50 today and I wonder what my grandad would say ?

Today I am 50, and because of the day that is in it and because we have many new people here that may not know our story, I thought I would share it again.

The story of our farm began three generations ago, with my Grandad who was the head Gardener at the local castle.  This farm came to life in 1923, with the land act that allowed Irish tenant farmers to buy their own land for the first time.

It must have been a remarkable feeling, for the first time my granddad owned his own plot of land.  Up until then he had worked as head Gardener for the Blake family that owned Cregg castle.

He worked in the walled garden and by all counts had green fingers. He did not have access to chemicals or plastic. He grew amazing fresh organic produce for the Blake’s and for his own family. This was a time before everything was available all year round. It was a time when the first fresh new season produce was anticipated with much relish.

There is still a whisper of that anticipation left in our society today, at least for a short period that attends on the arrival of the first new season potatoes. A beautiful tradition handed down by the needs of our ancestors.

I remember my grandad growing peas, and rhubarb and apples, carrots and potatoes, turnips and cabbage all from a relatively small kitchen garden here on this farm.

My dad too had green fingers and he grew much of the food we ate in the early years. Drying onions on the roof of our shed, I remember being up there on the galvanise turning the onions in the beating sun so they would cure, before bringing them into the shed for the winter.

My interest in continuing this family tradition of growing food was not to be realised for some time. A defining moment of thinning mangles with plastic bags wrapped around my knees tied with bailing twine sent me as far as you could possibly get from muck, clay and growing food.

But something inside must have been stirred and disillusionment with a career in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry lead me back to the land. 18 years ago we embarked on this journey of sustainable food production.  

I wonder sometimes what my grandad would say seeing the fancy machines we use today to keep crops weed free.

I wonder what he would say about how growing food in this country has been devalued to the point of extinction.

Or about the cheap imports, of questionable ethical and sustainable origins and exploitative labour practices which mean the Irish farmer cannot ever hope to compete.

I wonder what he would say about the reliance on plastic and chemicals. Chemicals that mean the bees are dying; our biodiversity is disappearing; and our water ways once clean, pristine, and brimming with fish are polluted with chemicals and stifled with growth of toxic algae due to soluble fertiliser run off.

He would surely be dazzled by the choice and convenience of produce available 365 days of the year.

But I wonder would he think it was all worth it, to get food at the cheapest possible price?  I would like to think he would say not.

So, in that first year, as myself, Jenny my wife and my dad Michael packed our first boxes on some pallets supported by empty Guinness barrels I wonder would he have thought we were mad?

Probably, most others did.  But I have a sneaking suspicion that he would have been proud and happy to see the farm being used to grow sustainable local food and respected in the same way as it was in his time.

Thank you, granddad, and thank you dad, without their hard work and belief none of this would have been possible.

Kenneth

Have you heard of “Forever chemicals”?

Have you heard of “Forever chemicals”? They are what they say they are, chemicals that never go away. I watched a film over Christmas called “Dark Waters” which was enlightening and based on real events.

More and more research is demonstrating that these chemicals are present in all of us and in everything. These chemicals are called per or polyfluorinated alkyl substances.

They are used for nonstick coatings on pans and on all sorts of other things to make them waterproof. They are also used in agriculture and are sprayed on our food, flufenacet is one such herbicide in common usage..

The film was very interesting and apart from the shocking nature of the lawyer’s findings, a key learning was that these large agribusinesses are generally self-regulating.We all know what this means. When an industry that is making billions of dollars from selling something and in the process is poisoning people and the planet is left to self-regulate, we know the result is probably not going to be one that brings peace, happiness, and prosperity to all. It is hard to see how there can be any other way other than self-regulation. As with clinical trials the cost of measuring and understanding the implications of widespread use of synthetic chemicals in our food chain would be too much of a burden for any public body to shoulder.

So, accountability and full transparency of the results of the testing must be released into the public domain, and this is not always the case it seems. In the end the truth always comes out, but at what cost? In the case for a class of chemicals called the neonicotinoids it was nearly too late for the bees.In the early 1990s a class of chemicals called the neonicotinoids were released; they went on to be the most widely used insecticides in the world. They were banned in the EU in 2018 due to their acute toxicity to bees. But the manufacturers knew from the outset that they displayed toxicity towards bees. see ref here (1)

A recent piece of research carried out right here in Ireland by DCU discovered that these chemicals banned since 2018 were still found in the soil on farms across Ireland. see ref here (2) The group says their presence in the fields demonstrates how hard it is to decontaminate farms once chemicals accumulate in the soil. Some of the chemicals are so persistent, they are expected to linger in the soil for over 20 years

.These chemicals are extremely harmful to bees, attacking the nervous system and affecting memory and foraging abilities so they cannot feed effectively, and residues were still being reported in Irish honey last year, the researchers reported.

Whilst 20 years doesn’t constitute a forever chemical, it is still a very substantial period of time. It seems that self-regulation around the neonicotinoid chemicals did not work. Even when it was clearly scientifically proven that their chemicals were toxic to bees, the manufacturers denied the fact and continued to lobby and push for more sales. So, whose interests were they protecting? Certainly not the bees, certainly not you and I as consumers, certainly not the farmers, and definitely not the planet, leaves only themselves I guess?

Organic farming requires land to undergo two years of a detox before plants grown their can be sold as organic. Late last year we had a sample of kale tested for more than 870 chemicals and it came back 100% clean. Organic is not a perfect system, but it certainly aims to keep the chemicals out of our food and off our planet.

Happy new year

Kenneth

PS: Our Farm shop is back open tomorrow Sat the 6th of Jan. Hope you are all back on board for a healthy happy, chemical free new year. We are fully back to normal next week, and we hope you can join us too. Thanks for your support. You can order now to get all our lovely fresh produce dropped to your door next week.

We need a food revolution this year……

It seems as I get older years are passing faster than ever, and questions of why we continue doing what we do become more relevant and that little bit more urgent and yet that little bit harder to keep doing. I don’t know if anybody else experiences that, or am I just showing my age?

When we were on the cusp many years ago of taking on a lease for another farm, a friend and a professional agronomist who advises us and some of the biggest conventional veg farms in the country told me: ‘there is no money to be made in veg, don’t do it!’.He was right. We never got into veg growing and selling for the money, that would have been pure madness. We took on the farm, not heeding his advice, expanded our production and 6 years later discovered we had to get smaller to survive.

The fact remains the same today, it is very difficult to make money growing and selling vegetables. But what about the modest aim of breaking even, of making enough of a profit to reinvest in the farm and business? I think that is a fair and reasonable goal, don’t you? A goal that is necessary to survive.But when the playing field is not level for all players then it becomes very difficult to compete.

When the larger sellers (Aka the supermarkets) have a monopoly and control the selling prices and the prices given to growers then it gets difficult. When those players decide to loss lead and sell fresh produce for next to nothing that leaves the growers and other independent retailers with nothing.

As I was planning our farm for the year ahead, I did a little calculation on cucumbers.We grow cucumbers ourselves, and we also buy between 400-600 cucumbers per week to supplement our own crop from other Irish organic cucumber growers.

But here’s the deal, please bear with me.If a cucumber plant generally produces from end of June to end of September (if you are lucky and the weather is with you) and if you harvest on average 1.5 cucumbers per plant per week, that works out at about 18 cucumbers per plant per season. Now if you factor in that the cost of raising a good plant is about €3, this plant then needs to be planted into a polytunnel, the ground needs to be fertilised and prepped, it needs to be dug, and the plant needs to be supported throughout the growing season, and it needs to be pulled out and composted at the end. Each week, it needs to be side shooted, watered and managed, and harvested, I have budgeted here maybe 1.5 hour in total per plant over the 3 months.

Between fertility and labour, you are looking at approx. €22 per plant, so in total 18 cucumbers are costing us €25, and that is the best we can do, or €1.40 per cucumber. That is before we store it in a cold room, quality check it, allow for wastage and pack it into boxes and deliver it to your doors.

Now Cucumbers in supermarkets are generally sold for say €0.49. How does this add up? Based on my rough back of an envelope calculation; it doesn’t. It can’t. But it conveys a very powerful message, it tells us as consumers that fresh produce is not worth anything, it is cheap, and it should always be cheap.

What does this do for a business like ours, apart from feeling undermined and at times wondering why on earth do we continue, it makes it very difficult to survive. People often say this is madness and ask what can be done, should there be more grants for food production?

Why should one of the most important things we part with money for, one that has a profound impact on our health and on our planet, be sold as cheaply as possible? My take on it is simple, pay a fair price for the food the farmer produces. Pay enough so they can reinvest into the business and into the farm. Pay enough to allow them to pay their suppliers and their people fairly, then we can have a fair and sustainable food system that is not always under immense pressure to cut costs and hence cut corners. We need a food revolution.Your support brings that food revolution one step nearer, thank you and happy new year.

Kenneth.

PS: Our Farm shop is closed tomorrow Sat the 30th of Dec. It reopens on Sat the 6th of Jan. Even though we are closed on Monday we will be delivering as normal apart from our delivery run to Mayo on Tuesday which will move to Wednesday. The deadline for orders for Dublin Wednesday delivery and Mayo/Galway Tuesday delivery will change to 11 and 10am respectively on Tuesday the 2nd.

You can order now to get all our lovely fresh produce dropped to your door next week.

Small is beautiful and HAPPY CHRISTMAS…

Many years ago, I had the good fortune to come across the book “Small is beautiful: A study of economics as if people mattered” by E.F. Schumacher.

A key quote from the book: “Modern man does not experience himself as a part of nature but as an outside force destined to dominate and conquer it” epitomises the reason we are facing the challenges we currently face on planet earth.

There is no greater urgency, or greater need than reversing the damage we have inflicted on our beautiful planet. The time for deliberation has come and gone, now we need action.

Schumacher goes onto say that we are rapidly consuming the capital our lives are built on whilst all the time focusing on the income. The idea that our planet is finite is a law that most self-respecting scientists accept and yet the business of retail and production is based on ever expanding consumption seemingly assuming the law does not apply to them.

Protection of our capital in this case our home planet earth must be given as much weighing as the income we derive from it, otherwise we may find sooner than we would like that the goose who lays the golden eggs is gone.

This is heavy going for the final letter before Christmas, but I think it may be justified.

I know that it is difficult to make the choice to spend more on food, so thank you.

I know that you have chosen to do just that. You have made a conscious choice and invested effort to source your produce from us. We may not always get it right and there is always more to be done, but we have never wavered in our commitment to protect our planet no matter what else comes our way.

So, thank you for your continued support, for your good will, for you cheer and encouragement, for spending your hard-earned euros with us.

We have had the busiest Christmas in our history as a farm and business, and for that we are eternally grateful. There have and continue to be plenty of challenges but at least for now for another while we can keep going. We have planned our planting season for the year ahead we look forward as we always do to a new growing season, and we hope that we can get more things right that we get wrong.

Thank you so much, you may not really feel it, or realise it, but you truly are making a positive difference to our world.

We hope you have a lovely, happy, peaceful and healthy Christmas 

Kenneth and all the team at Green Earth Organics

PS:  Our Farm shop is open tomorrow Saturday the 23rd from 10am-5pm, H91 F9C5, and there is still time to get all your Christmas produce. 

We are closed all next week, there will be no deliveries and our office will be closed.  Our new box contents are already live on our website and you can place your orders at any time over the next week for delivery week commencing Tues the 2nd of January

You really need to read this one…

GMOs in our food, no thanks. 

“Just because we can do something, doesn’t mean we should”.

We all have a right to know how our food is grown, what is in and on it, and more fundamentally whether the genetics of the plants and food we are eating have been messed with in a lab.

The idea of modifying food for the betterment of society is a good one and in principle it seems straight forward.  But the promised results from genetically modified crops have not been realised, such as crops resistant to drought or pests.

The long-term impact of eating genetically modified plants is not well understood, nor is the impact on the environment. But setting that aside, it is the greed and the desire to patent and control our food system that tells us all we need to know to make the right decision when it comes to GMOs. In my view the right decision is to keep genetically modified crops out of our food system.

It is clear that the driving force for genetically modifying our food is driven by the desire of a handful of giant agri-corporations to control our food chain.  Manipulation of the genetic makeup of crops allows these corporation to patent “their” crops and hence own a piece of our food system whilst making billions of dollars in the process. (as has already happened around the world with “Roundup Ready Soya”)

To think that we can replicate the careful complex modification of plants, through thousands of years of evolution by nature, in a lab, in the space of months, by splicing pieces of foreign DNA or modifying the plants own DNA is ambitious and/or insanely arrogant.

Apart from conferring increased resistance to a toxic weedkiller, the promised benefits have not yet been demonstrated and there are large safety concerns about releasing untested genetically modified crops into nature.

The release of these plants into nature then becomes an uncontrolled experiment and one that may be difficult to roll back if the outcome is not as we would like.

Up to this point genetic engineering has in the main, been used to confer herbicide resistance to a few key commodity crops, hence allowing larger amounts of Roundup to be applied, adding to the toxic load in our food and on our planet.

There is no argument that can justify owning the rights to our food system, end of story.

There are currently strict EU rules on the authorisation and labelling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). They allow farmers, food producers and consumers to choose and to opt for GMO-free food.

However, the European Commission wants to scrap this legislation and allow a new generation of GMOs, to enter our food system, without any labelling or safety checks. Essentially, they will be treating these “New genomic technique” modified crops the same as conventional crops.

I for one like to know what is in and on my food, I like to know its origin and I want to know that the food I am eating has not been genetically modified, if you are of a similar opinion then please sign this petition to help the EU politicians to take the right decision in this case and continue the ban of GMOs in our foodchain.

Thank you for supporting a sustainable food system.

Kenneth

PS It’s been a busy week, and we are ramping up for a manic packing and delivery week, next week. Thank you to all who have placed an order, and if you still have not there is plenty of time.

Please get your orders in over the weekend, but you will have up to your normal delivery deadline to get you orders in, if you are unsure of when that is you can click here to find out.

ALL DELIVERY DAYS AND DEADLINES REMAIN THE SAME FOR THE WEEK AHEAD! THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT, IT KEEPS US IN OUR JOBS AND KEEPS OUR FARM AND OTHER IRISH ORGANIC FARM’S FUTURE SAFE.

PLACE YOUR CHRISTMAS ORDER NOW FOR DELIVERY NEXT WEEK

MAKE YOUR CHRISTMAS MEAL A SEASONAL LOCAL ORGANIC ONE! 

The Dirty Dozen and a special Christmas nudge…

We like our veg dirty, we harvest them fresh from the ground and we leave the dirt on.

This dirt, good clean dirt we think is amazing, it is a natural preservative, none of those artificial waxes or fungicides required here. But there is other dirt hidden in/on conventional food that we don’t think is that amazing.

The dirty dozen is a list which is compiled both in the  UK and the US each year based on measured chemical residues in and on conventional crops. It is a resource to allow us as consumers to make informed decisions about foods to potentially avoid or buy organically if possible.

It is a no brainer that removing synthetic pesticides and herbicides from our diet can only be a positive. 

There are certain crops that seem to make the list each year, you may be surprised to learn that apples regularly feature on the list. In 2020 according to the PAN (pesticide action network report) 67% of samples had pesticide residue and one sample had 13 different types of residues!)  This is I guess a little disturbing as apples are one of the most consumed fruits in the world.

Right here in Ireland based on a report by the dept of ag in 2014 (the most recent data I could get), the chemical Captan, which is a fungicide and classified as a probable human carcinogen was applied to 252 Hectares of land, and over 1.2 tonnes of the stuff was sprayed on apple trees.

For the life of me I can’t understand how kale makes it onto this list (in the US).  Kale of all the crops is hardy and tough and at least in our experience on our organic farm performs amazingly well. In fact, if we leave our brassica crops uncovered (we cover our crops with netting to prevent birds eating them) then the pigeons will eat everything else before they have a go at the kale!

Maybe it’s the healthy organic matter rich soil, maybe it’s the lack of forced nitrogen nutrition that pushes growth of crops on and can cause them to be soft and disease prone, maybe we are just lucky. Whatever it is we are grateful and happy that we have amazing crops that rarely suffer from pest or disease affliction. 

Spinach another relatively hardy green features regularly in the UK and the US list.  

When all is said and done, the production of food is hard, and the pressure to produce food at rock bottom prices, controlled and forced on farmers by the supermarkets will always lead to compromises, such as intensification and the use of chemicals.

It is a pity that the supermarkets are so concerned with how our food looks, rather than with how it is produced and what goodness is on the inside. Take a look at just how shiny some of the conventional apples are next time you are in a supermarket; many are coated in a shellac and/or carnauba wax to prevent them drying out or rotting.

We are lucky that we have a fantastic supply of organic apples from Richard Galvin, from Waterford, grown right here in Ireland without the use of chemicals, again proving the point that indeed it can be done, the apples are amazing, fresh with no coatings and no chemicals!

Thank you for supporting a food system without chemicals.

Kenneth

PS We are in full Christmas mode now.  Please get your order in next week to guarantee delivery the week after.

We are excited for all the lovely Irish produce that is jammed into our Christmas boxes, such as Battlemount organic farm potatoes (Kildare), Philip Dreaper’s organic carrots and Beetroot (Offaly), Beechlawn organic farm’s brussel sprouts, red cabbage and savoy cabbage (Galway), Mcardles amazing chestnut and portobello, mushrooms (Antrim), Leeks, parsnips, Celeriac, swede and Kale (right here on our own farm); apples from Richard Galvin (Waterford) and finally our very own handmade organic Cranberry sauce (with fresh organic cranberries) made by Rachel in Dunmore! PLACE YOUR CHRISTMAS ORDER NOW

 The Christmas is meal is the ultimate seasonal meal and we have definitely got you covered on this one, so please get your orders in soon!

Wow, a lime not suitable for vegans, how can that be…?

I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry when I discovered earlier this year, that one major supermarket is now, at least, at times, highlighting the chemicals on or in some of its citrus fruit.

I guess it is not a laughing matter, the issue of chemicals in our food chain is serious, it is important as it has a knock-on effect for our health and biodiversity.

It is my belief that agriculture can be a force for good in our world, an endeavour that can produce safe wholesome food whilst enhancing our locality and planet. But that will require a change of mindset and policy when it comes to the fair pricing of food.

All the things that are good about agriculture are slowly being sucked dry by the loss leading of fresh produce by supermarkets and the race for intensification and the lowest possible price. Like any business if there is not enough money in the pot you cannot invest for the future, you cannot survive, it is no different for farmers, getting a fair price for our crops is not too much to ask, and if we don’t then how can we invest back into the land.

Anyway, I digress, back to the case at hand, chemicals on our food. The last few weeks we have been talking here about the test for the 870 chemicals on our kale that came back clean (This test was part of our organic certification spot check) and how maybe conventional foods should be labelled with what they include, rather than the organic farmer having to prove that his/her food is clean and good.

I wonder though as this large supermarket chain has marked the inclusion of chemical products in two of its citrus fruit did it forget about all the other fruit and veg it sells? I can only assume that they too have offending chemicals present.

One of the products on sale, a conventional lime, is labelled “not suitable for vegans!” (Without, the exclamation mark obviously, I just added that in for effect) the offending lime in question contained a mixture or some of the following…… wait for it…

Imazalil/Thiabendazole/Pyrimethanil/Orthophenylphenol & wax E914, E904, E914

Another product and one that is in season right now: ‘Naturally Sweet Leafy Clementines’ Contained: E904, E914 and Imazalil.

(Incidentally E904 is shellac. Shellac is a resin secreted by female lac bugs, and this is what makes the limes non vegan. You may also be interested to know that imazalil and thiabendazole are two hormone-disrupting fungicides, one of which is also a likely carcinogen.)

Do your own research, check it out. Having mulled this over for some time I think it is a good thing that this information is displayed.  Do you think it should also be printed on the pack in the supermarket aisle? Then you and I could make an informed decision or at the very least we would know what we are getting for our money.

Of course, these chemicals are labelled as safe once used below the MRL (the maximum residue limit). These limits are set to protect you and I from ingesting too much of these chemicals. However, as I have spoken about in the past the setting of these limits can be questionable and, in some cases, seems to have been set in relation to the level of application required rather than in relation to whether the product is safe. I refer to the research on the increased MRLs for glyphosate that have been increased 300-fold between 1993 and 2015 in the US. Is it safer now to eat 300 times the dose? I think probably not. 

I will finish on this note: farmers are doing the best they can, we all are, we are working to survive in a system that is fundamentally flawed, but for all its issues, it is the system we have, and it provides our food, we cannot do without it, not when there are so many of us on this planet. But there is no question that step by step we must and can introduce more positive ways of producing food and we can support this transition by deciding with who and on what we spend our money.

Thanks as always for your support.

Kenneth

The EU has granted a further 10 years to Glyphosate…

On Thursday 16th of November, The EU commission decided to extend the licence for the use of Glyphosate for a further 10 years.

Using chemicals to fight nature will never work. In the short term it may give a temporary reprieve from a certain disease or pest, but that pest will come back stronger and more resistant next time. It is in a way a self-perpetuating industry. It is not the way to produce food and IT IS CERTAINLY NOT OUR WAY.

I imagine that lobbying bodies and Bayer will be rubbing their hands together in glee at the thought of another ten years of sales.

In the meantime, you and I must be content with ingesting glyphosate in the food we eat.   A recent study showed that more than 80% of urine samples drawn from children and adults in a US contained glyphosate, a finding scientists have called “disturbing” and “concerning”.

Right here in Galway another analysis showed glyphosate was detectable in 26% of samples, AMPA the byproduct when glyphosate is broken down was detectable in 59% of samples. 

The Agri industry will stipulate that the chemical is safe and provide evidence to corroborate this, of course they design and pay for these studies, so the results generally will cast their products in a favourable light.

Aside from the obvious health related issues of continuously consuming a chemical we do not want in our food and the destruction of habitats and all the associated biodiversity, there is the key question of why, why use this stuff, we didn’t always need it so why now? There is the argument by the agroindustry that banning glyphosate would introduce a whole host of food production problems, including further increases in prices of food.

There is no denying that as with any major change a transition period would be necessary but as organic farmers have demonstrated the world over there are alternatives to the use of chemicals in our food system and these alternatives are better for our health and for biodiversity.

This year our work apart from one or two mishaps has kept pace with the weeds. But our approach to weed control is not one of total dominance, quite frequently once you get the crops to a certain size the weeds are no longer a problem.

In fact, they can provide a basis for a wide variety of life: flowering weeds that bees come to, the lush green undergrowth, a haven for a myriad of tiny creatures that would not be there otherwise.

Thus, in turn providing food for the birds, and at times, the necessary predators such as ladybirds and hoverflies that feed on aphids. A natural ecosystem living below the giant shading leaves of the broccoli plants or cabbages develop. Each plant brings something different to the fray and generally none are unwelcome.

Now please do not misunderstand me, if we did not take a pragmatic approach to weed control and utilise all the tools at our disposal there would be no crops, no food, and no farm. We have worked extremely hard to ensure the crops are healthy and weed control is part of the process. No, our approach is just different, less harsh and embraces the idea that yes, we can work with these other plants, and they too have a place on our farm.  

Organic agriculture is much more than saying no to the use of chemicals, it represents a holistic approach to working with nature, to our land and to our food. It means no chemicals, but it also means no artificial fertiliser, it means tree planting, it means hedge planting, it means allowing nature its place to thrive while also producing food. It means taking care of the soil and it means producing food that tastes fresh and good and crucially is good for us and for the environment.

Here’s to fresh organic chemical and glyphosate free food.

Kenneth

The little things that run the world

Kenneth ran a webinar for Green Schools Ireland on Our Food, Our Health, Our Planet this week, you can watch it below!

One in every three species of bee in Ireland is threatened with extinction and 75% of insect biomass has disappeared in the last 30 years.

I remember as a child driving on the very few motorways that were present in Ireland back then and the windscreen of our car being covered in insect splatters.  Sometimes it was so prevalent you could hardly see out, contrast that with a motorway journey by car today, you will hardly notice a splatter.

The decline in insect biomass is well documented and these small insects described by E.O Wilson, 1987 as “the little things that run the world”, (E.O. Wilson, 1987) seems to be as result of a myriad of reasons, from climate change to intensification of agriculture and the use of insecticides.

Last week I highlighted the 870 chemicals that were tested for in a sample of our organic kale, again to reiterate our kale came back completely clean and safe as you would expect on an organic farm (Again I wonder at the requirement of us an organic producer to have our food tested for chemicals….) , but the fact that they test for 870 chemicals suggests that it is possible that this number of chemicals is in circulation in conventional agriculture.

Bees are the poster child of the pollinator insects, and they are beautiful and amazing, and a conversation the other day with Gerry, who is the beekeeper looking after the bees on our farm just shows how special and fantastic, they are, he clearly loves and respects his bees. 

Standing in one of our fields during a summer’s evening when our three acres of clover and wildflowers were in full bloom the buzz of the bees was mesmerizing, they were busy and active, and it was amazing. But many of these bees were the solitary bumble bee and they come in all shapes and sizes. The Irish Bumblebee Monitoring Scheme shows population index declines of 14% over six years.

Early in the season all bees benefit from the amazing dandelion and also from the little flowers on sycamore and willow which provide so much food. Native pollinator-friendly trees include Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Willow, Rowan, Wild Cherry and Crab Apple, which also support other native Irish flora and fauna throughout the year. 

Another great reason to plant native trees and to protect the trees we have.

Biodiversity, this mix of plant and insect and animal live is a critical and interwoven system which we need to survive, anything we can do to create and protect habitats for all these living creatures will enhance our local biodiversity.

The groundbreaking All-Ireland Pollinator Plan has had such a positive impact on our perception and protection of biodiversity. It just goes to show you what can be accomplished when people come together for a common cause, or in the famous words of Margret Meade,

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Our farm has forestry, and wild Irish native hedgerows, and wild flowers strips, and natural areas left to rewilding, and no chemicals, and of course we safe, clean organic produce food too.

Maybe just maybe we will get back to the days in the not-too-distant future when once again our car windscreens are covered in insects and the bees are thriving and happy.

Your support for our farm and business and farms like ours is a thumbs up for biodiversity, thank you.

Kenneth

PS Don’t forget our farm shop is open every Saturday 10am-5pm, H91F9C5 and of course that you can now book in your Christmas delivery for delivery on Christmas week!

Christmas shop and 870 chemicals..

870 possible chemicals. This is the number of potential, pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and bactericides a recent sample of our kale was tested for.

We had our organic inspection a few weeks back and this is a routine test that is carried out on a random crop grown on our farm by our organic certifying body every year. The kale came back perfect, no chemicals present as expected. But I can only surmise that they test for 870 different types of chemical products because these are the chemicals that could be used at varying points in the conventional food system.

Many moons ago I use to listen to a song by a band called “Alice in Chains” called “Junkhead”, (not a song for the faint hearted!). It popped into my head again when we got these test results back, there are some striking similarities between the song’s lyrics “What’s your drug of choice?” when it comes to the repertoire of chemicals a conventional producer can choose from: “what’s your chemical of choice?”. There is a chemical for every problem and even for problems that have not yet occurred.

Here in Ireland, there is relatively high accountability for our conventional food producers. There has over the last 10 years been some good news as the overall pesticide usage has declined by 16% which is heading in the right direction. But a word of caution here this still equates to over 3 million kg of chemicals applied to our food and land.

But with much of our food in this country being imported and as we don’t have the same visibility on what controls are implements in foreign parts, (over 85% of all fruit and vegetables are imported) then choosing organic becomes even more important.  

Organic systems are not perfect, but they do offer an alternative, one that keeps chemicals off our food, and in doing so also helps protect biodiversity.  It does sometimes feel ironic that it is the organic producer that must prove their credentials, go through the extra paperwork, and submit samples to prove that we are not doing anything underhand.

The authorities set limits on the levels of chemicals allowed on our food, they are supposedly designed to help protect you and I as consumers. These limits are referred to as MRLs or maximum residue limits. But as I have talked about before and particularly in relation to Glyphosate; sometimes these limits can vary erratically from one crop to another or from country to country. The MRL for glyphosate increased 300-fold between 1993 and 2015 in the US (Is it safer to consume more of this chemical  today than it was 20 years ago? I don’t think so!) to allow it would seem for the increased application of this herbicide on GMO soya and corn. This not strike me as having the best interests of the consumer at heart.

Chemicals are critical to our very survival on this planet, and when I talk about “chemicals” here I mean synthetic or man-made chemicals. They help us treat disease; they make possible all the amazing technologies we rely on for our modern-day way of life. But, and this is a big one, I do not believe they belong in or on our food.

Maybe “our drug of choice” should be fresh healthy clean food!

You are the lifeblood of our organic farm and business.

Thank you.

Kenneth 

PS last week we opened our Christmas shop, we will be delivering as normal in the week before Christmas and now you can book your delivery and place your order for delivery for Christmas week. Check it out now here.