Tipperary farmer is conscious of protecting the soil to protect the future

“On a year like this the weather is dictating how crops are doing, but we are insulated from the losses that some other farmers are having because of growing crops a lot cheaper. Every year that we farm this way, we are improving the soil's health," says Tommy Tierney. 

Tommy is a tillage farmer working on 700 acres of land at the foot of the Knockmealdown Mountains in county Tipperary.

A new breed of tillage farmer, Tommy is increasingly turning his attention to managing the structure and biological health of his soil to reduce expensive inputs and improve resilience. Tommy also puts more consideration into the interactions of his farm with the wider landscape and the ecosystems that, in turn, interact with his farm.

Tommy considers his farm to be a regenerative agriculture farm, which is a new way of farming here in Ireland but more common abroad: “This journey started since we stopped ploughing (and changed to using a no-till drill) in 2014, and really in 2018 when I joined BASE Ireland.  I’m fond of the environment, I’d like to see better water quality and I just find it a better way to farm than the way we were going with high chemical inputs”. 

The journey to creating healthier soils has been rewarding for him so far.  Farmers like Tommy find this way of farming very engaging, as the high degree of experimentation keeps farming interesting.  For every success there is an inevitable failure, but Tommy is constantly learning and enjoys sharing his experiences with others. 

“With farm level research, there is bound to be risks, especially the way I do it.  I experiment in blocks rather than with whole fields to try out different ideas.  It’s been very good so far”.

Tommy has used the Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) to make his farming system more sustainable by helping to fund the purchase of a GPS controlled fertiliser spreader and sprayer and a no-till drill. The GPS equipment helps to avoid excess applications of chemical fertiliser and spray, of which he plans to apply less of year on year.  The drill protects his soils through minimal disturbance at planting time.

He samples all of his soils every three years to make sure that his carbon and organic matter content levels are increasing year on year. The results speak for themselves in fields where straw has been incorporated for many years. The health of the soils is evident, and the structure is extremely friable. It is a measure that Tommy intends to keep using.

The value of healthy high carbon soils is that they become a carbon sink rather than an emitter and this helps soils to become more resilient when supporting crops in adverse weather conditions. These measures are improving the environmental and financial sustainability of tillage farms, while providing a vital environmental service for the rest of society.

More details about Tommy’s farm can be found on CAP Network Ireland, the national network dedicated to supporting sustainable agriculture and rural development in Ireland. Visit capnetworkireland.eu for more details.