JOHN FEEHAN ON OMEGA BEEF DIRECT FARM PARTS 1 AND 2

I would highly recommend going over to the Organics with Altitude blog and having a read of John Feehans' 2 parter on the Omega Beef Direct Farm, which has just been posted over there.

here

Dr. John Feehan is probably the most knowledgeable person on the history, heritage and current state of farming and rurality in Ireland. He also has a healthily big picture view of global issues without loosing his rural focus. A delicate pathway, but one he navigates seamlessly.

GETTING OUR OATS: A TALE OF BUMBLEBEES AND BEEF

(Part one of this feature is here)

Organic oats are becoming attractive for farmers.

One such farmer is Richard Galvin of Portlaw in Waterford.

�I've been in oats for ten years, and for the last five I've been organic� Richard tells me.

Organic beef's feed needs, as well as Flahavan's desire for 1800 tonnes, are driving demand.

Explaining why he decided on organic oats, he states �I was growing beet and when the contract went, conventional tillage wasn't really worth it. We tried it, but we could see that oats were the better option: they cold be grown commercially and of course Flahavan's were interested too.�

He continues �also, there weren't a huge number of farmers interested in growing oats then and we reckoned that the market was increasing: people were becoming more more health conscious.�

Galvin gets about 2 tonnes to acre, which can go back to 1.5 depending on crops and mulching. �I also use a permitted organic sludge. I don't have livestock so I don't have dung, which can be a bit of a drawback.�

While the price remains relatively strong for organic oats, one thing worth considering in calculations, according to Galvin, is the rotation.

�People think its a good price, but you have to look at it on a 5 year cycle: two out of five years its idle. Now, you can do something with the clover, but nonetheless its not the same as a crop every year�

Organic oat crops are long rather than short straw. This allows the crop to surpass the weeds: without herbicides, short straw varieties would find it difficult to compete with the weeds in the fields. Long straw also helps aerate the crop and thus works against mildew.

Even then, as with other sectors in organic farming, there are permitted inputs to help with pest and weed management: �I do use a bit of what's permitted; a little sulfur on mildew, but mostly it looks after itself. For example ladybrids eat the aphids � I saw more ladybrids this year than ever before, and I put that down to the fact that I'm not using pesticides�.

He continues �you would notice an increase in wildlife on the farm when you don't use pesticides. There are more insects and then more birds, and we have an incredible number of bumblebees this year too. With the white clover in at the orchard, I never saw so many bumble bees before as this year.�

His orchard is the second key enterprise on the farm, and a growing one at that. 30,000 fruit trees are already yielding a crop for Galvin, while he is planting another 4000 apple trees in November. Of his 110 acres, 10 are now orchards.

Red Johnogolds are the variety grown. He supplies Simply Organics, and while some are sent to distributors in Northern Ireland, the majority go to Tescos.

Elstar is used as a pollinator, while Galvin is also going to trial between 600 and 1000 Delbars, which are an early red variety.

In a promising sign of the market for Irish organic apples, he is considering planting another four acres next year.

As with every food enterprise, the trick is to stay one step ahead of the market. Three short years ago, organic oats were getting abut 100E per tonne more than they are now.

However, the need for feed in organic beef and sheep should keep the price at least stable, as tillage farmers can simply start to supply organic beef or sheep farmers if the price gets too low.

And, as Richard Galvin shows, there is plenty of sense in tillage farmers having more than one product and more than one route to market.

GETTING YOUR (ORGANIC) OATS: HERE THERE AND EVERYWHERE

1800 tonnes of Irish organic oats are now used by Flahavans in their products, up from just 100 tonnes in 2008.

This is quite a jump, as in 2008 the majority of the oats in Flahavans organic products were sourced from abroad, including from far flung territories like Argentina and Canada.

Now between 60% and 75% of their organic oats are sourced in Ireland.

I met John Noonan, sales and marketing director with Flahavans at the National Organic Awards at Bord Bia's offices in Dublin.

Their jumbo porridge oats were commended at the awards in the sustainability category, because of some of the environmental innovations they have recently carried out.

(pic from bibliocook - great site!)

Along with the recyclable packaging, the processing plants themselves are now more sustainable: The burning of the outer shell of the oat powers the boiler, which generates steam for the cooking process.

They also generate electricity from the original millstream alongside their mill, which will soon be the only mill left in Ireland.

Their recent upscaling and upgrading of their processing facilities involved an investment of E1.7 million on drying, grain handling and storage equipment: they can now store 4000 tonnes of organic oats.

Vital for Ireland Incorporated, Flahavans have been leading the charge on exports, with 20% of their sales now going to foreign markets. This is primarily to the UK, where over 200 Tescos and a slightly smaller number of Waitrose stores carry their products, along with Wholefoods and Tree of Life.

More recently the Spanish market has opened up for them, whilst they are also initiating sales to the US.

Of the four Teagasc's organic advisors, James McDonald covers the south east. He thus has his ear to the ground when it comes to the organic tillage sector.

Growth in the sector he puts down to the efforts made by Flahavans to build Irish production of oats: �Flahavans have attended numerous farm walks and conferences over the last two years. They have been very publicly looking to increase the number of farmers who supply them.�

He continues: �The price has been reasonably good for oats for the last couple of years too. 2 years ago they were paying E400 per tonne. Last year, it was still strong but back to E340 a tonne.�

These reasonable prices encouraged farmers into organic, and also encouraged farmers who did not previously have tillage to to take on some oats as part of their mixed enterprise.

However, according to McDonald: �Tillage now is as valuable as a feed crop� as the price paid for feed is almost if not actually the equal of the processor price:

Indications are that organic oats will fetch just E300 per tonne this year.

In effect, the organic beef and sheep sectors are defining the price of the oats as much as Flahavans. This may have the effect of putting a floor beneath any further price drops, as growers can simply turn to the feed market.

And with, by a considerable distance, the biggest progress being made in beef and sheep in terms of conversion to organic in recent years, including 2010, this situation is likely to continue.

According to McDonald: �for example, one farmer I was dealing with went in (to the organic farming scheme) on the 15th May with 100 sucklers. He'll need 80 or 90 tonnes to finish. So organic beef growth is driving demand, as is the euro exchange rate.�

The latter effects the price of imports from the UK, where significant increases in organic oat production, for the feed export market, have been noted in recent years.

This all points to a stable and reasonable situation for organic oat growers in Ireland: not as well rewarded as two years ago, but then, very few people in any sector, farming or otherwise, are.

Next, we'll talk to one of the tillage farmers who supplies Flahavans, Richard Galvin of Portlaw in Waterford.

YEO VALLEY, YEO VALLEY, BIG UP THE MASSEY MASSIVE....or something.

Have a look at this: quite funny, and decent too I'd say.

Farming never looked quite so funky. (Even being retweeted by the mainstream farming twitterati - yes, they also exist!)

NEW GM REPORT ON SOY RAISES CONCERNS

�The weight of evidence from scientific studies, documented reports, and on-farm monitoring shows that both GM RR (Roundup Ready) soy and the glyphosate herbicide it is engineered to tolerate are destructive to agricultural systems, farm communities, ecosystems, and animal and human health. The conclusion is that GM RR soy cannot be termed sustainable or responsible.�

That's according to the recently published report, GM Soy Sustainable? Responsible?

As part of the renewed Programme for Government, there are commitments to make Ireland GM-free, and to GM-free labelling.

According to Green Party Agriculture Spokesperson Trevor Sargent TD, (previously Junior Minister at the Department of Agriculture): �This is a concerning study, which concludes genetically modified soya endangers human and animal health. It also identifies real problems with the herbicides that must be used in conjunction with this GM crop and highlights the damage that GM causes to the environment and to the rural communities where it is grown.�

The report summarises peer reviewed research and other studies into GM, and is authored by 9 senior scientists, including experts in biosciences, molecular embryology and ecology .

According to the report, though the vast majority of land (99%) and farmers (90%) don't grow GM crops, soy is exceptional: �More than 95 per cent of GM soy (and 75 per cent of other GM crops) is engineered to tolerate glyphosate herbicide, the most common formulation of which is Roundup. This allows the growing crop to be sprayed with glyphosate, killing weeds but allowing the crop to survive.�

This has led, the authors claim, to: the emergence of superweeds; increased herbicide use; land abandonment; lower yields; higher costs; reduced nutrient uptake; increased pests and diseases and increased use of fossil fuels in the production of such Soy crops.

Some of these are also factors with the no-till approach to farming that accompanies GM soy, they claim.

Indeed the combination of no till and heavy herbicide use in GM Soy production has contributed to rapid negative changes for South American farming: these include soil erosion, loss of soil fertility, loss of biodiversity (including farming biodiversity) and deforestation.

The report also states that GM Soy in South America has led to; less varied and nutritious local diets; concentration of power and resources in fewer hands and displacement of rural dwellers, including forcibly in Paraguay.

The authors claim that Glyphosate and Roundup are highly toxic to many organisms and to human cells:

Professor Andr�s Carrasco's research has linked glyphosate herbicide to birth defects �in frog and chicken embryos, in doses much lower than those used in agricultural spraying�.

Carrasco commented, �the findings in the lab are compatible with malformations observed in humans exposed to glyphosate during pregnancy.�

Severe health problems were also cited amongst villagers and farm labourers from aerial spraying of glyphosate on GM Roundup Ready soy, a practice now banned in some regions.

According to Trevor Sargent: �GM soya is predominately used in Ireland for animal feed, but GM-free options are available.�

He pointed out that Irish producers could profit if they embraced the market opportunities of GM-free meat and dairy produce:

�I would call on grain importers to ensure availability of GM-free soya into the Irish market so that farmers can cater for a growing market demand for GM-free feed produce. A move to feeding animals GM-free feed would result in only an additional 3c per kilo in the retail price of pork or 2c in the price of chicken.�

Critics would argue that:

This report in itself is not a peer reviewed report, it summarises peer reviewed and other information.

No all contributors are GM specialists; some are from broader areas like ecology.

Peer reviewed studies have suggested the oppose in many cases: e.g. no till, pesticide use reduction, yield.

The report conflates GM with generic corporate power.

There are major expert and institutional backers of GM Soy in agri-food, and also in some cases in environmental and development, (e.g. Plant Research International, members of the Round Table on Responsible Soy)

Nonetheless, this report is revelatory about global agri-food, especially in a third world context.

OLLIE ELSEWHERE

I don't just post here you know!

Here's a feature I have in the current edition of Organic Matters on an organic food business in Offaly, Clanwood farm.

Don't forget there's also a why eat organic in a recession by me on the organic supermarket website too.

BALLYDEHOB FOOD DAY SUNDAY 3RD OCTOBER

Very very busy foodie weekends coming up events in Dingle, Kinsale and Ballydehob - and probably more!

Me, I'm speaking about farmers becoming food businesses this Sunday in Ballydehob. More specifically, I'm speaking about changing over from being a commodity producer to being an organic food business.

So if you are in the area on Sunday, pop by: lots going on, lots of talks,...learn about seaweed cooking, wine making, climate change, nut trees, Community Supported Agriculture...there's a panel devoted completely to gardening, there's permaculture, and yes kids stuff too!

And it being West Cork, plenty of the people talking about doing these bits and pieces are doing it, and doing it really well too.

Lots of stalls with local food too.

For more details see here

We'll also have our Box of Delights stall there too, if you are feeling like some organic delectables