a biodynamic farmer in wicklow: Ernest, aubracs and a whole load of challenges

(noite: I'll have a comprehensive article on biodynamics in Food and Wine magazine soon)

All farmers work hard, but, pound for pound, the scattered few biodynamic farmers here in Ireland work harder. What�s more, they do so for no mark up, at least in the Irish situation.

Ernest Mackee is one such rare breed. In fact he�s a rare breed with a rare breed: Aubrac cattle.

Biodynamics as a type of organic farming deserves an article, perhaps a sequence of articles, to be explained. I won�t do this today. However, I will tell you that it involves an awful lot of dawn starts, occasional hours of spinning work, making complex sprays and preparations to harmonise your farming practices with the broader cosmos and the earth itself, the heroic building of uber-healthy compost, and all, as I said, for no real mark up. An organic mark up, yes, but no extra mark up for being biodynamic:

�Demeter has no market value separate to organic� according to Michael Miklis, administrator of the Biodynamic Association of Ireland.; �we haven�t broken the mould of organic�.

Biodynamic farmers� situation is also made me difficult by the fact that there are so few of them, and their certification body has ceased being a certification body recently. Demeter found the �8000 per year fee to be a certification body too high, in a context where they only had a 15 or so certified biodynamic producers. The other organic farmers who availed of their organic certification, while being more numerous, didn�t make enough of a significant difference for Demeter to remain in certification.

Ernest Mackee, up Donard in the hills of Wicklow, is one of the handful of biodynamic practitioners in farming in Irleand. Ernest has Texel-Belclare crosses and a pedigree heard of Aubrac cattle on his 137 ha.

�The reason I�m biodynamic is to improve the soil structure of the land and the health of the animals. It�s a holistic system. These improvements are gradual, but very noticeable over the 11 yrs I�ve been biodynamic. It�s a steady, slow process. The roots go down into the ground quite deeply, and they bring up the trace elements�.

Biodynamic farming is in many ways an act of faith. There is research to back up what Ernest says � the DOC trials in Switzerland. The problem is that the results are understood but the process by which the soil quality improves isn�t � at least not by the scientific community.

I asked Ernest how he knew it was better than conventional or standard organic: �I suppose I�ve been at it so long. I�m farming 46 yrs � I started when I was 16 yrs of age. Back then, there was a lot of fertilizer being spread. There were super phosphorous subsidies to nationally increase fertility - it really took off in 60s, 70s and 80s.�

With this many years in farming, and with the experience of going organic before going biodynamic, Ernest can lay a reasonable claim to knowing the pace at which a sward grows and regrows.

Ernest gets a good return from his Aubracs. �They are hardy and suited to a forage diet�. This is important in a context whereby, in his own words, �the price of meal has gone bananas�. This also means that Ernest�s customers get 100% grass-fed beef, which is increasingly showing up as a positive in research and is generally becoming more sought after.

�They also calve easily. They are not huge cattle, and they�re easy to maintain�.

All very well, but where�s the beef?

�They don�t necessarily have less meat� Ernest tells me. �Some of the big cattle have huge bones. The Aubrac kill out rate can be as high as 80%. Some get E grades. Their bone structure is small, so there is a lot of saleable meat on them. They are more like Aberdeen Angus size than Dexter size. They�re not monsters like Emmental or Charlois�.

His returns speak for themselves: Ernest� animals consistently achieve just under the top 25% returns rating, when compared to the National Farm Survey Figures.

And yet, apart from a small number of private customers, much of his meat ends up in Superquinn as organic only. Better soil, better animals � shouldn�t he get better pay?

Ernest can be contacted on: 045 404973; the Biodynamic Association of Ireland on 056 7754214. A Teagasc farm profile of Ernest� s holding can be found by clicking on �farm profile� at www.biodynamic.ie