Sandwiched in between two bitterly cold and frosty mornings, the recent Teagasc organic farming conference in Tullamore still managed to attract a very sizable crowd.
This event brought together all of the organic-related research Teagasc are doing at present. In attendance were many farmers and others involved in organic farming, from DAFF and Bord Bia to media, organic certification bodies, advisors, planners and more.
The large attendance of farmers was perhaps unusual for a conference of what might have appeared to be academic papers. However, the papers were quite targeted and thus useful for the farming community.
It was also noteworthy that a sizable number of those in attendance were farmers already converted to organic who wanted to up their game. The mood was workmanlike, and quite positive.
This was reflected in the presentations, all of which were by Teagasc staff.
The four themed sections were environmental performance of organic, farm management and animal health; milk, beef and lamb production; crop rotation and nutrient replacement and finally analysis and attitudes.
In the opening section, considering Teagasc have to work for both the conventional and organic sectors, it was perhaps suprising to hear such waxing lyrical about the environmental superiority of organics.
In a paper presented by Dan Clavin, the areas organic scored best in were biodiversity, lower pesticide use (related to some extent to point one) and soil conservation. In fact, of 15 subsections, only two revealed some negative results for organic farming and its environmental performance. Even then, (nitrous oxide and nitrate leaching) the positive outweighed the negative.
An inevitable limitation in this research, and acknowledged by the author and presenter himself, is the lack of comparative studies of organic and conventional in Ireland. His research was based on dozens of international papers.
This limitation is a clarion call for further research specific to the Irish situation. In particular, the extensive nature of much conventional farming in Ireland would no doubt make for an interesting comparative environmental dynamic between organic and conventional.
Another perhaps unavoidable limitation is the reductive nature of the scientific process itself. There is, in science, a place for everything and everything is in its place.
Consider this: the sectors where organic scored worst environmentally were poultry and egg production. This is essentially because the birds live for twice the length of time as their cooped up conventional counterparts.
In this case, certainly animal welfare and perhaps taste inhibit environmental performance. And that�s one of the reasons why they call it organic - that is, holistic farming: it is difficult to compartmentalise as its benefits are spread throughout the agri-food system.
Again, the lack of Irish research makes even this area fraught: many Irish organic poultry and egg systems are on a small scale and considerably more environmentally benign than comparative organic systems abroad.
Space will not permit each paper presented to be given a full review. Suffice it to say that the second paper in this section, Rachel Creamer�s presentation on soil, also pointed to the superiority of organic farming. Soil development is an integral part of the organic approach, so this comes as no surprise.
Pat Barry and Brendan Swan presented on converting to organic. They emphasised planning, and focused in particular on high quality forage, maintaining animal welfare and soil fertility. Clover emerged as the mainstay of forage, while various preventative health strategies and nutrient management techniques were presented.
A detailed and comprehensive presentation on animal health performance, with particular reference to the dairy sector concluded this session. This is too detailed to summarize. However, the low fertility of the Holstein type diary cow, notwithstanding other merits, did emerge as a concern.
While a snapshot of the research presented might not be otherwise useful to the reader, this event differed from many in terms of the availability of the research presented.
Attendees received a weighty booklet with almost all presentations upon arrival. This booklet is available by post from Teagasc or to download. the presentations will also be downloadable from the site. So if you have an interest in some above outlined area, get in touch with Teagasc.
See here or ring 059 917 0200
No comments:
Post a Comment