DEAR EDITOR,

I have to eat my words. Well done to Frank O’Mara, Teagasc director, for highlighting farmers’ role as food producers. Also Agricultural Science Association (ASA) president Niamh Bambrick on asking what science is being used to justify land use change from food to energy production. Much more of this questioning is needed. Yes, by all means cover every shed, house, roof with panels. But growing beet/maize or grass to feed anaerobic digesters is as far from green as you will get.

There is a movement in America which is gaining a lot of traction from large companies like Mars, Nestlé, etc, called regenerative farming, which is well worth researching. Basically it is repairing the biology in the soils using grazing animals in a planned, rotational system. Healthy soils need the biology from the animals grazing it. Saliva, urine, dung and animal hooves feed the microbes in the soil. The US has discovered what we have been doing for over 50 years. I firmly believe that Irish grassland farmers are 75% of the way to being fully regenerative. It’s a premium brand market that will be green-washed to suit the multinationals if we are not careful. I would urge farmers, consumers and policy-makers to examine regenerative farming. At the very least it’s worth researching the four principles of regeneration which are the energy cycle, the mineral cycle, the water cycle and community dynamics.

Why not brand Ireland as regenerative and reap the rewards? We must remind society about the role of farmers as food producers. Because without farmers, society would be hungry, naked and sober.