National Ploughing Championships: All of us, not just farmers, must change

The Ploughing, one of Europe’s great festivals, begins tomorrow. A grand celebration of all things rural, it is the most popular outdoor trade event in the country.

Last year 291,000 people went to the carnival and had an opportunity to visit 1,700 trade stands, so it is unchallenged, on this island at least, as the preeminent gathering of its type.

It is also a weather vane festival that gives a good reading of the state of farming and the mindset of farmers.

This year that mood will be influenced by harvest and fodder difficulties caused by summer drought and over-stocking.

This year it may also act as minor political weather vane as the number of politicians and Áras aspirants — they are almost a distinct species now — clumping around Screggan in new, ill-fitting boots might hint at the proximity of a general election.

It is also an echo chamber where cultural confidence is consolidated, even if huge challenges to convention intensify by the day.

The annual Irish Examiner/ICMSA opinion poll details that process.

This year’s survey put emphasis on attitudes towards climate change, its implications and the challenges it brings.

Some of the findings were unexpected, some were startling.

In an admission that flies in the face of an imperative generations in the making — hold the land at all costs — more than one-in-five farmers, 22%, fear climate change could drive them from the industry.

That needling apprehension was seen too in the fall — down from 52% to 38% — in the number who believe that Government is doing enough to combat climate change.

That was the positive side of the coin.

The ‘Trump’ side showed a fall in the number who, despite incontrovertible evidence, believe that agriculture contributes to climate change.

Startingly, 27% said they did not believe in climate change at all.

It is frightening that this flat-earth view is strongest among young farmers.

A third of those aged under 35 rejected the idea which begs an obvious question — will this deluded and dangerous minority change its behaviour without the imposition of severe sanctions?

That minority would undoubtedly reject a report published last week by the Rural Investment Support for Europe (RISE) Foundation that warned meat and dairy production must be halved by 2050 — a date at the edge of the working life of those young farmers who reject climate change.

The study says the livestock industry needs to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 74% by then, arguing that Europe’s animal farmers have exceeded safe limits for greenhouse gas emissions, nutrient flows and biodiversity loss for too long.

This is a sobering challenge for all of us, not just farmers.

We are all challenged too by the entirely rational argument from the farm sector that if it is to be curtailed, then our expectations of on-demand air travel — one of the great polluters — must change too.

Our appetite for meat must be modified.

The planet simply cannot continue to produce more and more meat to satisfy demand created by growing affluence.

These issues will not be resolved at the ploughing this week but it is time they were moved centre stage — and not just for farmers.

We all have to accept real change.