Pippa Hackett (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Recently, I spoke in the Chamber about an intensive dairy farmer who does not use chemical fertilisers to grow his grass. Describing how he feeds his cows on a multispecies sward, a mix of grasses, clovers and herbs, I said that I hoped I was seeing the future in the way that he and his family were farming. Since then, in budget 2022, my Department has allocated €1 million to pilot a reseeding programme. We want to support farmers to use multispecies sward seed at no extra cost in order that they can try growing nitrogen-free crops too. I really hope farmers give this a go, because I continue to see more examples of productive pasture management without chemical nitrogen, which instills confidence in me that this can be the future.

Synthetic fertilisers deplete the soil of nutrients and will eventually kill it by destroying its natural functionality. While this may take a long time, and our Irish soils may be a long way from death, in the end, synthetic fertiliser, if we apply enough for long enough, will not just continue to pollute our rivers and air, it will turn our soil barren such that nothing will grow. That is simply a fact. It is a fact which does not have to fill us with dread because while chemical nitrogen helps grass grow, so does naturally fixed nitrogen, but without the damage. Clover is a really effective and natural nitrogen-fixing machine.

I have seen some of the work, enthusiasm and results. Teagasc is doing work on clover at Moorepark and Solohead Farm, while in Johnstown Castle, it has carried out years of research on multispecies swards, to see if adding in herbs can make the grazing even better, the carbon sequestration more effective and improve the soil microbial activity.

Yes, a multispecies sward is managed differently to a monoculture sward. In some ways, it might be more challenging, but in other ways it is easier. I certainly believe it is worth a try.I certainly believe it is worth a try, not just for the potential savings in fertiliser costs, but also for the satisfaction we can all derive from healthy soils and from feeding our animals and land in a way which works for them and us and for the climate challenges ahead. This is the future.