ORGANIC GROWERS OF IRELAND

Producer groups can very effectively work well for clusters of farmers or growers. While they have a chequered history, there are plenty of good working examples, such as the Wexford Fruit Producers.

Another horticultural example of a producer group is the recently formed Organic Growers of Ireland.

(pic: organic basil crop)

This new group was established by certified organic horticulturists, who felt that their own needs and interests were not being sufficiently represented.

The OGI are modeled on the UK's Organic Growers Alliance. The UK group aims to bring growers together to help promote and represent growers' interests, as well as accrue other benefits from sharing experiences.

It has emerged as an effective body for interacting with certification and state bodies on behalf of organic growers in the UK.

The Irish version, the OGI, have similar aims and objectives. Initiated at an Organic Conference in Birr in March 2009, already they have held a number of horticulture walks in various locations around Ireland.

There were 6 in 2009, including on the holdings of the Kearns sisters in Roscommon, and Jonathan Doig in Cork.

Five more again have been held this year, including a recent return to the holding of Deirdre O Sullivan and Norman Kenny in Kildare.

OGI have also made submissions to the relevant authorities. These include to the Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Food with regard to developing the sector.

This submission noted that organic horticulture was historically underfunded and under represented, and that the targets in the Organic Action Plan did not necessarily chime well with the needs of organic horticulturists.

This suggested the appointment of a horticultural development officer, with responsibility to provide training and supports for new and existing growers, and to work on mentoring, advice and market development.

The submission also cited other key areas requiring attention, including �third level and post graduate education in organic farming, an organic apprenticeship scheme, research, on-going market development and financial supports for growers.�

There has been some movement on this horticulture appointment in recent times: however, as of yet, no one has been recruited for the post.

The group hold their first conference and AGM on Monday 22nd November. This will be held in the suitably mid-Ireland location of Kilcormac county Offaly, in the Kilcormac Development Association Hall, from 10am-4pm. (Kilcormac is on the N52 main road between Birr and Tullamore, Co. Offaly)

Topics for the morning session include the following:

The potential for commercial production of organic seed varieties, with Peter Bourke, head gardener from the Irish Seed Savers Association (ISSA), and Madeleine McKeever from Brown Envelope Seeds in Cork.

The ISSA have 8 hectares in Scariff, east Clare, where they research, locate, preserve, educate about and use traditional varieties of fruits, vegetables, potatoes and grains. Brown Envelope Seeds are based in Skibbereen in Cork, where they have produced and distributed vegetable seeds from, since 2004.

Both have, in no uncertain terms, pioneered the development of organic seed availability in Ireland.

As there is a new initiative from SuperValu to increase the amount of Irish-grown vegetables on sale in their stores, a representative from Supervalu will also be speaking, as will Kinsale's Colum O' Regan, who has been involved in this new venture.

There will also be presentations on irrigation in polytunnels and on a field scale with Billy Clifford (Kerry) and Dirk Flake (Galway), as well as a representative of P and A supplies, who supply pumps and irrigation equipment.

Finally, there will be a presentation on compost and compost teas with Michael Miklis, a biodynamic farmer and grower based in Killkenny.

In the afternoon, the OGI will have a general meeting, where they will plan their upcoming activities. A number of trade stands will also be in attendance.

All told this day should be of interest to anyone interested in or currently growing, organic horticulture crops.

Price for the day is �30 (includes a 25% reduction from National Organic Training Skillnet) which includes an organic lunch and tea/coffee.

For more: irishorganicgrowers@gmail.com, NOTS, or 071 96 40688.

rare breeds: organic pigs in Ireland

The big boys import organic pork into Ireland, the smaller are v small. The artisan producers often do a good job, but aren't much bigger than the small organic guys.

Here's a profile on the Moles in Roscommon, certified organic farmers with pigs.

Ted and Kay Mole are a rare breed with a rare breed cross. This is because they are certified organic pig farmers with Brightwell Blues.

They have been farming near Strokestown in Roscommon since 1996, and have been certified organic since 1998. Like some many in the world of artisan and organic farming, the Moles have a complex, interconnected and imaginative enterprise, with as much of the end point retail profit kept for themselves as possible.

They farm a 25 acre mixed farm. The Moles have 100 geese (which incidentally are amongst the best converters of feed to meat in the business), ducks, sheep, garden vegetables, an orchard, a range of fruit trees including pear and plum, and a crop of medicinal herbs. The latter are grown to contract for Leitrim-based Irish Organic Herbs. This crop includes Echinacea, red sage, sheep sorrel, and wild carrot.

A three year field rotation is carried out, to avoid any disease and parasite build up. They have to balance the benefits of dung with the damage caused by digging and foraging, in terms of soil structure and earthworms. Test plots are also grown for various reasons, including assessing geese feeding preferences.

Pigs are central to their enterprise.� The pigs here are mostly Brightwell blue, which is the best cross for outdoors. It�s a saddleback and landrace cross� according to Ted. Ted stocks up to four sows at any one time along with Eric the boar.

Feed price is obviously a concern. However, necessity breeds ingenuity, so they have found a few ways around it. Ted grows his own forage crops, buys in bulk feeds and sells feeds on from the farm gate by the tonne and in 25kg bags.

Whole and rolled wheat, oats, triticale, triticale/beans, peas and seaweed meal, as well as 2 year in-conversion oats are currently available. All are suitable for certified organic farmers � including the 2 year in conversion oats. The latter are especially affordable at present: 440/tonne whole, 500/tonne rolled, 12.50/25 kg bag whole, 14/25 kg bag rolled.

While they sell the equivalent of 50 pigs a year, the Moles don�t sell their pigs on. �Economically, it just couldn�t make sense. Instead, we use a local butcher, Sean Connolley in Ballinasloe�. They cure to their own recipe, and sell from the farm. While some of their other meat products go through a local co-op, the various pork cuts they sell are snapped up at the farm shop.

Strokestown may not have a large population base closeby, locally or regionally, but committed consumers can seek out the good stuff when it�s available.

Along with goose and lamb, fresh pork, dry cured ham and bacon as well as sausages are all for sale from the farm. The customers pay 6E per kg for fresh pork, 12-22E per kilo for dry cured bacon (depending upon the cut) and 10.30E per kilo for the sausages.

While the pigs are a mainstay, Ted and Kay also host farm walks and pig courses for NOTS, the National Organic Training Skillnets.

And beyond business, its not all about the money, the turnover, growth and profitability for Ted and Kay. Nurturing nature is a central part of their lives.

One part of this is trees. The Moles have planted many native trees all over their farm, and are very committed to hedge laying: �my aim is to avoid wire fencing altogether� according to Ted, who is a certified member of the Hedge Laying Association of Ireland.

�Done properly, laid hedges are great for stock proofing, providing shelter and also act as wildlife corridors�. Don�t get Ted started on how useless neglected and overgrown hedges are for stockproofing.

He goes on to tell me that they only need to be re-laid every 15 years or so, whereas wire fencing is expensive, time consuming and has no environmental benefit. �We have 13 fields on 25 acres, and the biggest one is 3 � acres�. In nature terms, that says it all really.

Farm Fest 08: organics comes of age

If ever there was an event that represented the coming of age of the artisan and organic sectors in Ireland, then it was Teagasc�s Farm Fest 08, held in Athenry on the 20^th June last. And if the Ploughing championship could be compared to the Oxygen music festival, then Farm Fest was the Electric Picnic.

This is because the otherwise more boutique, small, niche, high-end and specialist was actually centre stage. While all of the main players from the agri-food world were at the event, the main marquee, and by far the busiest and liveliest of the locations at Farm Fest, was the place where the organic producers were.

This marquee was called �innovation and artisan food�. Interestingly, the word organic wasn�t in the Marquee�s name, despite the fact that the majority of stalls, by a considerable distance, were by or of interest to organic and artisan producers.

The place seemed young, active, dynamic and positive about the future. In other arenas, people had heated debates over one cent. In this marquee, people seemed to know and love their product, and seemed able to convince consumers to pay a fair price for it.

In most cases, the farmers here were food producers � they did something to their primary products and got a proper mark up for so doing. In one section of the marquee there was Noodle House Organic Pastas, Gerry and Mary Kelly�s Moonshine organic diary products, both sitting alongside Ralph Haslam�s Mossfield Cheeses. The food producers themselves were all present and accounted for, dealing with enthusiastic and interested consumers, curious farmers and an array of media.

For Ralph, Bruce Springsteen�s decision to buy copious amounts of Mossfield when here recently seems to have catapulted the cheese into the culinary stratosphere. When I dropped by, Valerie Cox from RTE radio 1 was chatting to him. Within five minutes, during which time I devoured some hearty slices of his mature gouda-style cheese, TV3 had dropped over to find out about the Bruce Springsteen cheese.

And considering the fact that at he has done so well at the World Cheese Awards, Ralph is looking forward to the event being held in Dublin later on this year.

Another set of products attracting attention were those of Solaris botanicals. Here, a range of leading-edge organic whole leaf teas were on display and available to taste. The business is run by Karin Wieland and Jorg Muller, a couple who are qualified medical herbalists. As well as a simply spectacular range of teas, their knowledge, skill and passion were also on display.

There was a strong interest in organic feeds and seeds, while many of the main organisations involved in the organic sector had a presence too, including IOFGA, NOTS (National Organic Training Skillnets), as well as the Wexford and Leitrim Organic Centres.

The rural development, artisan and organic ends of the state institutions such as DAFF, Teagasc and Bord Bia were also busy and present, taking up a whole area of the marquee itself.

Along with the wandering and chatting, there was business being done:

Joe Condon of Omega Beef Direct was flat out gathering potential recruits for his upland farming �Organics with Altitude� idea, (featured in this supplement two weeks ago). Martin Henry and Liam Lyons had their recently purchased organic mobile butchers� unit outside the marquee in the market area � it took me five visits just to have a quick word with Liam. Padraig Fahy of Beechlawn Organic Farm seemed as busy with his vegetable selling and interactions with various players in the organic sector as when he was chair of IOFGA.

The artisan stalls were super busy too: Glastry Farm�s artisan ice cream stand, all the way from the county Down, was absolutely trobbing, as was the Foods of Athenry stall from just down the road.

When I did leave the �Innovation and Artisan Food� arena, it occasionally did look like the Electric Picnic, with some of the same food stalls, surrounded by entertainment like wooden toy tnets, a kids zone, Connemara Pony displays and then all the other marquees.

It was a beautiful day in many ways. Great weather helps, but the contented feeling of a sector on the rise helped too.

New organic training scheme to be available nationwide

A new organisation called NOTS, the National Organic Training Skillnet was launched in Dublin by the Minister for Food and Horticulture Trevor Sargent TD on Tuesday 22^nd April last.

NOTS, which was launched in the European Commission Offices, has a 2 year training budget of �� million.

The programme is a joint venture between IOFGA, The Organic Trust and The Western Organic Network.

The National Organic Training Skillnet builds on the success of the Western Organic Network, which has rolled out training in the west and north west of Ireland to farmers either already involved in or considering converting to organic.

Following a needs analysis and reports into growth blockages in the organic sector, an innovative, affordable and business focused training programme has been developed by NOTS to cater for training needs across Ireland.

The Minister expressed his hope that this new programme would lead to more farmers producing organic food here in Ireland thus contributing to job creation, a reduction in the energy usage and enabling opportunities for both for import substitution and export.

The National Organic Training Skillnet (NOTS) based in Drumshambo, Co. Leitrim is managed by a network manger and assisted by two regional co-ordinators representing the South East and South West of Ireland - Paula Pender and

Doloras Keegan. Paula runs Sonas Organic Gardens Carlow, specialising in protected cropping and vegetables,

Dolorus has a long lineage in organics in Ireland. She was integral to the delivery of training in the Organic Centre, Rossinver, Leitrim for many years. She has also been involved in training people in herb and vegetable growing in east Galway and on Inis Mhor with the Garra� na nOile�n initiative.

According to manager Sean McGloin: �The new programme will run to the end of 2009 addressing the practical skills required by organic and aspiring organic operators and also delivering academic courses through distance learning programmes to master�s degree standard�.

�The courses provided are flexible in their geographic location, dates and course duration.�

The courses on offer are literally an A-Z of what people may want in the sector. All production areas from the smallest to the largest will be catered for. The range goes from bee keeping and cheese making to cereal growing and a selection of livestock- orientated trainings, such as veterinary management and grassland and soil management.

Along with this, a suite of business and marketing training will be offered, including accounts, IT, desk top publishing, and marketing itself.

Sean also pointed out that there was a great desire for training in the south and south west. Another change in the training delivery from the previous deliveries with the Western Organic Network will be training for the processing sector.

Larger organic and organic-related businesses, or groups of farmers, may benefit from specialised suites of tailored training to suit their needs.

Steering group chairperson John Brennan said �for the first time, training which has been provided in the West of Ireland is now available in the South, East and Midlands, lack of skills has been identified as a stumbling block to organic farming. This programme should address any training need of both the existing organic sector and those considering converting to organics�.

�I encourage framers and producers to contact the NOTS Management team for further information on training�.

For further information, please contact:

Sean McGloin � Network Manger

The Enterprise Centre, Hill Road, Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim

Office Tel: 071 96 40688

Mobile: 086 1728442

Email: info@nots.ie

www.nots.ie