Joe McNamee: The State must atone for 1980s regulations and save small farms
Peter Twomey, Glenbrook Farm
Earlier this year, I wrote of free range pig farmer Peter Twomey, of Glenbrook Farm, 15 minutes drive from Cork city centre.
In particular, I praised his superb free range pork and Peter subsequently reported a mighty response to the piece and a sharp rise in sales, both online and at his Saturday morning farm shop.
That growing renown was further copper-fastened by the Cork on a Fork food festival with multiple dining events — including pop-ups on the farm itself — showcasing his magnificent meat.
After all, his pork is the ideal exemplar of a premium, local, sustainable product, very much the festival’s raison d’etre.
All in all, it was a good boost for a small producer — except Peter can no longer find a local abattoir to have his livestock slaughtered, thanks to the evisceration of small abattoirs.
Forty years ago, there were over 850; today, there are less than 100. Peter now has to make a 374km round trip to Portlaoise once a week.
If it weren’t for a butcher friend helping out with collection, that trip would be doubled.
I have written before of the wonderful Lúnasa Farm, in Co Clare, a great example of mixed regenerative farming including their own butcher’s shop in Clarecastle.
There is no longer a single abattoir remaining in the entire county of Clare to kill their pigs.
They make two 200km round trips to Offaly: Once to deliver the animals, before returning to collect the carcasses.
Cass McCarthy, of Lúnasa Farm, describes the need for a local abattoir as pivotal to their business and is at least thankful that they don’t have to travel as far to have their superb beef cattle slaughtered. That too may change.
Worse again, Ger Rynne, of Inagh Free Range Pork, also in Co Clare, is closing down for good, no longer able to justify the eight hours of driving for two 300km round trips to slaughter his pigs.
In recent years, small speciality food producers in the Burren came together to create what has become a very successful food tourism proposition, not only promoting the produce but also bringing visitors to the area.
Ger’s excellent free range pork was a big part of that offering.
And it’s not just pigs.
Small poultry producers are equally affected, closing at a rate of knots.
So too are small producers of beef or lamb, wishing to improve their lot by selling a premium product from the “farm gate” rather than settling for far lower prices when they sell into the industrial meat processing sector.
Back in the ’80s, when Larry Goodman et al began scaling up Irish meat processing to industrial levels, the Department of Agriculture revised regulations to fit this new large operational scale, regulations that shouldn’t have been remotely applicable to small abattoirs.
I once spoke to a retired county vet who deeply regretted how he and his colleagues were then encouraged to vigorously apply the regulations to smaller abattoirs, driving livestock producers into the arms of the industrial processors and beginning what has turned into the almost complete erosion of the sector.
The agriculture department seems to have long forgotten that Irish farming is an eco-system and a healthy eco-system incorporates both big and small and all sizes in between.
Both Peter and Cass report huge interest all over the country from those wishing to raise livestock in small quantities.
Those interested parties are then shocked to learn how difficult it will be to eventually kill that livestock.
One immediate solution would be mobile abattoirs, which are proving to be hugely successful in the US.
Those abattoirs do the slaughtering on the farm itself and, while the department will now sanction the operation of such mobiles, as yet no one has applied for a licence to do so.
The department should make up for its past sins and commission four or five mobile abattoirs and put their operation out to tender.
Industrial agriculture in this country has much to answer for when it comes to the destruction of our natural environment and also the livelihoods of small farmers and growers.
The State has enabled that destruction — maybe it’s time to give your local TD a call and tell them to set about the atonement process?
One of Ireland’s very finest, double-Michelin-starred chef Mickael Viljanen, comes to Park Hotel Kenmare for a one-off collaboration (November 16) with the Park’s own fine chef, James O’Sullivan, for what promises to be a superb evening in one of the finest dining rooms in the land, home to the hotel’s superb Sean Scully collection.
The evening kicks off with a champagne reception and O’Sullivan’s canapés and breads before Viljanen takes over to deliver a five-courser that could well be the finest meal you’ll eat this year, with a wine pairing also available.
Beyond the Visible: An Evening of Art, Astronomy & Alcohol (Nov 9) at Blackrock Castle sees The Astroholic, as astrophysicist and amateur mixologist Dr Alfredo Carpineti dubs himself, combine astronomy and cocktails with a dive into dark matter, radio waves, ultraviolet and gravitational waves, while serving up Sagittarius B2 cocktails based on the taste of a nebula.
Meanwhile, artist Helen O’Keefe responds in real time with the audience invited to do likewise (art materials provided) while sipping on a taste of stardust.
- All materials are provided. (Tickets are €25 each)
- spacefest.net
While recently in Dingle, I hosted a panel discussion on non-alcoholic beverages, a fast-growing trend.
I always found alcohol-free beer to be quite pointless until sampling superb Fierce Mild and I have written glowingly of King of Kefir and All About Kombucha in the past.
However today I write about the fourth panellist, Tom Costello of Sips by Tom, a lockdown project that has grown into a business selling premium syrups.
Using finest natural ingredients, he creates stonking fresh, flavours to be savoured solo, as cordials, or in cocktails and mocktails.
Using entirely natural ingredients and traditional techniques (oleo saccharum, maceration, infusion) to extract natural oils and whole fruit essence, each flavour profile shimmers with life and intensity.
The range is highly innovative, including Raspberry & Rose, Spicy Mango & Habanero, Toasted Almond Orgeat, and Banoffee Pie (milkshakes and daiquiris).
Recently struck down by near fatal man-flu, I improvised a quite delicious hot toddy of dark rum and Tom’s Fiery Ginger Syrup that would have raised the dead, the glowing heat of fresh ginger radiating through to the very marrow of my bones.
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