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Ear to the Ground - Season 33 - Episode 01
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00:00Hello and welcome to a brand new series of Ear to the Ground.
00:03Another season of farming life and rural living in all their muddy glory.
00:09And what better place to start than right here at the National Dairy Show in Mill Street,
00:13where the country's top show cattle and their handlers will be battling it out for top honours.
00:20Later, Stephen Robb has a more sobering story.
00:23Could a noxious weed really threaten the livelihoods of tillage farmers around the country?
00:30The problem is there. It's a serious problem, so it should be addressed.
00:35And for the season that's in it, Ellen McSweeney will be on a farm that's harvesting a whopping 400,000
00:41pumpkins.
00:42I was born on Halloween, so pumpkins are part of my blood. I still think this is such a weird
00:48sight to see.
01:10Some people are born into farming. Some may inherit land, but others just seem to have it in their DNA.
01:18Like 13-year-old Garoad Long.
01:21From the village of Kilbritton in County Cork, Garoad spends as much spare time as possible working on a local
01:28dairy farm.
01:30So how many calves are you looking after? Or trying to look after, at least?
01:35Over 30, I'd say.
01:37And what are you responsible for?
01:38Bedding, feeding, feeding, feeding and feeding.
01:41Okay.
01:43Garoad's love of farming is a passion mum, Helena, is very happy to encourage.
01:48Well, we've come here since he's a baby, and it's what he's had to come out here when he was
01:52age kind of four.
01:53He just wants to be out on the farm all the time, he just loves animals.
01:56He's almost self-sufficient. You just park him down here.
01:58Oh yeah, I just park him up here. He's part of the family here as well.
02:00So, they're very good to him.
02:02How are you going?
02:03I'm going to go.
02:04Garoad is no passenger here.
02:06Over time, he's become a reliable farm hand for David O'Sullivan and his wife, Emma.
02:13He always put a bucket in his hand, and he was under the cows, under the calves.
02:17Loving it.
02:18Loving it.
02:19He's an asset, like, which is only bringing the cows in for milking, putting the cows out after milking.
02:25Feeding the calves is the big one.
02:27A full confidence in Garoad when he goes feeding those calves that he's doing them right like.
02:30David and Emma and their family have always competed at agricultural shows.
02:36That passion has rubbed off on Garoad.
02:39Tomorrow, he'll be showcasing his animal handling skills at the National Dairy Show in Mill Street.
02:45How are you feeling about the show tomorrow?
02:47Excited for it. Weighing all year for it.
02:50Yeah. Are you nervous?
02:51I suppose I smell a bit.
02:53Yeah. But are you a little bit confident as well?
02:55Yeah.
02:56Yeah.
02:57To qualify for the Nationals, Garoad competed in local handling competitions with the same heifer calf.
03:05She's a beaut. Tell me about her.
03:07She was born in the end of November.
03:09Okay. What's her name?
03:11We wouldn't really have a name for her. We'd just call her the November calf.
03:1413-year-old Garoad will be competing in the under-16 class as one of the youngest entrants.
03:21What's his chances like tomorrow?
03:23Hopefully, he'll get out of the top ten.
03:26Yeah.
03:26But it is an All-Ireland and there is high quality.
03:31He's up against 16-year-olds as well.
03:34But he knows his moves.
03:36He knows exactly what to do for the judge.
03:38He has it done to a tee.
03:40This morning, Garoad and David are taking the show calf to Mill Street to get her settled in ahead of
03:45the big day.
03:47The hope is that it will help her acclimatise to this very busy and noisy environment.
03:53Have you much more work to do?
03:56Not really. Just feed her and done for the day.
03:59And keep her as clean and as white as this?
04:01Yeah.
04:07It's the day of the competition and all around, competitors are busy getting their animals show ready.
04:14Garoad included.
04:16So what else do you need to be doing between now and heading into the ring?
04:20Just getting her top line ready.
04:22You just go with the brush and hairdryer and you're trying to just level out her top line.
04:27It's longer here and short here.
04:29It's trying to just match the same height.
04:31So it looks perfectly level.
04:32Yeah.
04:34The National Dairy Show at Mill Street attracts large crowds from all over the country.
04:39They come to see the pedigree livestock, the exhibitions and, of course, the competition.
04:45Judge Andrea Raftery will be running her eye over the competitors' handling skills.
04:50What do you look for as a judge?
04:52Someone that's quite cool, calm, collected, very comfortable on the halter.
04:56Someone who always makes their calf look really good.
04:58Is it a disadvantage if you're not from a farm?
05:02You definitely don't need to be from a farm.
05:04For me, all you need is a bit of enthusiasm.
05:07You need work ethic and you just want the will to learn.
05:13Every movement of Garoad's calf has to be skilfully controlled.
05:20But the lights and noise seem to be affecting her.
05:39Despite the handling challenges, Garoad is still awarded fifth place.
05:45Not bad in such an experienced group.
05:49You just didn't go my way.
05:51She was fighting a little bit with you, yeah?
05:52Yeah.
05:53Yeah.
05:53She was kind of throwing herself around.
05:55She wasn't keeping straight or anything and she's pushing a lot.
05:58Yeah.
05:58Are your arms tired now?
06:00Oh, yeah.
06:02But there's still hope.
06:05Garoad and the runners-up in all the age classes have another chance to qualify for the final.
06:11However, he'll have to impress a new judge.
06:17This time, things go exactly to plan.
06:20Perfectly right from the start to the end.
06:23Great job.
06:24It's first place.
06:27And into the final.
06:29He's going straight back into the ring for the championship.
06:33So, this is where it gets really interesting and quite serious.
06:38Let's see how he gets on.
06:43Competing against the best handlers here today, Garoad seems to be holding his own.
06:49But the judge, Cord Hormann, who's traveled all the way from Germany for this event, is the one who needs
06:55to be impressed.
07:07Finally, a decision is made.
07:19What did you like about your champion handler?
07:22You could really tell that he has a bond to his heifer, so he was really showing all that knowledge
07:29and professionalism in that presentation that made him champion.
07:32And he was a pretty cool customer out there, wasn't he?
07:34Yeah, absolutely.
07:35Absolutely.
07:36He took it like a champ, and he was calm, and no, no, I liked it a lot.
07:41Did you feel your heart racing when you were out there and the judge tapped you?
07:44No, really.
07:45I felt more relaxed because the cab was more relaxed.
07:47She was never in the ring before or anything like that.
07:49Yeah, what made you stand out, do you think?
07:52I don't know, but she's generally a good cab, and I put a lot of work into her, and I
07:57think that paid off.
07:58For Emma, who's been watching him here all day, it's an unforgettable moment.
08:04The champion, like, it's unbelievable.
08:05That's my phone.
08:06Sorry, lad.
08:07Yeah.
08:07And it's Helena.
08:09Hello?
08:10Hello, the champion.
08:12What a result.
08:13Brilliant.
08:14Oh, I'm delighted for him.
08:15Oh, it's fabulous.
08:16He is unbelievable.
08:18That was some moment.
08:19Absolutely.
08:20These are the ones that you strive for, for them.
08:23Give them the confidence then to come again next year.
08:26It doesn't matter whether you come from a big farm or a small farm or no farm.
08:30Or no farm.
08:31All you need is the passion.
08:32That's it.
08:37That's it for part one.
08:38Coming up after the break, we really do need to talk about a weed that's invading our fields.
08:44Very healthy looking.
08:45They're all sprayed, and they are looking healthy.
08:47They are supposed to die, but they are looking healthy.
08:49And pumpkins everywhere you look.
09:01This year's grain harvest is by now safely gathered in, with a lot of it sitting in stores like this
09:06right around the country.
09:08But Tilly's farmers are facing a rapidly developing threat to their livelihoods, and it's growing in fields in every county
09:15in Ireland.
09:17This is black grass, a highly competitive weed that has the potential to spread rapidly.
09:24In the UK, it is estimated to cost tillage farmers there a half a billion pounds every year as a
09:30result of reduced and contaminated yields.
09:34Last July, Conor O'Callaghan, a Chegg's tillage advisor, took me to a field that was infested with black grass.
09:42He got permission from the farmer on the basis that their identity and the location would not be revealed.
09:49Conor, it's taken quite a while to pull this story together, and part of the problem was to try and
09:55find a farmer who would talk to us who has black grass, and I've really struggled.
09:59Why is that?
10:00I think farmers, they're worried and scared.
10:04This can be so detrimental to their livelihood and to what they know.
10:08So it's very hard to get a tillage farmer to come and put up their hand and say, yes, there
10:13is a potential problem here.
10:20Look across here.
10:21There's no dare either.
10:24Holy...
10:24Get this done and dust and get out of here right.
10:26That is serious.
10:29Once fully ripe, black grass is easily spotted.
10:33The seed heads standing tall above this crop of winter wheat.
10:39This is unbelievable.
10:40I have never seen anything like this in Ireland before.
10:44Yeah, it's one of the worst fields I've seen as my time as a tillage advisor.
10:48What does this actually mean for the farmer?
10:50It means he has a major problem on his hands.
10:55Black grass is not a new weed, but it's only in the last 10 years that it has really emerged
11:00as a threat to Irish crop growers.
11:03It has an astonishing ability to multiply.
11:07Some plants can have 60 to 100 seed heads, producing as many as 10,000 seeds.
11:14Each one with the potential to produce another plant, crowding out the farmer's crop.
11:20It outcompetes the crop that is growing alongside.
11:23Yeah, as you can see here today in this crop, and that gives you the reduction in yield.
11:29These tiny seeds are easily spread from field to field, from farm to farm.
11:35I'm looking at your boots, and I'm looking at my boots, and I'm seeing black grass.
11:39Is that how easy it is to spread?
11:41It can't spread as easily as that.
11:43I've come across clients who spray crops, and they have had black grass grow in their yard where they wash
11:51down their sprayer,
11:52after they have been in a field infected with a small population of black grass.
11:56In May of this year, as a result of the risk posed by black grass, the Department of Agriculture added
12:03it to its list of noxious weeds.
12:05When black grass is present, landowners are now directed to destroy the unharvested crop, or parts thereof, depending on the
12:13scale of the infestation.
12:16Affected land must also be taken out of crop production for at least five years, while such serious financial loss
12:23could be about to impact a lot more farmers,
12:27as some strains of the plant are showing resistance to herbicides.
12:32At Chagas Oak Park Crop Research Station in Carlow, black grass seeds collected from farmers are being studied to understand
12:39the extent of the problem.
12:43Dr Vijay Vaskar is one of the scientists carrying out the research.
12:47So what we are doing here is that we are looking at the levels of resistance.
12:50So they were sprayed up to eight times the recommended label rate, and you could see that they are happily
12:55growing.
12:55Just to be clear, some of those plants grown in a glass house were sprayed with eight times the recommended
13:01label rate of commonly used herbicides and still survived.
13:05Yes, there is no control at all. That's how scary it is.
13:08Out of all of the samples that you get sent in here to test, what percentage is showing resistance to
13:14commonly used herbicides?
13:15Over 60%.
13:17That's huge.
13:18That's a huge, like I keep saying, historically, we haven't faced black grass in Ireland,
13:24and we don't want this weed, and we have to take all the measures to prevent the spreading of this
13:29black grass.
13:30In the UK, resistant strains of black grass were first identified as far back as the early 1980s.
13:37It's now reached a stage where as much as 85% of all samples tested are resistant to usable herbicides.
13:45John Cousins is a weed specialist with ADAS, the UK's largest independent agricultural and environmental consultancy.
13:53Way back in 1982, we began to get little glimmers of what it was going to look like, and we
13:58reached a tipping point in about 2012.
14:00And now we've got a really whole-scale problem in terms of efficacy of herbicides.
14:05Have you seen tillage farmers, arable farmers, having to exit crop production?
14:10Not yet, but the weed wasn't associated with the real financial pressures that the industry is under now in the
14:17past.
14:18To date, it's been much more about growing crops that they know are going to lose them money, but to
14:23help manage the weed in the long term.
14:25It's been a real story of just progressive erosion of options for weed control in the crop.
14:32Control in black grass, once it's established, is the main challenge.
14:36After some more phone calls, I eventually found two Kildare farmers who were willing to talk to me about their
14:42experience.
14:43In 2015, Adam Goodwin and his father Frank discovered black grass growing in a field of wheat.
14:50They traced the seed source back to imported oilseed rape.
14:54Through careful management, they managed to save most of the crop, but the field has still not been returned to
15:00tillage production.
15:02You ultimately put the field into grass, and did you think that was the problem solved?
15:07Well, that is a good way to handle it.
15:09It doesn't like competition, so in a field of grass, it's not so prolific and it's not so crazy.
15:14The Goodwins gave themselves five years to get on top of their black grass problem.
15:19But even today, it's still cropping up.
15:23We're not what you would say going for 10 years, but even after 10 years, if you cultivate this field
15:27again and you find black grass go back into grass, you can't risk the rest of the farm.
15:34You have to take it seriously, and there are people, I think, who are not taking it seriously, but certainly
15:38if you get the variety of it that we have, you know, it takes you seriously.
15:42It's not just in imported seed batches that black grass can find its way onto farms.
15:46The overall percentage of UK or English seed used in Ireland and the Republic is actually quite low, but we
15:55do import an awful lot of UK and English straw.
15:59Saying that, you just sent a shiver down my spine.
16:02Straw is an absolute curse.
16:04So straw going from farms with high levels of black grass, obviously you don't have the same certification process.
16:11You're not protected in any way.
16:13The fact that Irish farmers are importing straw, you know, there's a red light flashing in my head a little
16:18bit.
16:19I think that's a very dangerous practice.
16:22While up to now there seems to have been a reluctance on the part of many Irish farmers to admit
16:27to having black grass on their land,
16:29if the UK experience is anything to go by, early intervention will make all the difference.
16:36If this is not addressed properly, you won't be in tillage farming in a very few years.
16:41You know, one simple seed in this field is enough to knock this, you're in a 30 acre field here,
16:48to knock it out of tillage for at least 10 years.
16:51One simple little seed is that serious.
16:58Well, it is Halloween tomorrow and across the country, fine orange pumpkins are on display.
17:05Well, what you can see here are 25,000 pumpkins in one field in North Dublin.
17:10Their story started, however, way back in May.
17:15In fact, enough seeds were sown last May by Donnelly Fresh Farms to produce more than 400,000 pumpkins.
17:23When I visited, the fields were ready for harvesting.
17:28Leon Curley is the farm manager responsible for the crop.
17:33Leon, I was born on Halloween, so pumpkins are part of my blood.
17:37I still think this is such a weird sight to see.
17:40I don't know why, it's very, very unusual.
17:42And they're ready to be picked.
17:44Absolutely, yes.
17:45The very, very busy period, as you can imagine, from, say, September right through the October season.
17:50And pretty nerve-wracking, because, of course, there's the only one deadline, isn't there?
17:53It's Halloween or nothing.
17:54Yeah, harvested, washed, all cramped into a small season.
17:58So trying to hit them deadlines is, yeah, it can be a bit manic.
18:02The pumpkin is classified as a fruit.
18:05And while these varieties can be eaten, they're not destined for the dinner table.
18:10All of this is decorative.
18:12This is not something you're selling for eating.
18:14No, so there are eating varieties available and they can be asked, but the market in Ireland is very much
18:19for the carving and decorating varieties.
18:23This tradition is thought to have started in Ireland and Scotland.
18:28During the Celtic Festival of Samhain, people carved scary faces in turnips and placed them outside their homes to warn
18:36off unwanted spirits.
18:38When the Irish emigrated to America, they began to use pumpkins instead.
18:44That custom travelled back across the Atlantic Ocean.
18:49We grow nine different varieties from munchkin to monster, as you see here.
18:53And how big are the munchkins?
18:54So munchkins will be sort of small 10 centimetre pumpkins to the mediums being sort of 20 centimetres and monsters
19:01up on 30 centimetres plus.
19:02There's definitely a trade-off between trying to find the varieties that the consumers want and also the varieties that
19:09grow quite well in an Irish climate.
19:11And it's a pretty drizzly morning here.
19:14What kind of climate do they like?
19:15Yes, so pumpkins grow well in well-drained and fertile soils.
19:19You're looking for open fields where you've got good sun exposure.
19:22This season has been quite mild and dry in springtime when we were sowing, which led to really good germination
19:28rates.
19:28We've got rain at very pivotal moments.
19:31And then the season itself, we've got rain at crucial intervals so that the pumpkins could swell very, very well
19:37in the fields.
19:39All the pumpkins here are harvested by hand.
19:43Each pumpkin is cut from its plant, then left out in the open to cure or ripen for one to
19:49two weeks.
19:51Leon took me to a nearby field to see a popular variety known as Hermes.
19:56So what we're looking for in the perfect pumpkin is something like this.
20:00We've got a really good skin finish on them.
20:02Yeah.
20:03You've got the handle as well cured and dry.
20:05There's a thick skin on these because they're good for carving.
20:08I presume if they were edible, you'd want a thinner skin and more pulp inside.
20:12You would.
20:12And they're more difficult to grow in an Irish climate because they're more at risk.
20:16These ones are very much a sturdier, stronger growing pumpkin.
20:19So they suit the Irish climate very well.
20:22There is another pumpkin variety that's becoming frighteningly popular for festive displays.
20:28Leon, I do not remember these when I was younger.
20:31Fairly phenomenal.
20:32They're this sort of ghostly white color.
20:34Yeah, so the variety themselves is called Ghost.
20:36And unlike obviously all our standard orange varieties, they start off life white and stay white through.
20:41It's definitely got more of a ghost feel to it.
20:43And where's the idea from?
20:45I mean, is the public asking for it?
20:47These novel, smaller, different varieties are kind of definitely becoming more and more popular,
20:51especially for the like of your Halloween party and your evening, you know, at home with the kids.
20:56It's nice to have a variety.
20:57Having started out as wholesalers, Donnelly Fresh have been growing fruit and vegetables for 13 years.
21:05They're one of five large-scale growers of pumpkins supplying major retailers here.
21:11James O'Connor is the group's CEO.
21:14A bit unusual that we were wholesalers and selling and got into farming.
21:19And we saw the demand for provenance.
21:22We saw the support that Irish grown was getting.
21:25And we saw the need to have good scaled Irish productions.
21:29In the last five years, the area of farmland under pumpkins in Ireland has soared by 82%.
21:37About 10 years ago, there was a lot of imported pumpkins.
21:39And when it started to become a thing in the Irish retail, and we got involved importing.
21:44And then we saw the opportunity and we saw the support for our carbon footprint.
21:48So then we gradually got into pumpkins and developed and increased our volume every year over the last 10 years.
21:54Just how important are the pumpkins in terms of your overall business?
21:58Well, it's an important part of the farm business.
22:00You know, we're very big on cabbages.
22:02We're very big on cauliflower.
22:03And pumpkins is our third crop.
22:05The graded pumpkins are run through a brusher and a washer, ready for packaging and distribution.
22:11It's a quick process.
22:13Absolutely, yeah.
22:14And it has to be for such a tight window for Halloween, of course.
22:17All spruced up after their wash, the pumpkins' distinctive lines are clearly visible.
22:23Each one represents a cluster of seeds inside.
22:27Each rib on a pumpkin you see represents seed from inside.
22:30Never knew that.
22:31A bit like rings on a tree.
22:32There you go.
22:34While pumpkins are still a scarce sight on the Irish dinner table, is there ever likely to be a market
22:39for pumpkins as food?
22:41And in this pumpkin market, where do you think the public is going?
22:45I mean, I presume looking forward the next five years, 10 years for your business, what are you seeing?
22:49Well, I mean, in other parts of the world, you see pumpkin on the menu all the time.
22:54And you see pumpkin seeds, a big thing.
22:55I'm not sure where the market in Ireland is going to go there.
22:58But again, if it's the trend other places, I'm sure that edible piece will come eventually.
23:02Not quite sure where it's going to go.
23:04But we'd love to do something innovative and try and bring the consumer along with us.
23:11That's it for this week's episode on next week's show.
23:14Stephen takes the pulse of a tillage sector under pressure.
23:18Prices are on the floor.
23:19Stores are full of grain and nobody really wants it with cheap imports coming in.
23:24Ella is on a farm in Galway that's growing things both strange and wonderful.
23:29They have all the qualities of a normal cucumber, but way better.
23:32That is delicious.
23:33And I'll be meeting a dairy farmer in Mead, doing something different with his milk.
23:39When I was younger, milk was the original energy drink.
23:41It's what everyone went to.
23:43So I thought, bring milk to the convenience fridge.
23:46Don't forget this programme will be repeated on Sunday at lunchtime after the farming weather.
23:51You can contact us on Facebook and follow us on X.
23:55And you can hear more farming stories on Countrywide this Saturday morning on RTE Radio 1.
24:24We will see you next week.
24:27You
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