There can be no doubt that Irish agriculture is going through a very difficult time right now. Our beef sector is in crisis, imported boatloads of GM maize are setting the price on Irish grain, while our dairy industry is scrambling to address rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and a very sensitive dairy bull calf issue.

The recent protests at the gates of Irish meat factories and the farmer anger at some of the IFA hustings around the country highlight the frustration and even exasperation being felt by many Irish farmers today.

Yet for all the anger and despair, last week’s BioFarm conference in Portlaoise was one of the most positive and uplifting farming conferences you could hope to attend.

There was not one mention of Larry Goodman, bad prices, Brexit or nitrates derogations. Instead, there were hugely positive and engaging discussions about biological farming techniques, improving farm biodiversity and making healthy profits from farming.

The conference had farmer speakers from Australia, the US, Germany, the UK and Ireland, with discussions on agro-forestry, biological farming, restoring biodiversity in soils, mob grazing and multi-species grass swards.

Only in its second year, the annual BioFarm conference brings together farmers from all sorts of backgrounds although most attendees are organic or self-styled biological farmers. However, it was striking the large number of conventional farmers in the room, who are obviously looking for a different approach in their farming system.

Speakers

The keynote speech at this year’s BioFarm conference was delivered by Dr Christine Jones, an Australian expert on soils and regenerative farming practices.

Other speakers included Andy Howard, a no-till farmer from Kent using combi-cropping techniques, Rob Havard, a UK beef farmer who has built over 200 species into his multi-species grass swards, and Wil Armitage, a dairy farmer who once won the coveted gold cup for having the highest-yielding herd in the UK but has since switched to organic production.

Unsurprisingly, an enormous amount of the discussion over the course of the two-day conference was about soils and what can be done to build organic matter in soils and reintroduce biodiversity into the farming system. This approach was neatly summed up by conference chair Darragh McCullough as “ground-up instead of round-up.”

Thomas Fouhy, a tillage farmer from Co Cork, was another highlight of the conference as he explained his farming system, in which he grows a vast array of crops including rye, buckwheat, linseed, oilseed rape, malting barley, beans, peas, quinoa, triticale, lentils, radishes, phacelia and even borage.

What links all of these farmers is not only their focus on working with nature but also their focus on the bottom line. Most of the farmer speakers were conventional farmers that got disillusioned with the N-P-K approach and cut out spending on inputs like fertiliser and chemicals to make healthier profits from their business.

ICOS conference

The optimism of the BioFarm conference was in stark contrast to the topics of discussion at the ICOS annual conference last Thursday in the Killashee Hotel in Kildare. Speaking at the ICOS conference, the Department of Agriculture’s chief inspector Bill Callanan warned about the impact nitrogen usage is having on water quality and biodiversity in Ireland.

“By 2027 we’re required to deliver a good water status across Ireland. About 70% of water bodies are in a good status today. The trend was positive but it has reversed in the last couple of years. For the last reporting period, water quality has declined by about 3%. Agriculture alone is not the sole problem but in terms of the loading it is quite a significant contributor. At the same time, about 70% to 75% of habitats in Ireland are described as being in poor status by EU and Irish reports,” said Callanan.

Fertiliser

According to Callanan, the big driver of a lot of this is fertiliser usage. Nitrogen usage on Irish farms is up 10% every year since 2016 in volume terms.

“Whatever way you look at it, the recovery of nitrogen from the system is modest against what’s put in. The more nitrogen you use, the more you lose. That’s a simple fact. And it’s something that needs to be arrested,” said Callanan.

Irish agriculture is under more scrutiny than ever before and the industry’s reliance on nitrogen fertiliser is being called into question for its impact on the environment. Many of the answers to farming without nitrogen could be found at the BioFarm conference.

However, it was also clear from the event that farming in this way is not simple. All of the speakers last week were excellent farmers and right on top of their game, both technically and financially.

It’s clear that these farmers put a huge amount of thought into the why and the how of what they do. It won’t be for every farmer but for those looking for a different approach, next year’s BioFarm conference could be for you.