For this blog post I wanted to interview farmers both young and old and get their perspectives on the climate crises and agricultures contribution towards climate change. I also wanted to get their views in relation to what the Irish government and the agricultural sector is doing, what they should be doing or what they would like to see done in order to reduce the agricultural sectors environmental impact.
The two farmers I interviewed both had a mixed dairy and beef farm where dairy was the main production on the farm while beef occupied a smaller proportion of the farm and was often just made up of Holstein Frisian or Angus bull calves which were born on the farm from the dairy cows. The two farmers also only used artificial insemination on the farm and had no stock bull.
The first farmer I interviewed is a young farmer based in Westmeath. He inherited the farm off his dad where it has been passed down through 3 generations. He expanded the farm slightly since taking it over by building new housing for cows and buying land to allow for a slight increase in stocking rate on the farm.
The second farmer I interviewed is an older farmer who’s farm is also located in Westmeath and who took over the farm from his father before him. This farm would be similar to the first farm with just a slightly smaller stocking rate. He plans on passing down his farm to his son in years to come.
The first section of the interview was about how they think farming and the climate has changed over the years. They both said that they think farming and climate has changed in the past 30 years. The young farmer answered this question from an economics perspective, noting that farmers are getting the same, if not slightly higher prices for their produce as 30 years ago yet input and workload is higher. The young farmer also believed that weather and climatic conditions are changing. Since he took over the farm he has seen an increase in winter storms and participation while summers are warmer. The older farmer described similar weather and climatic changes however, he also mentioned that throughout his farming career he has seen some the predicted climatic changes under warming conditions occur such as “heavy rainfall during a warm summers day” and believes it has always been there. In terms of changes to farming the older farmer believes that farming now is a lot more rigid in terms of paperwork and meeting quality standards. He also mentioned that farming has grown in terms of technology and thinking, that farming methods now are different to 30 years ago and that there is a lot more technology involved now such as “phones and laptops”. However, he believes this change is for the better with the quality of foodstuff being reflected in the market. Similar to the young farmer however, he believes for the work, inputs and high standards for the high quality products farmers produce they are still paid very little.
I then looked into their knowledge around climate change and low emission farming techniques. When asked if they know how climate change occurred both answered no and when asked do they know how agriculture contributes to climate change they both answered similarly and talked about excrement from cattle, fumes from machinery and the spreading of fertilizers. I then discussed with the farmers about low emission farming techniques and both named techniques such as dribble bar spreading or low emission slurry spreading. The younger farmer also mentioned the use of protected nitrogen as a low emission technique however his use is very limited as it is very expensive. I then questioned them about their decision making on the farm and if they take the environmental consequences into consideration when making decisions on the farm in which both responded no. They both mentioned that when considering decisions like this and they end up choosing the more ‘environmentally friendly’ option it is usually because of other benefits such as financial benefits. The examples the young farmer gave was that he always watches his spreading of nitrogen and makes sure not to overspread however, this is because of the rising prices of nitrogen and not for environmental reasons. The older farmer also said that when spreading manure he always keeps away from water sources such as rivers but his reasoning behind this is that the river is one of the main water sources for his livestock and he doesn’t want it contaminated. I then asked the two farmers about what would incentivise them to implement small changes or low emissions techniques to their farms which would benefit the environment and emissions, to which they both answered financial awards for doing so. I questioned the farmers about their use of low emission feeds and the changing of breeding management, for example the use of EBI and the use of low emission fertilisers. The older farmer said he has heard of these but has not tried them as they were too expensive and the younger farmer said that when he used EBI or low emission feeds that they were not producing the same output as those of the high emission techniques and also the price for such techniques were a lot higher. When asked about low emissions fertilizers the younger farmer said that they are too expensive to even try and when I proposed that if the financial difference was subsidised would he consider trying them he said yes. Similarly enough I asked the older farmers his opinions on the subsidisation of price difference and he thought it was a great idea as then farmers are producing the same produce for the same price with the intended end result of lower emissions.
I wanted to examine farmers education and training around climate change and low emission farming techniques. I asked for both farmers opinions on whether they think education around agriculture, climate change and different low emissions techniques is needed in Ireland. The younger farmer answered no while the older farmer answered yes. When quizzed about their awareness of any training or education in such areas both were not aware of any courses or training days as such however, they mentioned that they receive a lot of post in regards to such areas. Both mentioned that a lot of this stuff is seen as junk mail and is rarely read and that a lot of paper or card is being wasted sending this stuff out when it could be done electronically. The older farmer mentioned that in the past he has done training days for the REPS scheme however, this was over 10 years ago now and at the time he doesn’t recall much discussion around climate change or low emissions techniques.
I asked both farmers again as to what would incentivise them to take part in such training or education and they both mentioned they would do such training or education if there was financial benefits at the end of it. They mentioned that there would have to be in order to incentivise farmers as they will be giving up their own time to do such courses and training. When quizzed about what financial benefits they would like to see both mentioned better paying grants, increase in product prices and increase in subsidies such as the young person’s subsidies. The older farmer also mentioned that when doing such courses there should be flexibilities to times in which they are on, i.e not just night time courses and that everyone’s abilities should be took into consideration i.e their reading and writing abilities as he felt before this was not considered, again referring to the REPS scheme.
When I interviewed the two farmers about legislation in Ireland around climate change and agriculture they were both very unaware of Ireland’s climate targets and legislation, the economic, environmental and social implications of not meeting such targets and the mitigation and adaptation measures the Irish government want to implement in agriculture until 2050 (bar the low emission techniques that was discussed above). Both farmers knew that there were targets to meet however, were very much unaware of what they were and how exactly they were going to be achieved.
Finally, I asked both farmers opinions on what they believe needed to be done in relation to Irish agriculture and climate change. The younger farmer replied that he feels like there is a huge onus on the farmers in the supply chain. He felt the government and the environmental bodies should be looking to the other producers and suppliers within the food supply chain and start putting some onus on them. He suggested that if something has say a higher footprint then it should be dearer than those of a lower footprint. He has also noticed that in his weekly shop there is huge amounts of unnecessary plastic and packaging used and that this should all tried to be reduced instead of trying to put all the onus on farmers.
The older farmer said that the biggest change he’s noticed in his shopping in the past 30 years is the switch to the larger supply chains for food. He talked about his memories of when he was a child where everyone went to their local small supermarket and butcher for their food shop with the bare minimum being bought. Now he believes people are buying so much because the produce has gotten so cheap in bigger supermarket chains to which lots goes to waste. He also believes that again there is a huge blame put on farmers for climate change in comparison to other sectors such as energy and transport and that he would like to see more change in these sectors as well as the agricultural sector.
Overall these interviews proved to be successful in giving an insight as to where farmers knowledge is around climate change and agriculture in Ireland. It is evident that at the core of it all finance is the deciding factor and in order to encourage this wanted and needed ‘low carbon farming’ governments, environmental and financial organisations such as Teagasc need to start giving farmers more financial incentives to make the switch, otherwise change will not happen. I also feel like education of farmers around what actually needs to be done is important and especially education in the right way such as an interactive demonstration session rather than a classroom session (or a combination of both) to really highlight to farmers how their decisions can help us work towards low emission farming.