like all Minis since 2000, the Countryman has a bulbous air about it, like someone who’s overindulged a little too much at dinner. Having said that it’s got a nice stance on the road, and if you’re opting for a colour beyond the usual black or red, Island Blue with the go-faster Cooper stripes lends a great degree of attractiveness.

Things get better once you step inside. Considering the starting price tag of €40,802 you’d expect something with a premium feel, and Mini delivers. Gone is the slightly awkward large circular speedo, replaced by a more traditional instrument cluster. The quality of the materials (bar the plasticky door bins) is top notch, the sports seats are quite comfortable (and wouldn’t look out of place in a modern home), and the driving position is nice and high. The steering wheel is chunky but comfortable and quite minimalist, and the controls are relatively uncluttered, if a little scattered throughout the central console. The EAR TO THE GROUND 169

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MOTORING

The Stats MINI COOPER S COUNTRYMAN ALL4 ENGINE: 2.0L petrol BHP: 192hp 0-100KM/H: 7.2 seconds TOP SPEED: 222km/h CO2 EMISSIONS: 150g/km ANNUAL TAX: €390 PRICE: €40,802 (€53,602 as tested)

media centre features a 6.5-inch colour display controlled by a rotary dial that’s more awkward to use when compared to touchscreen alternatives.

Standard technology includes a simple and intuitive sat nav system, tyre pressure monitoring, rear parking sensors, cruise control and city braking, and the Countryman recently scored five stars in the Euro NCAP test.

A reversing camera would come in handy – the rear window is relatively small, and the chunky B pillar on the driver’s side hinders the view over your shoulder to some extent.

This new version scores high for practicality, a great option for families who need space to stretch out. Given

the extended wheelbase there’s even more leg and headroom front and back, aided by the optional panoramic sunroof (€1,284). It’s really just a four-seater, but there’s room for two adults in the second row, with two ISOFIX anchor points in the back. The boot is decent at 450L, stretching to 1,350L with the back seats laying flat, though perhaps aided by the lack of a spare wheel – the Countryman employs run-flat tyres, which could prove expensive when you go to replace them. The (optional) automatic boot lid can be opened and closed from inside or outside the car, and you can set the height at which it opens if, for example, you’re in an underground car park with a low roof.

Other options include a larger capacity fuel tank and a two-seater picnic bench that unfolds from the boot.

UNDER THE HOOD My test model was the Cooper S Countryman All4, a sportier version with a 2.0L turbocharged petrol engine producing 192hp, paired to an eightspeed automatic transmission. That sounds good on paper, however the Countryman is quite heavy thanks in part to the four-wheel drive system, though 0-100km/h in 7.8 seconds isn’t terrible. Combined with responsive steering the four-wheel drive makes it fun to drive on and offroad, with plenty of grip and negligible body roll. However, even in Sport mode (which sharpens steering and throttle response) it doesn’t feel hugely fast, though the rumble when you put the foot down is quite pleasant, and it’s quite refined at all speeds. It’s not overly fuel efficient, managing a quite uneconomical 9.4L/100km (30mpg) on average – nothing to write home about.

Irish buyers will likely choose the more economical diesel model – you can opt for the 2.0L diesel version in either 150hp D or 190hp SD editions, with the former reportedly returning up to 4.4L/10km (64mpg); a less powerful 1.5L petrol is also available.

Prices are forthcoming on a new plugin hybrid model of the ALL4, and if you want something even sportier the John Cooper Works model will set you back at least €49,840, powered by a 2.0L petrol engine with 227hp and 0-100km/h in 6.5 seconds.

Pricing will be the key differentiator for potential newcomers to the Mini brand. With the Countryman range starting from €32,979 for the entrylevel model, the All4 begins at €35,780 and quickly rises when you start to personalise, as Mini drivers are wont to do. But although there are cheaper options available within the compact crossover segment, such as the Nissan Qashqai, the Countryman does offer a more premium experience similar to the Volkswagen Tiguan or the Audi Q2, combining fun on the road with more impressive practical qualities.

For those who remain unconvinced by the idea of a large Mini at a premium price, the new Countryman will do little to sway their opinion. However, for the main target market – previous or current Mini owners who have already decided they like what the brand offers and are prepared to shell out for it – it’s not a difficult choice.

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11/07/2017 11:39

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OFF.White Background Indicator Apply above the tail between the hip and •• RUBS Will Not off, Peel (will not scratch so noOff or Curl Up false positives) MILKING pin bone. When mounted, the tag will turn •• 4 RUBS Bright Colors Available OFF. • “Heat Cyclenot Warning” (will scratch off, so no PARLOUR MATS Indicator White Background red. Branches and tail swish will not scratch Reliable. false positives) • Size: 3ftToo x 3ft xmany 16mm mountings willConvenient. off the tag! turn • Extremely tough & durable rubber Accurate. • 4 Bright Colors Available the• tag to white…probably meaning the Unique integral interlocking tabs Reliable. • “Heat Cycle Warning” ™ Order A.I.TAGS Today: Call 401-682-1555 heat cycle has passed!

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©2017 Discoveries 180, Inc. All Rights Reserved. A.I.TAGS and A.I.TAGS Rub-Off Heat Detectors are trademarks of Discoveries 180, Inc.

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©2017 Discoveries 180, Inc. All Rights Reserved. A.I.TAGS and A.I.TAGS Rub-Off Heat Detectors are trademarks of Discoveries 180, Inc.

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07/07/2017 16:19

MOTORING

CROSS COUNTRY WITH THE

CONOR FORREST GOT BEHIND THE WHEEL OF VOLVO’S NEW V90 CROSS COUNTRY.

V90

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E

arlier this year I spent a week behind the wheel of the Volvo S90, the first Volvo I’ve been in since the family 340, a 1991-plate hatchback better known for its safety than performance. An immediate contender in the executive market, the S90 is a fabulous car – powerful, comfortable, filled with gadgets and quite fun to drive.

The V90 (and its Cross Country version) is essentially an S90 with a squared rear end, albeit with a few tweaks here and there. It’s not quite as good looking, in my opinion, though both share sleek lines, a forward stance and that aggressive Volvo prow – there’s no mistaking it for anything else on the road.

Having said that, the V90 Cross Country is one of the most stylish estates on the market today, in a segment perhaps known more for EAR TO THE GROUND 173

11/07/2017 11:39

MOTORING

practicality than looks. Straddling the line between estate and SUV, it’s been raised 60mm compared to the ordinary V90 (offering a more composed ride), but doesn’t look awkward on the road.

Inside, the V90 boasts an aura of design and craftsmanship that you wouldn’t get in, say, a Dacia. Perhaps the only difference is that some of the seat controls are manual (it’s a hard life), though you might expect fully electric given a starting price tag of €55,495.

The dash is upmarket and uncluttered with most of the controls located in the central touchscreen, the seats are fabulously comfortable, with head and legroom present in buckets. The boot isn’t quite as big as I would have thought, though 560L rising to 1,526L with the seats down will undoubtedly cater for your everyday needs.

a pause when you put the foot down. My test car was powered by a turbocharged D5 engine producing 236bhp, a compact, flexible and swift diesel block that will charge from 0-100km/h in roughly 7.5 seconds. Despite its bulk and automatic transmission, the V90 was a little more fuel efficient than I thought, averaging 7.8L /100km (36mpg) – 700km on a full tank.

Thanks to the increased ride height and soft tyres it’s noticeably comfortable on the roads. The Cross County makes use of the Haldex four-wheel drive system (thus providing plenty of grip), alongside skid plates and hill descent, a mix between a soft and proper off-roader. It’s wonderfully planted on wet and icy roads, and is quite capable of handling tough off-road terrain, but if you wander into a particularly rough bog you’re unlikely to leave without the help of a tractor.

SAFETY FIRST Many of the V90’s features are unsurprising given Volvo’s reputation as a manufacturer that prides itself on

safety. Take the City Safety system, which keeps a digital eye on your surroundings, watching out for errant pedestrians or animals, while radar works to alert you to and prevent nasty rear end accidents.

The most interesting feature is Volvo’s take on semi-autonomous driving, Pilot Assist. A combination of adaptive cruise control and steering assistance, you simply engage and sit back as the car drives itself without any human input (you do need to keep your hands on the wheel.) It’s a fabulous if slightly nerveinducing system that’s among the best available on the market, though it’s more of a driver’s aid than a replacement. It’s hardly surprising, then, that the V90 scored five stars in the NCAP Safety test.

The V90 Cross Country isn’t perfect – boot space is lower than rivals from Audi and Mercedes, while it’s also a little difficult to park thanks to the positioning of the B pillar. On the other hand, it’s one of the best options should you want all the comfort, luxury and tech toys from an executive car wrapped up in a more rugged, country-friendly package.

EVERYDAY DRIVING It’s all very well looking and feeling the part, but does it drive as well as it looks?

Simple answer – yes. Despite being an estate, the V90 doesn’t feel all that slow compared to the S90, bar a little more of

The Stats VOLVO V90 CROSS COUNTRY AWD ENGINE: D5 PowerPulse BHP: 236 0-100KM/H: 7.5 seconds TOP SPEED: 225km/h CO2 EMISSIONS: 139g/km ANNUAL TAX: €270 PRICE: €65,891 (range starts at €55,495) 174 EAR TO THE GROUND

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11/07/2017 11:39

Aisling Meehan BA & ACC, AITI, FETAC (AGRI)

Office :: Rathlahine Farm, Newmarket-on-Fergus, Co. Clare.

Telephone :: 061 368 412 Mobile :: 085 738 6615 Web :: www.agriculturalsolicitors.ie

SOLICITOR, TAX CONSULTANT AND QUALIFIED FARMER Specialising in Agricultural Law and Tax Advice to include:

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Farm Transfers covering legal and tax aspects Succession Planning incorporating Tax Planning Department of Agriculture and EU schemes Partnerships, Share Milking, Share Farming, Contract Rearing, Cow Leasing • Farming Companies • Planning and Environmental Law • Land Law to include Rights of Way and Adverse Possession Claims

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10/07/2017 11:40

DOWN ON THE FARM

Down on the Farm

“THE LIFESTYLE IS VERY APPEALING, YOU’RE OUT AND ABOUT IN THE COUNTRYSIDE IN THE FRESH AIR.”

Like any young fella growing up on the farm, any time off or after school or anything you’d be up helping the oul fella. We used to milk cows, we got out of it a few years back, but in the early days I suppose I would have been around the milking parlour a lot, feeding calves, changing the fences with my dad and the dog, mixing the milk and feeding it to the calves with the bucket, bringing the cows in and out Tadhg Furlong of the parlour for the oul fella when he was milking them. I remember a lot of times when I was up in the back of the tractor and the oul fella was out spreading slurry or fertiliser on the land. The lifestyle is very appealing, you’re out and about in the countryside in the fresh air. You’re around livestock and machinery which is something I’ve always enjoyed.

You have flashbacks to when you were a bit more naive. The father... when you would be walking up beside the electric fence and he’d tell you ‘Touch that there to make sure it’s on’! We baled silage as a young fella, we’d stack it three high. As any young fellas would be, we were mad to climb all over it and jump around on the bales. The father used to always tell us they were after spraying it with stuff that would burn your hands if you jumped on top of it or if you touched it. We were always very fearful of that!

There are similarities [between farming and rugby] in terms of the planning and preparation of it, the dedication to it. A lot of the time when you’re playing rugby you make a lot of commitments, and you give up a lot to play the game. You don’t

PHOTO: MATT BROWNE/SPORTSFILE

LEINSTER AND IRELAND RUGBY PLAYER TADHG FURLONG CHATS TO EAR TO THE GROUND ABOUT HIS EARLY DAYS ON THE FAMILY FARM IN WEXFORD.

have weekends, you don’t have the usual holidays, you have a huge amount of commitment and you can see that in farming when you’re miking morning and evenings, holidays get affected.

You could imagine, the majority of the rugby players wouldn’t be from a country background, a lot of them grew up in cities.

A guy called Tom Denton made up a story that down in Wexford you have truffles growing in forestry, and we had three pigs that we used to go out with at the weekend hunting for truffles. You wouldn’t believe the amount of them that believed all this, the huge back story we had – only strawberries grow in Wexford, the same as truffles, the conditions are perfect. It got more people than you’d realise!

I think the scale of our farm, it probably wouldn’t be something you could live on for a full-time basis money-wise.

But it’s something definitely that I’d keep or I’d always have a few animals and cows, because it’s a great release, it’s a great style of life and it’s something I really enjoy.

176 EAR TO THE GROUND

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07/07/2017 16:28

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