Patrick Kavanagh’s famous rebuke of the “stony grey soils of Monaghan” could take on a whole new meaning in light of recent Teagasc research, The Dealer is led to believe.

Lamenting that his early years were spent working the difficult ground around his native Inniskeen, Kavanagh claimed that the rocky soils of Mullahinsha, Drummeril and Black Shanco had effectively “burgled” his “bank of youth”.

Ironically, stony ground could be about to do a similar job on the carbon sequestration rates for soils nationally, according to the Teagasc scientists. Basically, Teagasc studies found that the higher the stone content in the soil, the lower the soil organic carbon (SOC). That’s because stone does not sequester carbon.

In fact, the presence of large quantities of stone in soils can lead to an overestimation of SOC by as much as 388%, Teagasc estimated.

It’s not the best of news for all those landowners who thought they’d make a tidy few bob sitting back and farming carbon.

But, then, as The Dealer’s mother was wont to say: “Easy money is a rare commodity.”

Unlike stones, unfortunately.