Mr. Conor O'Flaherty:

On behalf of BASE Ireland, I express our thanks for the invitation to speak to the committee about conservation agriculture. BASE Ireland is a group of progressive farmers and agronomists with the aim of adopting, developing and implementation of conservation agriculture under Irish conditions. BASE Ireland members farm close to 9,500 ha across the island of Ireland.

BASE Ireland members are currently farming close to 9,500 ha across the island of Ireland. The average age of our members is 37.

Conservation agriculture is based on three key principles, namely, minimum soil disturbance, permanent soil cover with residues and living plants, and diverse crop rotations and the use of cover crops. The arable sector in Ireland has been struggling for the last number of years with low margins and difficult weather. The nature of growing arable crops means the work is very seasonable and vulnerable to the weather and climate. Our climate in Ireland provides very favourable conditions for the growth of many crops. Our average yields are among the highest in the world. However, this benefit also has large drawbacks. Soil moisture levels are often sub-optimal during the main windows of planting and harvesting such as has been experienced last harvest and in the subsequent sowing periods in both autumn and spring. Our temperate climate allows pests and diseases to survive over the winter in the absence of prolonged cold periods. Our high-yield system is dependent on large levels of imported artificial fertilisers to push crop yields.

The Food and Agricultural Organization, FAO, has described conservation agriculture as the best bet for a sustainable and productive agricultural system. It is practiced on over 100 million ha worldwide and this figure is growing every year. Where conservation agriculture has been adopted it has proven its benefits to farmers, consumers and the wider environment.

As a group we feel there are two main barriers to more widespread adoption of conservation agriculture. The concepts and principles of conservation agriculture are counter-intuitive to many farmers and contradict much of what has been accepted as best practice over the years. While intensive cultivation and high chemical input farming delivered in the short term, farmers are now finding that system is beginning to struggle. A change of mindset is needed to steer farming towards a more sustainable model which puts a greater emphasis on soil health and regeneration

The second barrier is a distinct lack of knowledge about conservation agriculture and its benefits and ways to successfully practice this system. The lack of support from research organisations across the globe has created a farmer-driven approach to solving their own problems. BASE Ireland is working on a small scale to improve this situation but a national co-ordinated effort to research and implement effective conservation agriculture would deliver massive benefits to both the farming economy and the wider environment.

We were invited to speak to the committee today about conservation agriculture, its potential benefits and the opportunities it offers. We believe it offers a shining light to the arable and livestock sectors at a time when margins are falling and the number of family farms is reducing. Conservation agriculture offers a large number of benefits to the farmer, the environment and the wider community. It helps to cease and reverse the decline in soil health. It promotes reduced soil erosion, meaning the soil maintains structural integrity 365 days a year. It reduces nutrient and soil loss into watercourses as the soil becomes a natural water filter. It leads to an increase in soil life from earthworms, beetles and other beneficial creatures. It facilitates carbon sequestration through increased soil organic matter. Conservation agriculture farms provide improved habitats for all forms of wildlife. Conservation agriculture leads to reduced dependence on insecticides, so that nature's predators are allowed to prosper. It leads to a reduced use of diesel, wearing metal and artificial fertiliser, leading to a lower carbon footprint. The conservation agriculture model maintains productivity but delivers more from less. This leads to increased family farm viability.

As the main objective of agriculture is the production of food, changes in pest and weed management become necessary with conservation agriculture. Burning of plant residues and ploughing the soil is mainly considered necessary to control pests, diseases and weeds. In a reduced tillage system based on mulch cover crops and biological tillage, alternatives have to be developed to control pests and weeds. Integrated pest management has become mandatory. An important element to achieve this is crop rotation, interrupting the infection chain between subsequent crops and making full use of the physical and chemical interactions between different plant species. Synthetic chemical pesticides, particularly herbicides are, in the first years, inevitable but have to be used with great care to reduce the negative impacts on soil life. To the extent that a new balance becomes established between the organisms of the farm ecosystem, pests and beneficial organisms, crops and weeds, and the farmer learns to manage the cropping system, the use of synthetic pesticides and mineral fertiliser tends to decline to a level below that of conventional farming methods currently employed.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine offering the protein payment scheme is to be commended. It has helped our members to grow more diverse crop rotations with crops such as fava beans and peas, which have a reduced demand for synthetic fertilisers and help contribute towards the ecological focus areas required as part the greening element of the last CAP reform.

The targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, has allowed many of our members to purchase reduced tillage equipment along with precision farming equipment such as GPS-controlled application equipment. This is a welcome support and should continue. Similarly the GLAS scheme has rewarded our members and encouraged the adoption of measures such as cover cropping and minimum tillage, min-till, options along with wildflower field margins and wild bird cover. In some cases our members did not have to change anything they were already doing on farm to avail themselves of the full payment. Our members are going above and beyond the requirements of the GLAS scheme currently as part of the conservation agriculture system.

On the opportunities in the scientific and technological sectors in ensuring sustainability in and supporting agriculture, we believe that conservation agriculture offers an excellent opportunity to help ensure the viability of the Irish family farm and to help further our advantages from our excellent climatic conditions that enable us to produce food with one of the lowest carbon footprints worldwide. The research sector in Ireland needs to offer increased support to enable this system to rise to its full potential and help Ireland to achieve both viable family farms and meet its greenhouse gas emission targets.

I will conclude by referring to young farmers. As noted, the average age of our members is 37 years, which compared to the national average of 57 years places a large proportion of our members into the young farmer category. Measures need to be put in place to encourage the adoption of conservation agriculture from an early age, including State funded independent information and education about its possibilities. We believe GLAS to be a good measure, however a sum of €5,000 per annum to sign up, of which over two thirds is lost in cost involved in the scheme, is never going to encourage young farmers to set out in their farming career. If we are truly serious about climate change and about changing the way we as a country farm, young farmers need serious encouragement to adapt conservation agriculture. The opportunity to practise conservation agriculture across fragmented farming systems in a profitable manner will help to encourage the uptake and viability of the system.

I thank the members for their attention and invite them to come to see conservation agriculture in action.