The next time you drive down the motorway, check your windscreen, it will be devoid of insect splatter, only 20-30 short years ago that used to be a completely different story. Here is something different to think about when we think about the disappearing insects, of course the insecticides are destroying whole ecosystems, but what about herbicides?
The dandelions are up in force. But consider this, next time you see a field of grass that is generally being grown to be fed to dairy cows, see how many dandelions you see, or in fact see how much of anything other than grass you see. I think you will find that there is very little. Grassland is produced to be a giant monoculture, and it is considered best practice to remove all diversity from these fields, to feed Ireland’s massive dairy industry.
But it didn’t always used to be like this, dairy cows in a not-too-distant past fed on mixed pasture. The irony of course is that a diverse array of plants access different levels of the soil and so bring up different nutrients and give a more balanced diet to the animals, providing a virtual plant salad bar for animals and supported a whole ecosystem, one a ryegrass-dominated monoculture never will.
The diversity today is removed by spraying herbicides, a typical spraying regime for grassland will involve an array of different chemicals. One that is actively used right here in Ireland goes by the tradename “Thurst” and it contains: 2,4-D + Dicamba. You may have heard of herbicides like 2,4-D before, it is one of the most common chemical weedkillers used in conventional farming. It’s designed to kill broadleaf weeds like dandelions without harming the grass. While it works effectively, it comes with a history and environmental impact that we’re not comfortable with.
👉 Did you know? 2,4-D was one of the ingredients in Agent Orange, the defoliant used in the Vietnam War. While modern formulations don’t contain the toxic contaminants that caused so much harm back then, 2,4-D is still a synthetic chemical. It can linger in soil and waterways, and it’s been classified as “possibly carcinogenic to humans” by the World Health Organization.
This is just one of a handful of chemicals that are used to keep grasslands, green, full of grass, and absent of biodiversity. Giant monocultures whether they be GM soya crops grown in the US or giant fields of grass grown in Ireland are food deserts for insects, there is nothing for them there, no weeds, no flowers, no food. The chemicals themselves that act on the plants are removing a crucial piece of our ecosystem that has a knock-on effect all the way up the food chain. We hear a lot about bees, and bee populations have been devastated over the last 20 years, but the bees are a bell weather for the insect population as a whole. If insects and bees go, well then the omen is not too good for us humans.
But there is hope, farmers more and more are incorporating clover into their grass swards and there is increasing demand for organic food which protects not only our health but biodiversity too. Our food choices matter, keeping chemicals out of our food matters, and they make a huge difference, they send a powerful message and can effect real change.
As always thank you for supporting our farm and business.
Kenneth
p.s We would ask you to support us over Easter week if you can. Thank you to everybody who did this week it made a real difference. And we hope if you ordered bread that you enjoyed the amazing Carraig Rua breads that we will have every week from now on!