Presented by Feasta, the Carbon Cycles and Sinks Network and Gorta

Thursday 28th April 2011:

Venue: The McLelland Room, The Central Hotel, Exchequer Street, Dublin 2.

Session 1: Organic farming’s role in improving food security and combatting climate change.

11.00 Registration
11.30 Gundula Azeez: How organic methods can lower greenhouse emissions and reduce reliance on fossil energy
12.30 Questions and discussion
13.00 – 1400 Lunch

Gundula Azeez has been working on agricultural policy for over sixteen years. After five years with the British National Farmers’ Union (NFU), including two years in its Brussels office, she spent a year at the European Commission working on agricultural trade and other issues. She then worked as the Soil Association’s Policy Manager for nine years. She is the author of the Soil Association’s reports “Soil Carbon and Organic Farming” (November 2009, available on the internet) and “The biodiversity impacts of organic farming”. She co-authored the Soil Association’s report on the impact of GM crops in North America, “Seeds of Doubt”, and was an adviser to the British government’s economic review of GM crops.

Session 2: Biochar’s role in increasing fertility and reducing fertiliser use

14.00 Witold Kwapinski: Biochar research in Ireland
14.20 David Friese-Greene: Using biochar on small farms in rural India.
15.00 Questions and discussion.
15.30 Session ends.

Dr. Witold Kwapinski is a Process and Chemical Engineering lecturer at the University of Limerick and a member of the Carbolea reseach group there. His research concentrates on processes such as pyrolysis, gasification and acid hydrolysis which convert plant material into fuels, chemicals and substances such as biochar. He designed a pilot-scale gasifier already in operation at the University.

David Friese-Greene In pursuit of his aim ‘education through communication’ David has made documentary films about research projects thoughout the world, including some for the British Antarctic Survey. He has a degree in ecology and animal behaviour,and in 2003 he began to work with an Indian NGO, SCAD (Social Change and Development) which is based in Tamil Nadu. For the past three years he has been heavily involved in a project to establish the extent to which biochar can enable farmers in the districts in which SCAD works to improve their soil’s fertility and lessen their need for artificial fertilisers. He has just returned from India after the installation of an Australian-made pyrolyser to produce biochar.

SCAD has strong Irish connnections because it has been receiving assistance from Gorta for the past fifteen years. In particular, Gorta has been funding horticultural development as an alternative to traditional rice and cereal farming since these give poor results in the low rainfall areas in which SCAD works.

Admission to a single session – 10 euro. Admission to both sessions, 15 euro.

If you will be attending the first session and would like lunch with the speaker at the hotel, please let Feasta know by sending an e-mail to info@feasta.org so that we reserve enough space in the restaurant. Soup and sandwiches will cost 8.50 euro. and if other options are available, we will tell you when you register at 11am.

Soil Fertility Project: Southern India
banana farmers can’t be wrong!

David Friese-Greene writes:

Cletus Babu founded SCAD – social change and development – 25 years ago. It now works with over 400,000 of the poorest people in the state, helping them to help themselves. In 2008,, Cletus heard about biochar from friends from Bristol who in turn knew about it because of their involvement in Feasta. He immediately began working on ways to use the idea.

Low rainfall, poor irrigation and government-subsidised inorganic fertiliser have taken their toll on soil quality in the areas in which SCAD works. Just when farmers needed to apply even more fertiliser the subsidy has been dramatically decreased. Costs have soared and the price of some basic foods, such as rice, has doubled.

If SCAD can produce the right kind of biochar in large enough quantities, adding urine and/or other locally available nutrients, including products from the biodigestion of wet waste, farmers could eventually become self sufficient in fertiliser.

Many economic, cultural and social barriers need to be addressed in order to persuade conservatively minded rural farmers to change the habits of a lifetime. SCAD is trusted by the people because it has frequently demonstrated that new ideas can create a better standard of living and greater profits.

A local banana farmer has been using waste ash for five years from a local rice mill. On analysis, the ash turned out to be charcoal. He puts about 2kgs around newly planted banana trees. His use of water and fertiliser has halved and his yield has doubled. His neighbours are now using the biochar with the same effect. Demand is increasing but the supply is not. Part of our work is to ensure a good supply of biochar as quickly as possible.

Initially, in 2008 we promoted the wide use of Anila cooking stoves (developed by Dr Ravikumar in Mysore) but the heat they produce does not match local cooking habits. We then began working with a team of engineers and biologists in the UK, Ireland (the University of Limerick’s Carbolea group) and Australia to develop a sustainable soil fertility programme, which included the development of a mobile pyrolysis unit capable of producing 250 kg of biochar a day and a biodigestor capable of handling one tonne of wet waste per day to produce methane for fuel and organic fertiliser to add to the biochar. In March this year, a representative of the UK charity R H Southern Trust, which funded the building of a pyrolysis unit and biodigestor at the SCAD campus in India, opened the new facility. Scientifically run pot trials have begun on the use of the biochar produced by the unit and many other pot, plot and field trials are awaiting implementation.

This project aims to provide sustainable technologies to rural farmers in Tamil Nadu, Southern India, that will increase the quality and fertility of their soils using primarily agricultural and market waste. If the processes designed and developed by SCAD can restore degraded land and increase crop yields we think the technology will spread naturally. The project is not commercial, being supported by charity money.

Paul Melia, Farming Indepenent (14/4/11) writes:

The scheme will pay some 750 turf-cutters a total of €15,000 each over the next 15 years for the loss of their rights (€1,000 each per year).

Independent TD Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, who is also a spokesman for the Turf Cutters and Contractors Association, last night accused Fine Gael of reneging on its promise to discuss the issue.

He said the ban would be ignored by families who relied on turf to heat their homes.

Click here for more information

Catriona Murphy of the Farming Independent (12/4/2011) writes:

Demand for AEOS places is likely to outstrip the number available by 2:1, with some 15,000 farmers expected to apply.With the budget slashed from €50m to €25m and a €1,000 reduction in the maximum payment per farmer, it looks increasingly likely that demand from SAC and SPA farmers could be enough to account for all available places. At a maximum payment of €4,000 per farmer, the €25m budget for 2011 would only allow 6,250 farmers into the scheme this year, but not every farmer will reach the maximum payment.

Given that there are more than 20,000 farmers with SACs on their land, the chances of a farmer securing a place in the AEOS without an SAC or SPA designation are extremely slim.

Click here to read more.

The Government has announced a new turf-cutting mediation body and promised details of a compensation scheme in response to a European infringement action against Ireland for failing to protect raised bogs.

In a statement, the Government said an independent, non-statutory Peatlands Council would be created to respond to commitments set out in the Programme for Government and to assist Ireland in responding to the requirements of the EU Habitat’s Directive, which require Ireland to protect and conserve important peatland habitats.

Conor Skehan, a lecturer at DIT’s School of Spatial Planning and former director of Bord na Móna, has been appointed as chair of the council.

For the full article click on this link

Reforming the EU’s controversial Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will only prove successful if the revamped scheme plays a significant role in helping the EU meet its environmental and climate targets.
That is the view of European Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik, who used an address in Brussels yesterday to declare that any restructuring of the scheme must link subsidies for farmers to their environmental performance, while also promoting sustainable rural development and simplifying the current system.
“It is essential that the future CAP contributes the public goods we need to meet the environmental and climate challenges we are facing today,” Potočnik told the Future of Agriculture conference. “I do not see how the amount of public funds spent on agriculture can be legitimised unless the future CAP makes a significant contribution to reaching the EU’s environmental and climate targets.”
The CAP has long been a contentious issue for the EU, which spent around €55bn (47bn) on the programme in 2009. Critics have argued CAP has a weak environmental record, distorts the global economy, and harms trade interests while doing little to support the poorest farmers.
The economic crisis has increased the likelihood that the CAP will be altered in 2013, when the new long-term EU budget comes into force.
Potočnik said he was already in talks with EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Cioloş on how to include measures in the reformed CAP that would help EU member states meet their commitments to halting biodiversity loss and halting the degradation of ecosystems in Europe by 2020.
Proposals include linking the direct payments to farmers that make up the so-called ‘first pillar’ of the CAP to their ability to maintain permanent pasture, set aside land, or embrace crop diversification.
“We must not only sanction farmers who do not respect environmental rules, we must also reward those who do provide environmental public goods, because the market does not reward them for that,” Potočnik said.
Such a policy would not only help stop biodiversity loss and soil degradation, but also create “green corridors” that would help tackle climate change by reinforcing the resilience of Europe’s ecosystems, he added.
Potočnik also suggested rewarding farmers for better management of water and argued that CAP rural development money should remain available to help forests address biodiversity, climate and energy issues.
“If there is a CAP in the future, it must be green,” Potočnik concluded. “I do not see how the amount of public funds spent on agriculture can be legitimised unless the European taxpayer knows that the future CAP will make a significant contribution to reaching the EU’s environmental and climate targets and will provide environmental services such as biodiversity protection, flood prevention, fire prevention and so on.”

Ireland receives about €1.7 billion per year in agricultural subsidies from the EU (or €13,000 per farm).

Payments like these distort the market, but abandoning them would mean that agriculture would collapse in Ireland.

David McWilliams believes that the agriculture industry needs to be shaken up. So, instead of telling average farmers that they will get a subsidy – ie a subsistence payment – farmers could get an ‘investment payment’.

Click here to read more

Farming Independent Comment: January 25th 2011

Fleeing Vesuvius confronts this mess squarely, analysing its many aspects: the looming scarcity of essential resources such as fossil fuels – the lifeblood of the world economy; the financial crisis in Ireland and elsewhere; the collapse of the housing bubble; the urgent need for food security; and the enormous challenge of dealing with climate change.

The solutions it puts forward involve changes to our economy and financial system, but they go much further: this substantial, wide-ranging book also looks at the changes needed in how we think, how we use the land and how we relate to others, particularly those where we live.

While it doesn’t discount the complexity of the problems we face, Fleeing Vesuvius is practical and fundamentally optimistic. It will arm readers with the confidence and knowledge they need to develop new, workable alternatives to the old-style expanding economy and its supporting systems. It’s a book that can be read all the way through or used as a resource to dip in and out of.

Copies of the book can be ordered here

The state faces the prospect of paying more than €250m buying bogs on which turf- cutting is no longer allowed.

Farmers could be set for a massive windfall after a report commissioned by Environment Minister John Gormley said the cost of buying 130 bogs across the country could reach “in excess” of €227m, plus another €50m in legal costs.

But even if the bogs are not bought outright, the minister is considering buying turbary (turf cutting) rights from affected landowners.

The cost of doing this would be €54m, paid out over six years. A compensation scheme for landowners is also being considered, which would cost €42m over 14 years.

To read the full story click this link