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Chapter 1: What is the Farming for Nature Festival and its purpose?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk. With Aviva Insurance.
And here we are from Ballykilkavan Farm and Brewery. Let's hear it from our audience who are managing to stay completely engaged despite the high temperatures. You're so very welcome. Thank you for being with us here today. Now, alongside the Newstalk Summer Tour, which is happening right here in beautiful County Laois, the Farming for Nature Festival is happening at Ballykilkavan.
farm and brewery. And there are hundreds of people who are engaged in all sorts of talks and conversations and discussions. Farmers from right across Ireland meeting together to talk about what is working for them and what isn't working for them in the sector. And they're asking questions around inheritance and succession planning and the future of CAP
plenty more besides so we have captured two of the people who are taking part we have farmer and former Minister of State Pippa Hackett here and farmer and journalist Hannah Quinn Mulligan thank you for coming from the farming festival to our news talk summer tour it's great to have you with us and as you came in I'm just interested to hear what are people talking about at the at the farming festival and the farming for nature festival in particular what are the topics that are coming up that interest you
From my perspective, I think people are very positive. Look, the weather helps, but there's always a positive vibe around all of these topics that are being discussed at the Farming for Nature Festival. When you introduce nature actually into farming, you get a whole different cohort of voices.
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Chapter 2: How are farmers discussing succession planning at the festival?
a different conversation and it's uplifting to be honest and it's inspiring and i think most people who will attend the day and a half here will leave with something new a nugget of something they hopefully will try on their farm or implement and i think that's very positive because And while it's still very upbeat and very festival feel, it's serious business that we're talking about.
How we can develop a system of farming that supports nature, supports biodiversity, builds habitats, because we know from what all the data tells us all the time, that is not the case. And so we have business owners here, people running their farms and showcasing how that can be done while supporting nature.
There's different types of farming, isn't there, in this country? You have the farming that aims to produce a lot of food for export. You have the farming that aims to produce food that is very low cost. And then you have the type of farming that I would assume a lot of the people who are at that Farming for Nature Festival do, which is different.
Not necessarily, and that's what's kind of interesting as well.
Probably when you hear farming for nature, you kind of think that we're all a bunch of hippies, but we combine on a couple of things, and I think I wasn't the only farmer having PTSD this morning because there's an array of beautiful vintage machinery, I say that in quotes, because one of the items was an old square baler, and I don't know if anyone listening remembers those square bales of hay or straw and stacking them as a child.
They're the only ones I know.
There you go, you see a lot of them, and I was chatting to a conventional tillage farmer, I'm an organic dairy and beef farmer, he's a conventional tillage farmer, and we were both looking at that machine, especially on a day as hot as today, and going, oh Jesus Christ, no, please no, don't take us back there, because he'd have more, he'd have like up to 20,000 bales to stack, but I guess that's kind of the interesting thing.
But you know what, the field is clear, and you get to roll down, if it has a good hill, there was nothing like it. But the
crack as well and actually my grandmother was talking about it and her sisters she was like the tea that was given to the men who back in that day who were like stacking bales she's like it never tasted any better and uh but the men would clear the plates they wouldn't leave any of the scones or jam for the children so if the children got any of like the scones or anything it was great
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Chapter 3: What positive trends are emerging in farming practices?
We do come from maybe different mentalities sometimes, but it is interesting what joins us. I just came from a talk with Minister Christopher O'Sullivan. He's obviously Minister of State, Biodiversity, National Parks and Wildlife. There are some big questions that he's going to have to answer though.
water quality and the EPA came out again saying that water quality levels aren't where they should be and they haven't improved significantly enough over the past year. We're the only country in Europe with a nitrates derogation now. There's big questions and problems there, but it's amazing the mix of farmers that are here are talking about those problems.
And just going back to the different models of farming, do they live together in harmony? Because when I described what I think I see, I think you were going to get to the point, Anna, where you were going to tell me that I was wrong on asserting that there were almost three models working there.
There is an element there of maybe an old hippies club as well, and then there is maybe an element, and people know this sometimes, that organics is sometimes looked down upon by conventional farmers and vice versa. Ultimately, I think we can learn a lot from each other. And maybe it's the weather, maybe I'm in a positive mood. Usually I'm a bit more cynical about this.
But I do think actually we get so lost, not just agriculture, but every sector in a rabbit hole on the internet of shouting at each other. And I was at a talk yesterday and a woman came barreling up to me and she's like, I disagree with you on this.
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Chapter 4: How can farming support biodiversity and nature?
But actually we sat there and we talked it out and it was really nice. And that's the way to do it, isn't it?
Yeah. But we feed a lot of people overseas, don't we, with the food that we produce here. But is it our job to feed millions of people? I mean, we're talking tens of millions of people who enjoy Irish produce. But there is a cost, isn't there?
Well, absolutely. And, you know, there is that argument, you know, we're here to feed the world. And I'm doing quotes as well. But when you look at the figures, I mean, give or take, if it's between 20 million and 50 million, you hear different numbers of people we feed. It's still way less than 0.01%. 4% of the world's population. So actually, we're not feeding the world with our food.
We are feeding people, and largely Western people with Western diets.
Chapter 5: What challenges do farmers face regarding water quality?
And we're not feeding many sub-Saharan African people, unfortunately, with our food. So I'm always a bit sensitive with that term, feeding the world. But what we do and what we can do is produce excellent food. But, as you say, the data, and as Hannah said, the data continually tells us the way we're farming and other sectors have an impact too, is having a detrimental impact on our nature.
Our bird numbers are collapsing, insect numbers are collapsing. They sort of continue to collapse and that's why events like this are so critically important because they gather together farmers who are trying things differently
it might not work but they're willing to try and it's that open-mindedness we need now in agriculture into the future try something different it's not maybe what you were told for the last 20 30 40 years or by your parents before and that's actually what we're seeing even the project I'm running at the moment
The farmers that are engaging in regenerative and organic practices, they tend to be younger. They're younger than the average farmer. There's actually more female farmers in those cohorts. And I've had the privilege, as a minister, to travel all around the country and meet all sorts of different farmers. And a hand on heart.
Most of the time it's the female on the farm She might not be the name on the herd number But she's the one who has driven the innovation on the farm and you know this shows in the project I'm involved with the moment project baseline that higher numbers of women are involved in that activity and I think there is hope there because I But we can engage women more.
Can you make a living farming like that though?
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Chapter 6: How do different farming models coexist in Ireland?
Absolutely.
I would think the wider perception is that you need to get all of the payments in for the beef and that's how we're designed. Hannah's going to give you a good example of her farm.
And I don't mean that there are other farm shops and other diversifications out there, but I mean we were a struggling beef farm growing up and but I was always kind of maybe organically minded and when I eventually came home from kind of journalism I converted the farm to a farm shop. It started with an honesty hut, selling eggs at the end of the drive.
And now, over three and a half years, I cannot keep up with demand in the farm shop. We do organic beef, pork, dairy. We do raw milk, kefir, ice cream, everything. And we have over 200 customers a week, and we're open three days a week. And that's working for you as a business. I'm employing staff. More important than that, it would not matter tomorrow if I lost all my farm subsidies. Really?
It wouldn't matter.
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Chapter 7: Can farmers successfully transition to organic practices?
It wouldn't matter. That's an incredible message, Junior. It's insane. I scare myself sometimes because it's grown so quickly. And I'm not the only person who could do this. And I was saying, and I'm not individualising it as well, and I have issues with the Greens, but some positive things that they did do and PIPA did do was an organic processing grant.
And equipment I couldn't afford initially, I was able to afford because there was a 60% grant there. it was very easy to apply to. It was very easy to get the money back. In contrast, I am trying now to apply for a straw bedded shed for my cattle because I need it to comply with organic standards and through the conventional TAMS grant targeted agricultural mechanization scheme.
And it's a nightmare. It is a nightmare. Getting planning, first of all, is a nightmare. And then going through the system, and it's so slow. We're talking about a project I need for my business that's going to cost the farm business over 100,000 euro, and I'm going to be able to bankroll it, which is amazing.
Chapter 8: What innovative business models are farmers exploring?
It's the first time the bank's been positive about me. but I'm having serious difficulty as a farmer doing that. And I'm not the only farmer out there as well having difficulty.
And it absolutely shouldn't be like that. It doesn't make any sense. Well, listen, I'm going to let you get back to farming. Did you bring any of those nice products? It's gone. I'm really sorry.
It's gone. You had it for your breakfast. Yeah, I did. I had a load of Greek style yogurt. You would have loved it.
I would have loved it. You're absolutely right. Hannah, we'll get you again. Hannah Quinn Mulligan and Pippa Hackett, thank you both for being with us. And the Farming for Nature Festival is happening alongside us here, alongside the Newstalk Summer Tour. Plenty more to come from County Leash. Do stay with us.
The Clare Byrne Show with Aviva Insurance. Weekday mornings at nine on Newstalk. Conversation that counts.
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