Farmers know their land. Every hollow in the field, every bend in a stream, every stubborn patch of rushes is familiar, carries a story. These are the places where families have lived and worked for generations, or which have been built in our own time with vision and energy. We are rightly proud of this intimate knowledge – it is a kind of wisdom that no textbook can teach. But alongside this lived understanding we see every day there are more complex ecological cycles and scientific insights that can deepen our grasp of how the land really works, and how it can be sustained for future generations.
Right now, Ireland’s farming community is at a crossroads. On the one hand, it is urged to continue producing more, driving yields higher, and feeding distant markets. On the other hand, we see with our own eyes that something fundamental is breaking down. Rivers and lakes are choking with pollution. Soils are compacted and losing fertility. Thousands of badgers are being killed in a misguided attempt to control disease, even as scientific evidence questions its necessity and effectiveness. These are not small or isolated issues – they point to a deeper problem in how food and farming are organised, and how we relate to the landscapes an ecosystems which surround us.
The truth is that Ireland already produces far more food than our population requires. Nearly all of it leaves the island, exported to international supply chains where its value is captured elsewhere. Meanwhile, the costs of this overproduction are borne here at home: declining water quality, degraded soils, collapsing biodiversity, and rural communities detached from their food supplies, even as they watch animals leave through the farm gate.
Talamh Beo want a strong farming sector, but how long can we continue to support and defend the 2 billion euro going into farming every year through the CAP when our farming system fails to feed our population with a diverse range of locally produced foods, and only succeeds in enriching a small number of processors and agribusiness input suppliers? What “entitlements” to this money do farmers feel they have when there are so many indicators of the negative impacts of the conventional farming system all around us? The ends do not justify the means when the means are undermining the very foundations of life.
This is why Talamh Beo calls for a different path: one rooted in food sovereignty and agroecology. Food sovereignty means that people and communities have the right to define their own food systems – to prioritise nourishing food for local people, fair livelihoods for farmers, and care for the ecosystems we depend on. Agroecology is the practice of farming with these principles, working with nature rather than against it, drawing on both traditional knowledge and modern science to regenerate soils, enhance biodiversity, and build resilience. Agroecology means more farmers on the land, a reversal of rural decline and a revival of land based livelihoods across the island.
Farmers are central to this transition. The challenges ahead cannot be solved by policy alone, nor by science in isolation. They will be solved when farmers recognise that our knowledge of land and territory is part of a much larger system of cycles and relationships – from the soil microbes that build fertility to the wetlands that filter and store water. Science can help us see these cycles more clearly, but it is farmers who must put this knowledge into practice. We want to retain the spending society makes on food and farming systems – but it needs to be targeted at building holistic farming systems, integrated into natural cycles which support, enhance and regenerate ecosystems on our island. Farmers need to invest in our future, and they need long term guarantees to do so; not market based speculative systems or complex financial instruments, but state supported and sponsored changes in how our land is managed and used.
That requires something many of us already value: lifelong learning. Farming has never been static. Each season brings new conditions, new pressures, new lessons. In this moment of ecological crisis, we need to embrace that spirit of learning more fully – not to be told what to do, but to be part of a community of practice that experiments, shares, and adapts. The tools of agroecology are already here: cover crops, crop rotations, agroforestry, mixed livestock systems, community seed networks. They are rooted in both tradition and innovation, offering ways to feed people while healing the land.
Arguments for Agroecology and Food Sovereignty are often dismissed by agribusiness interests who struggle to defend the status quo. The reality is these alternatives which can meet the challenges of climate breakdown and biodiversity loss will actually improve our lives – improve our day to day lives as farmers, citizens and communities across Ireland and internationally. They will mean more farmers, better food, more vibrant rural communities and economies grounded in our land and society rather than in global input and value chains.
The urgency is real. We cannot stand by while rivers are poisoned, while wildlife is scapegoated, while land is exhausted in the name of exports. We cannot keep our heads in the sand, pretending that the old model will somehow carry us through. We need to take measures now which future generations will thanks us for. Farmers have always been custodians of the land, but now we are called to become custodians of the future.
The choice before us is stark: either we continue down the path of overproduction and ecological collapse, or we rise to the opportunity of transformation – farming for people, for place, and for planet. Talamh Beo stands for the second path. We invite farmers, eaters, and communities across Ireland to join us in building a food system that restores, nourishes, and sustains – reviving local food systems, embracing agroecological alternatives and reimagining the Irish landscape for future generations.
Talamh Beo – Farming for the Future
Website: www.talamhbeo.ie
Email: info@talamhbeo.ie
