Ever wanted to know what a life in the week of an organic farming development worker would entail? Well, read on........
�Monday usually involves a bit of admin, organising upcoming training and paperwork to keep the funders happy� so says Sean McGloin of the Western Organic Network (WON). WON organise training all over Ireland for organic farmers, and for those considering the organic option. Sean, a graduate from the Ballyhaise Agricultural College, is the main organiser of these trainings, and in this capacity, is kept busy six days a week. And there�s more plotting and planning involved in this role that you�d imagine. An interesting life, but a busy one nonetheless.
�Last Monday, I was also working on getting another mobile butchers, as the Leitrim Organic Co-op�s one is attending a market in Dublin on the day it used to attend the Carrick-on-Shannon farmer�s market�. Monday also involved worked on organising a rare breed (Moiled cattle) training day in Antrim. A busy fella, and it�s still only Monday!
�On Tuesday I was at a very interesting workshop in Mountmellick. It was about what�s called care farming or social farming. It�s the idea that farms can be therapeutic centres, where people can come to work and learn. Because it would involve people with difficult backgrounds, mental and physical disabilities, depression, drug or alcohol problems, domestic violence and so on, getting funding for something like this would require a broad spectrum of cross cabinet departmental co-operation. And there isn�t much in the way of policy in this area, so there�s a lot to be done on it. However it is a promising area � over 40 people attended the workshop. Some groups are doing something similar already, like the Camphill communities, brothers of charity, St. John of Gods. Of course it can also be another income stream for farmers.�
Wednesday was the Teagasc organic production conference. �It was very upbeat, they were expecting 120 and got more like 160. And most of them were conventional farmers, which was great. A horticulturalist with 150 acres spoke of supplying hotels and catering in general, and avoiding the supermarkets altogether. Overall, the speakers were good, but one guy really stole the show. A fantastic guy, over from Australia, spoke about specialised machinery for organic horticulture. He was really enthusiastic and really professional .He did a fantastic presentation on mechanical weed control. Nobody could believe how far they�d come. He�s even invented his own small-scale machinery, which could easily be hooked up to a small tractor on a farm in the west of Ireland�
Thursday involved working on supplying organic lamb to the north east: �it�s one of the areas that the market hasn�t developed for. But Leitrim Co-op may have another contract for supplying organic lamb to a retailer � up to 2,000 a year. The logistics have to be worked out, quality, weights, continuity of supply, but it�s looking promising We�ll organise training for producers if it happens.� Sean also worked on the upcoming farmers� market conference in Athlone, did a bit of admin, and somehow squeezed in a bit of studying for his MA in Organic Agriculture, which he�s doing as distance learning through Aberdeen University.
On Friday, Sean had his weekly meeting on Septembers� food festival which will be held in Drunshanbo, and, of course, more admin and more paperwork � which, as you�ll probably see by now, is the bane of everyone who works in the funded sector�s life.
He didn�t do anything specifically organic-related on Sunday, he tells me. Somehow, I�d imagine he took the odd work-related call, and probably ended up talking shop with someone, somewhere.
The Western Organic Network can be contacted at:
Enterprise Centre, Hill Road, Drunshanbo, Co.Leitrim, on 071 9640688 or by email at info@westernorganicnetwork.com
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