Is it going to become impossible to farm in the West of Ireland as a result of climate change ?

Alibaba

I wonder if the day is rapidly coming where as a result of climate change farming is becoming impossible especially in the SW.

I live in Kerry where it has been almost raining continuously since around the 15th of June last year. Cows out last year almost 1st of May. In again for 2 weeks in July. In again the 11th of October, and inside since.

Its becoming an all too regular occurrence for I to be anything other than climate change...

Gloomtastic!

Change or die. What do they farm in wet Asian countries?

Dunedin

I’ve always said that it’s the weather that’s farmers enemies and not the factories or creameries.

G-Man

Does farming work anywhere .... What we produce needs supports and what we eat we import.

All farming everywhere needs some support,if you are going to be supporting the big guy up on East Coast, farm in the west will get it as well.

Fotish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121982119#Comment_121982119

True, I worked in Sweden, they have very short summers and long cold winters, yet the farmers have adapted.

G-Man

It's the variability which will kill profits.. Countries with extremes make long term plans for extremes... If you have changeable patterns , it's hard to predict when to plant or when to plan lambing dates, and it also makes for a very tough operation...

20silkcut

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121982119#Comment_121982119

Rice ? And they get multiple harvests per year there is no winter. That’s why there are so many billions living there.

Danzy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121982622#Comment_121982622

They also put fertilizer out at levels we can't even imagine.

Shoog

Its looking bad for farming in the west, weather is one serious factor but the age profile of farmers is also a huge threat with most over 60 and very few new entrants.

I expect almost the whole of the west going over to forestry or abandoned.

Gloomtastic!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121982622#Comment_121982622

Paddy fields 😂

Hyland17

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121982685#Comment_121982685

I've heard this being said before but as a young farmer the biggest hurdle I find is everytime you try to rent a bit of ground rent goes up. Everyone starts adding up what your getting and looking for it all. That is what has put a floor on prices around me anyways. No room to progress as that few euro you might get in payments to build on is taken. And even at that not many will go for a long term lease (10years +). Afraid they might miss out on more money. My experience from it and farming 10years renting ground. Last time I tried to renew lease to get into ACRES price went up and took most of what would be gained from it.

Shoog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121982704#Comment_121982704

There is still a massive amount of land hording by older country folk. Anything that comes up is snapped up by people who don't even farm. Its a very Irish thing.

Silverdream

Rising fuel costs along with the weather will put an end to farming in all but the best of land. The marginal heavy land farms are having 6 to 7 month winters now as the norm. The cost of making silage is sky rocketing, just look at the price increases in fuel, fertilizer, machinery and labour. We are looking at a bale of silage with an all in cost of 30 euros soon. How the f^^ does that pay when a suckler Cow will eat 12 to 15 of them over the long winter.

So much red tape now too, just log onto agfood and see the list of BS schemes you have to be in. The future of the big heavy continetal cross cow is over, the small "eco" 5 star cow is a waste of effort unless you want to breed weanlens the size of Goats.

For me I'm about halfway gone from farming, with a seriously reduced numbers and in all the schemes but am thinking even thats not worth the effort, and worse is there's very little satisfaction or pride in farming this way.

Them Tax free Forestry premiums as looking very tempting to me now.

Glenomra

Have been thinking the same myself recently. Noticed that much of the low land in East Clare is rapidly returning to 'nature' with large areas that were grassland fields succumbing to rushes. Owners unable or unwilling to pay for the cost of cutting the rushes as heretofore.

Hyland17

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121982711#Comment_121982711

That's very true. I have often sat back and looked at land just left idle where its just farmed for the payments and minium stocking rates. No sucsessor identified or family who have no interest. Where will it be in 10 years time? I look at farming as a dying trade. Not many want to work in it and those that do are seen as a golden egg. Alot have cut back in numbers or transfer over to drystock where there's less work. The art of calving or lambing down will all be lost in time. And all those that farm drystock where is the drystock going to come from?

G-Man

Is there no enough dairy around to create demand for even marginal land.. Where I am in bog country in the midlands, everywhere is quite low lying and wet, yet everything is getting thendart of the 360 ( track and bottle) and mole plough . Grazing demand from the new dairy demand has eliminate even the snipes grazing

Hyland17

Around my area their is only 2 left.One pulled the plug at the start of the year. Too much coming down the way and kids have no interest. Some ground that dairy were on are taken by sheep and beef people. Gave big money for the returns out of it. Its tricky going into bog land now, at the strike of a pen the Government can take you out of it. Don't know how that would fair out in a lease. Wouldn't like to be paying over the odds for it.

Hyland17

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121982721#Comment_121982721

The ECO cow is a joke. Some of the best breeding has been killed because figures didn't look right to the Department. Cost are always going to go up as long as the Carbon tax is there. That hits everything and everyone. Its no benefit to the ordinary person. The schemes are a joke too, just want you to be rewilding the place with smaller animals. I understand your thinking about Forestry but even if you go down that route theirs no back. The few stock you might have will keep you in touch with farming and maybe better times may come in a few years

minerleague

I think there will be a future ( might be a different type of farming depending on weather and consumer choices) as climate change will probably make parts of the world uninhabitable by humans ( rising sea levels and desert encroachment )

Fotish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121982950#Comment_121982950

According to ICBF.

"The introduction of the new Carbon Sub-Index as a component of the EBI is a World First and highlights that Irish farmers are leading the way in terms of their commitment to climate action ".

Of course it's a World first, no other country would be so stupid as to attempt to do something like this !

Could you imagine the French introducing something like this , not in a month of Sundays.

Also it's nothing to do with Irish Farmers , no Irish Farmer wants anything to do with this farce.

A small cow produces a small calf which ends up in a small price at the mart , no amount of stars on the Index will make up for the lack of Kgs on the weighing scale.

Shoog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121983485#Comment_121983485

If a small cow has lower inputs and can be put on heavier land then surely there is margin in it.

amacca

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121983505#Comment_121983505

Id question the return on them on the same basis the poster above mentioned

You simply wont get paid if they dont have the kgs, the retailers and processors have the producers by the short and curlies

The producer is the easiest to cut to the bone so they can have loss leaders/sell produce at below cost of production, never mind with a built in margin...the producer is the only one that doesnt have the power to enforce a margin so theyll need to have more units to try get a margin when prices go down or if numbers capped then go begging for more insufficient support just to keep their heads above water

(Not to mention more units even with lower inputs increases labour and other costs although it does spread the risk)

The system as it stands does not incentivize what is being pushed and theres no one can change the big players in the system over to paying a premium for quality rather than quantity etc......

Imo quality product is being sold at wholesale/standard prices ..... the whole thing would have collapsed were it not for subsidies (which are woefully inadequate) and thats where farmers find themselves....consumers now have decades upon decades of way too cheap food being produced while the small to medium producer has been squeezed

Imo unless that changes smaller cows wont matter a shite...unless they are breeds where a premium is paid for superior quality milk/cheese/meat etc

Shoog

In our area almost everyone has stopped keeping cows in preference to sheep because of the weather.

Hyland17

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121983505#Comment_121983505

Would you not be better off with sheep then? Sheep will poach heavy land just not as deep.

Furze99

Haven't we always had an Atlantic climate? Bad years, good years, a few drier weeks and this will pass. Surely the big difference now is less farming and those that are in it in a bigger way are more reliant on machinery that needs drier land and maximising stock levels etc So more exposed to extended spells of wet.

Hard Knocks

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121983505#Comment_121983505

A good Shorthorn cow could always rear a decent (Continental) calf on heavy ground. I always hear a smaller cow costs less. Vet, contractor, insurance, etc all cost the same no matter the cow size. As for smaller cows eating less, on farms I frequent the smaller cow eats as much if not more

Shoog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121984237#Comment_121984237

Look at the data, it clearly shows a shift in the climate to wetter and warmer conditions under climate change. This is especially true of the west of Ireland.

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121984755#Comment_121984755

The worry is that climate heating up will leave Ireland a colder place if/when ocean currents change due to polar ice-melting

Shoog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121984852#Comment_121984852

Very true. Ireland would look like Labrador if that happened. The current population and infrastructure would be totally unsustainable in such a scenario.

blue5000

Look at the type of cow they have in Scotland. Small, hardy traditional breeds. Before 1970 there were no continental cattle in Ireland. I'm not in the west of Ireland but a charolais cow wouldn't suit me either, and most of the lads who had them around here are gone dairying.

Alibaba

Going back some 25/30 years ago we were always planning for a 5 month winter.

Now its gone to 6 months and in a few days time I'll be into my 7th month indoors. Roughly the same amount of cattle but big shift in the climate. Totally unsustainable as far as I can see, the cost of all these long winters are enormous.

Extended periods of very challenging weather now seem to be becoming normal , whether its the winter , spring or the summer.