GROWING IN A DIFFERENT CLIMATE: organic growers gather

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GROWING IN A DIFFERENT CLIMATE: organic growers gather

“Growing in a Different Climate” is the theme of this year's Organic Growers of Ireland (OGI) conference. The event, to be held in the County Arms Hotel, Birr, is on Wednesday 20th of February.

“Climate change is very pertinent to growers and also something that had not been looked at in any great depth” says Jason Horner of the OGI, organiser of the conference.

(pic copyright Oliver Moore)

“We always try to be practical when we are looking at what information growers will benefit from and rather than speaking about climate change as something that is being looked at in the future maybe we should start addressing it in the present, in that it is already here.”

He adds: “The last time we held a conference it was all growers this time it is all academics and people associated with the industry so it is a different emphasis.”

Topics for presentations include impact of climate change on pests and plants, opportunities presented by climate change to grow new plants, resilience for weather extremes, agroforestry, alternative distribution systems and finally growing well in a bad season.

Cathriona Duffy's research, which opens the event, is the most academic of the offerings.

“The consensus within the scientific community is that our global climate is changing” she tells me. “Over the course of the last century global average surface temperature has increased by approximately 0.74°C. Further temperature increases are projected, as well as more seasonal rainfall and increased frequency of extreme weather events.”

These changes will have an effect on what organic growers can do. “Despite the physical link between agriculture and climate, there has been limited work conducted on the potential impacts of projected temperature, precipitation and atmospheric CO2 changes on economically important agricultural pests in Ireland” she says.

Her talk “will provide a general overview of the potential impacts of future climate change on insect pests, drawing on both international and national examples.”

She continues “Potential changes in plant physiology and phenology in response to increased temperatures and resultant changes in current Irish pests will also be reviewed,” will her talk “concludes by highlighting how changes in the biology of insects in Ireland as a result of climate change will impact organic production, with a view to informing adaptation policy in the future.”

Another presenter is Peter Jones. Jones is a Professor in the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences at University College Cork. He is joint Co-Ordinator of the MSc in Organic Horticulture based at Liss Ard Estate outside Skibbereen in West Cork.

Jones’s research interests focus on improving disease resistance and stress tolerance in crops, by both breeding better cultivars and by using natural products such as seaweed extracts and composted crabshell to switch on defence strategies in crops.

According to Jones “What I intend to describe will be the predicted effects on Irish climate over the coming decades: increasing temperatures in winter and in summer (especially inland), a longer growing season with fewer frosts; altered rainfall patterns with wetter winters, especially in the west and drier summers especially in the east.”

He continues “Ireland should fare better than the countries which are currently the main crop producers of the EU such as France, resulting in new market opportunities for Irish growers.”

“There will be changes in the way we farm” the Welsh native says, “earlier cattle turnout dates, need for irrigation of potatoes in the east. Also, changes in the range of crops we grow, with crops currently associated with Mediterranean-type climate, such as tomatoes, vines, doing much better.”

“Grain maize will begin to take over from the other cereals in Ireland, while forage maize will become a cost-effective alternative to silage. In the latter half of this century, soyabean will become an important crop in Ireland.”

Ever the optimist, event organiser Jason Horner concludes: “With the EU recently advising consumers to eat fruit and vegetables that are not standard shapes, and national promotional campaigns to support local growers, lets hope that 2013 is kinder to our food producers.”

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