A new book by the senior lecturer in the Faculty of Agriculture at University College Dublin entitled Farming In Ireland: History, Heritage and Environment is a tome which many farmers in Ireland should find interesting.
John Feehan's book is perhaps the most comprehensive history of Irish Farming published to date.
In it, the author argues that the current model of farming worldwide cannot survive, due to factors of environmental sustainability. Concentration of crop production in a few areas of the world also comes under the spotlight, with the shrinking genetic base exposing modern farming to new pests and diseases which science may not be able to cope with quickly enough, thus imperilling sufficient production.
He also pushes the notion of making Irish farming more sustainable in the long run. Speaking to The Irish Times recently he said, "I am not talking about going totally organic. I am talking about using traditional knowledge and science and technology to get integrated mixed farming that maximises the natural capital of the land. This would mean that nothing would be wasted and external environmental costs would be absorbed and accounted for."
"The mainstream farming that we have come to think of as the norm over the last 50 years may be seen as an experiment from which we have learned much, but at too high a cost."
The book also explores the future of European agriculture - concentrations of food production in large agri-production parks based on the principles of ecology, situated in large cities served by sea-ports and large scale intensive and heavily specialised rural farms. That would mean Europe more or less abandoning the countryside as a place for farming – thus rendering farmers ecological managers of 70% of land not required for these purposes.
The book was written to celebrate the centenary of the faculty of agriculture at UCD.
It looks like the future is going to be a lot more complicated than the past 10,000 years of organised farming, the history of which the author examines closely in this book. Surely a tome for any farming home. Farming In Ireland: History, Heritage and Environment is available from the faculty of agriculture at UCD. Priced at €90.
