60% of the Broccoli crops has been devastated, why?

by Kenneth Keavey

60% of the total national broccoli crop in France has been devastated by man made climate change. Our broccoli crop is poor or non-existent; our Irish supplier has no organic broccoli. We cannot buy organic broccoli from any of our suppliers on the continent. 

I talk here every week about chemicals in and on our food, but the reality is if we do not stop burning fossil fuels there will not be any food for anybody to spray chemicals on. 

Think about that for a minute. 

This is happening now. This is the real-life impact of drought and massively intense temperatures across Europe directly impacting our ability to grow food. Our farm is still in moisture deficit. 

This is one crop. 

I walked our farm today and even though there is a small amount of rain as I write this, we are still in serious moisture deficit. Some of the crops are stunted; yields are down, this is the second time in 8 years that we have experienced serious drought issues here in the west of Ireland. 

To one extent or another we have all voted for the food system we have. Granted it has been infinitely facilitated by supermarket retail culture and our increasingly pressurised and busy lives. 

But we get what we vote for, and you can see how that has worked out for our American friends across the water. As a society we must decide what we want to reward because in the end that is what we will get. We have always maintained that local organic food production must be where we put our focus, and I have been doing this long enough now to know that growing food commercially is hard and risky and yet outsourcing our food to other countries also comes with a risk. 

The real issue here is the fact that when there is a shortage of food due to drought or floods or whatever other climate related shocks, our food systems will be compromised. 

There is little doubt that certain countries are much better adapted to growing certain crops and it would be hard to see a viable red pepper industry developing in Ireland, having said that with climate change all of that could be up for discussion. But maybe we could be more self sufficient in carrots or parsnips or cabbage. 

When it comes to our food choices we have to decide where it is we want to put our attention. The simple reality is local sustainable food production is our best chance of feeding ourselves when food becomes scarce in other places. 

I know that on a 25-acre farm we are not going to feed Ireland. But we are building a network of other growers that share our vision that sustainable agriculture is a real solution to help bring us one step closer to a better more sustainable food secure future. 

It is only through your support that we get to do that, and your support makes a difference. 

Thank you. 

Kenneth

Make sure you are at rock bottom, before you look up…

by Kenneth Keavey

When you think it almost couldn’t get any worse, this week has proved make sure you are at rock bottom before you start looking up!

On a positive note, the weather has been fantastic, as a person without a farm I would be celebrating having a summer. The reality from a food growing perspective is a little different though, we are heading into the end of 2 months with very little rain, our weather station is reading a large moisture deficit.  Here in Galway, this is or was once a very unusual occurrence. You know those once in a lifetime climate events they used to talk about, that now happen all the time!

So out came the water tanker this week. Our crops are really struggling we have disease and drought stress across the crops. We purchased the water tanker after the serious drought of 2018, and while conditions so far are not as bad as they were then, they are pretty bad, so the tanker is out and we are watering, we have to water as the soil resembles more of a desert that a farm in Galway.

We have also taken out our old sprayer, and as luck would have it, both machines broke down. The sprayer is important as the dry soil mean very little water is going into the veggies which means they are not getting nutrients and as a result they are suffering both from lack of water and lack of food.

For the first time that I can remember we have aphid (Green fly) infestations in our brassicas.  So, we have been scrambling around, we have bought a new sprayer, and we hope to have the water tanker operational again. So yesterday we were out spraying seaweed and a liquid nutrition boost (made from plants) and micronutrients also, and finally an herbal tonic to boost the immune system of the plants. Fingers crossed it helps.

The long-term forecast is for a dry August, that will be month three of little rain, so we must get on with the time-consuming job of spraying and watering. We are lucky though here in Galway we have access to water and there are no fires.

Spare a thought for all those in France and Spain and across the world that are burning and suffering the worst impacts of the climate breaking down. Meanwhile the Fossil fuel companies are rubbing their hands together as they no doubt make record profits again from the high price of oil. They are responsible for our planet burning.  Man made climate change is our reality now, and it is happening all around us, every single year.

I see it here with my own eyes.

Having said that, we are doing all we can in our little corner of the world, and there are many people like us and your support is a vote for a cleaner greener future.

Anyway, back to watering and spraying and harvesting. Your support especially during the summer keeps us going and growing, so, thank you.

Kenneth

PS We have finalised the lineup for our sustainability festival in September and it promises to be an amazing day, if you haven’t gotten your ticket yet, please click here to get yours now. This is a not-for-profit event.

PPS We have at last the first new Irish organic potatoes from Cameron at Battlemountain farm and we are so excited, check them out here. His crops are also suffering from drought, so they are later than usual and smaller than usual, but they are here now.

A remarkably stressful rollercoaster

by Kenneth Keavey

The last few weeks have been a remarkably stressful rollercoaster. If you think local sustainable food growing is important, we still need your help.

We have gone from our lowest level of orders in 9 months to the highest in the space of one week, then a week later we are dropping back again. We have gone from a huge harvest from our farm to harvests being impacted by heat stress, the irony of tomatoes not ripening because the temperatures in our polytunnels have exceeded 45C is not lost on me.

This week we are facing a new crisis, the soil moisture levels are at a critical point, we are now irrigating in the West of Ireland. The courgettes are producing massive amounts of fruits, but the leaves are extremely spiky, this only happens when there is not enough water in the soil.

A nationwide hosepipe ban tells us here in Ireland that the water is low, climate change is real, and data centres are definitely not where we want to be using our precious resource. The celery is stressed and as we start harvesting, we have already seen patches that are affected by stress related disease. The sprouting broccoli is bolting, the swedes are struggling, the cucumbers are aborting and leeks are dying.

Our weather station is measuring a drop of 50% in soil moisture content in the last 10 days, with no rain of any consequence on the horizon. Never say commercial growing is for the faint hearted. I have found that the pressures to produce food and then sell the food when we have it can be very challenging. Our chosen model is labour intensive and is about connecting people with how our food is grown. We will not deviate from the path, just last weekend we had over 100 people on our farm walk.

I believe connecting people with our food, with our environment, and the importance of growing food without chemicals is critical for our health and the health of the planet, today more than ever. I imagine as one of our readers, supporters, you may share this view?

Our food system has disconnected us from our food, it has disconnected us from the truth behind our food, pesticides are still in use, maybe now more than ever. Supermarket food culture is based on profit before all else, this has taken its toll on growers not just across Ireland but across the world.

This is not sustainable. There is another way, but this way does not fit the large distribution centres, and the current model of selling fresh food as cheaply as possible. I wonder do we need to start thinking more about value and less about the cost of our food?

When we value something, we are less inclined to waste it, when we value something we hold it close, we become more mindful about it, we treat it with a greater degree of respect. From our perspective as growers, setting aside acres of land each year to allow the soil to regenerate incurs a very real financial cost, but it is repaid in allowing us to grow more nutrient dense food and a stronger more resilient ecosystem.

Most farmers cannot afford such a luxury as they feed into the insatiable supermarket machine, where uniformity and price are the overriding factors in meeting contract supply criteria. So how can we get to a place where growing food without pesticides and with nature is the norm?

Well to be honest that is exactly what we are doing, and your support means the food system we are developing has a chance.

Please continue to support us during the summer.

Thanks

Kenneth