This week on the Organic Matters Podcast, we speak with Mary Lynch, an independent organic advisor and ACA member who also runs a mixed suckler beef and tillage farm with her husband in Co. Tipperary. Mary reflects on how organic farmers are currently dealing with dry conditions and the value of incorporating red clover and multi-species varieties into grasslands, where appropriate, to support more climate resilience on farm. She touches on the fact that drought conditions still come with their own challenges when it comes to re-seeding or stitching as well as maintaining a good sward over this period. Elsewhere, Mary talks about ongoing trials on ‘living mulches’ that they are undertaking and the results so far. This involves an oat crop being directly sown into a multi-annual cover of small leaf white clover with the aim of stimulating soil biology and assisting with weed suppression. She also shares her own experience on how the family farm finishes cattle on grass, capitalising on grass-clover ley in their arable rotation.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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