It’s all about diversification for tillage farmers
One such farmer is Richard Galvin of Portlaw, Co Waterford. “I’ve been in oats for 10 years, and for the last five, I’ve been organic,” says Richard.
Explaining why he decided on organic oats, he states, “I was growing beet, and when the contract went, conventional tillage wasn’t really worth it. We tried it, but we could see that oats were the better option. They could be grown commercially, and of course Flahavans were interested too.”
“Also, there weren’t a huge number of farmers interested in growing oats then, and we reckoned the market was increasing, people were becoming more health conscious.”
Galvin gets about 1.5 to two tonnes per acre. “I also use a permitted organic sludge. I don’t have livestock, so I don’t have dung, which can be a bit of a drawback.”
While the price remains relatively strong for organic oats, one thing worth considering in calculations, according to Galvin, is rotation.
“People think it’s a good price, but you have to look at it on a five year cycle, two out of five years, it’s idle. Now, you can do something with the clover, but nonetheless, it’s not the same as a crop every year.” Organic oat crops are long rather than short strawed. This helps the crop to surpass the weeds. Without herbicides, short straw varieties would find it difficult to compete with the weeds in the fields. Long straw also helps aerate the crop, and thus combats mildew.
As with other organic farming sectors, there are permitted inputs to help with pest and weed management. “I do use a bit of what’s permitted, a little sulfur on mildew, but mostly it looks after itself. For example, ladybirds eat the aphids. I saw more ladybirds this year than ever before, and I put that down to the fact that I’m not using pesticides”.
He says, “You would notice an increase in wildlife on the farm when you don’t use pesticides. There are more insects and then more birds, and we have an incredible number of bumblebees this year too. With the white clover in at the orchard, I never saw so many bumble bees as I saw this year.”
His orchard is the second key enterprise on the farm, and a growing one, with 30,000 fruit trees already yielding a crop, and Galvin be will planting another 4,000 apple trees in November. Of his 110 acres, 10 are now orchards.
Red Jonagolds are the variety grown. He supplies Simply Organics, and while some are sent to distributors in Northern Ireland, the majority go to Tesco.
Elstar is used as a pollinator, and Galvin will trial between 600 and 1,000 Delbars, which are an early red variety.
In a promising sign of the market for Irish organic apples, he is considering planting another four acres next year.
As with every farming enterprise, the trick is to stay one step ahead of the market. Three years ago, organic oats was making about €100 per tonne more than they are now.
However, the need for feeding organic beef and sheep should keep the price at least stable, because tillage farmers can simply start to supply organic beef or sheep farmers if the price gets too low.
As Richard Galvin shows, there is plenty of sense in tillage farmers having more than one product, and more than one route to market.
