Gilligans aiming to have a carbon-neutral farming operation within a decade
Ask Padraic Gilligan what he thinks about the growing trend towards not eating meat and he answers with a question.
“Would you like a natural product from a farm or would you prefer to eat a steak that was created in a lab?”
It’s fairly obvious what he’d prefer but he does concede that a balanced diet is important and stresses that his family operation is striving to be carbon-neutral within 10 years.
“The environment is so special that everyone has to respect it and look after it and I think farmers are to the fore in that,” he said.
Padraic’s son Alan says they take expert advice on how to reduce their carbon footprint: “We are learning every year — there is lots to be learned and lots to do.”
Lessons learned already are about how to improve the soil structure and get more organic matter into it, like farmyard manures, he explains.
“If you get it aerated you can sequester more carbon into the soil. This is something we have learned and are trying to implement.”
The Gilligans had an audit carried out by the Carbon Trust in 2009 to see how much C02 they produce.
“We were half the national average at the time,” says Alan, whose view is that there is “no one magic pill” to tackle the problem but lots of measures which can help.
“We do need to reduce it and we have already introduced measures.”
Planting trees and hedgerows was a start.
“With hedgerows it is important to get biodiversity in there,” says Alan.
“They can sequester as much carbon as trees, if they are maintained properly”.
The Gilligans use organic fertilisers and get the soil sampled regularly to monitor progress. “It’s a big plus that we don’t have to buy in much feed because we produce almost all we need,” says Padraic.
And are they their own best customers when it comes to meat?
“Steak is my favourite,” Padraic says. “I was in London at the weekend and I was mad to come home to get a decent steak”.
Does he eat meat every day? “I wouldn’t be let,” he laughs.