Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 1 December 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Common Agricultural Policy and Young Farmers: Engagement with Macra na Feirme

Mr. John Keane:

I thank the Senator for his question. In terms of the research, which is where I would point, the Senator is absolutely right. The research that has been done in both Clonakilty and by Teagasc in Moorepark on the clover swards shows it absolutely has a benefit to reducing N input when managed appropriately with the techniques that I am sure the farmer the Senator mentioned is putting in place. There is no reduction in the output of the sward or the production over the course of the year. There is that management piece, in that early spring growth of clover is quite low, so your mix of species in your sward that you are sowing in has to have an early growth in the spring from a grassland point of view, to make up for the fact that clover starts growing at around 8°C versus grass at around 6°C. Absolutely, that is part of it.

I will deal with the Senator's second question in two parts. I mentioned this in terms of the mixed species swards earlier but it is absolutely apparent in respect of his question as well that in heavier soils, the requirement in terms of a clover mix is definitely more reliant on the different species of grass that you are going to use. A diploid perennial ryegrass, which has a much thicker, denser rooting base at the ground, mixed with a clover sward, has been shown to have benefits in terms of reduced N as well as productive growth and meeting that requirement. Therefore, it is an option in terms of heavier soils as well. My own farm at home has a heavier soil with that kind of mix in it. It is down to management as well, because obviously it is not going to be as easy to manage as on drier soils.

In terms of the mixed species sward which we have touched on, there is work to be done and more research needed on how long the herbs in the current mixes of the multispecies sward persist over a number of years. We have the reality on farms and what some farmers have found is that some of those herbs will be waning and weakening over the first number of years and maybe non-existent after a two to three-year period within the sward. Our worry is that if someone is two or three years into the Common Agricultural Policy and has 6% in his or her multispecies sward and an inspection happens on farm. You are required to have six species in your sward but through no fault of your own, only two or three or four species are all that remain because some of the herbs have naturally just waned in the sward and that could be an issue.

For multispecies mixes, different management is required on wetter soils because of damage to the root, whether that be from a wet day or earlier in the spring because ground conditions are a bit more saturated or similarly at the back end of the year, as the recovery of some of the species in the multispecies sward is not the same as that of a perennial ryegrass plant. There is work to be done around ensuring that the multispecies mix meets the requirement for that and this is why our proposal is around the clover mixes, whether that be red and white clover mixes with perennial ryegrass included, in terms of availability to heavier soils wherever they are in the country, as they are easier to manage.

Even within that clover, red clover, white clover and perennial ryegrass mix, there are benefits to the animal, the environment and the overall footprint in carbon and nitrogen use being reduced. We still see benefits from a multispecies point of view to that clover inclusion.