Our farmers know it more than most, the climate is changing and so must we
The Rural Independents have claimed the Climate Action Bill will ‘destroy rural Ireland’ and the livelihoods of farmers. But here, GREEN PARTY SENATOR RÓISÍN GARVEY, who is from a farming background in Clare, argues that a new approach is needed to help r
WHILE people debated climate change, the climate changed. The debate is over. Now it is time to support those who are most vulnerable to what that brings.
Every farmer I speak to has witnessed this first-hand, because they spend more time in nature than most. They’ve witnessed more storms, heavier rainfall, unpredictable weather, summer temperatures in February and pure winter weather in April and have observed a huge decline in quantity and variety of birds, insects and other animals.
So, we have two choices, pretend it is not happening and be completely ill-prepared or face all the facts and prepare as best we can.
I live 5km from my local village of Inagh, on the family farm. I have lived here most of my life.
What I have seen change most is the vast increase in the amount of farmland that gets flooded and how farmers have had to increase their livestock and/or have second jobs just to cover the ever-increasing costs.
Farmers are getting the same price for beef now as 30 years ago, but all other costs have gone up exponentially. Their produce is not really valued.
MEANWHILE, I can no longer buy a litre of Clare milk and we are down to a handful of butchers in the county. Many farmers are not happy with the current farming model, they are worried and the pressures of increasing stocking rates are a constant stress.
We have lost many good men all over Clare to suicide because of the pressures they were under. One size does not fit all.
There is no one solution. The solutions need to be as varied as the land types we have in this country. Farming is evolving just like all of life does.
It is time we gave farmers more choices in farming and more supports to help them with that evolution. We are all facing this climate crisis. Whether it is dairy, beef, sheep, mixed farming, arable, spuds (we import 80,000 tonnes per year from the UK for example), fruit, artisan food production, horticulture, tourism, biofuel, biodiversity, native woodland, wood for timber or organic farming.
We need to invest in farmers to help them have choices in farming so that they are both economically and climate change viable.
The need for rural Ireland to be prepared for Climate Change is the very reason I joined the Green Party, as no other party has put the intellectual capital and research time into how we can best cope with the imminent effects and what that means for our land and farming.
I firmly believe that, as a result, the Green Party will fight hardest for the supports that the real custodians of the land, the farmers, need.
We also want to increase the amount of apprenticeships, up to 10,000 per year, as they will be needed in the green economy. The bulk of these will be rural-based jobs for rural Ireland dwellers.
When I was given the role of rural development spokesperson, I met with Macra na Feirme. I was blown away by their enthusiasm, and passion for living off the land and remaining in rural Ireland. It gave me real hope.
This week, I got a lovely email from the President of Macra na Feirme, Thomas Duffy, about the Climate Action Bill, stating: ‘The comments by Minister Ryan that farming cannot reduce in the same way as energy or transport is welcome, the complexities of our food system are far greater than any other sector’ and that ‘divisive rhetoric around mandatory herd culls or a return to herd limits were entirely unproductive’.
Macra also welcomed the focus on remote working as the future of employment in rural Ireland. It is key for us to listen to the voice of young farmers that this great organisation represents.
Remote working hubs are another key Green Party priority to help to ensure that young people can find employment and raise their families in the rural communities where they live.
Remote working hubs help reduce transport emissions without increasing home heating emissions and allow people to avoid long commutes.
The retention of workers in towns and villages during the working week boosts demand for local businesses, combats social isolation and strengthens that fabric that keeps us loving to live in rural Ireland.
FLOODING, as I mentioned earlier, is a big worry of mine. Many of the solutions have been figured out but we need to implement them. I’ve found great Green Party policies on catchment-based solutions.
It’s a relatively new term that will have to become commonplace if we do really want to protect our land. A hard engineering-solutions-only focus leads to just moving the flooding problem along but if you have a mixture of well-planned soft, and hard, engineering solutions you can rectify flooding problems for the entire catchment area of rivers and at a fraction of the cost.
The huge increased investment in walking and cycling infrastructure along with our heritage buildings will not just benefit rural dwellers but will increase tourism in rural areas also.
The town centres-first approach will bring life back to so many of our rural town and village communities. Green policies have led to huge improvements in rural public transport, enabling older, younger and people with disabilities to travel safely.
Thanks to the Greens, there are grants so people can create their own clean, green energy, reduce their energy bills and, if they have excess power, they will get paid for it.
I don’t think that the Greens have all the answers and that only the Greens are needed. I think we need everyone, from all parties and none, to take rural Ireland seriously, invest in it properly and if we unite instead of divide, then we can be the people that rural Ireland has been waiting for to make it a thriving, happy and resilient place to live.