‘We’re more than farmers, we’re food producers’

Farming in Graftonstown, Co. Westmeath and operating a mainly tillage farming system, Donal O’Keeffe believes that producing food and protecting water quality can go hand in hand.

“I’m only here for a short while in the great scheme of things and my job is to produce as much food as I can in an environmentally friendly manner and to leave it in a better situation that I ever got it,” Donal said when appearing in an instalment of the From the Fields to the Boyne video series, filmed and edited by Matthew Walker.

Growing crops such as beans, barley, wheat, oats and oilseed rape and farming alongside his wife Dorothy and two sons, Conor and Shane, Donal shared reflections and focused on the practices he’s undertaken on the family farm.

“I’d be very conscious of the fact that we are growing food. It is very important to realise that rather than being just farmers, we’re food producers, so I always have that in the back of my mind,” Donal explained before reflecting on his journey into agriculture.

Through the video, Donal meanders through the changes witnessed in farming since the 1970s. He also reflects on the practices he’s undertaken to protect water quality on the waterways adjoining his farm.

“We try to do things a little bit better all the time,” he said, before outlining measures such as the use of buffer strips, headland control on fertiliser spreaders, rainwater harvesting and the establishment of catch crops.

“We’ve done lots of catch crops, creating a situation where there’s uncovered soil for the minimum amount of time in the year,” he explained.

For more, watch the full video from the From the Fields to the Boyle video series below:

Also read: Farmers’ experiences front and centre in new water quality video series

Also read: A bridge between rivals

Also read: ‘It’s a privilege to be farming’

Also read: ‘Keeping cows out of the river is a brilliant job’

For more on the Teagasc Better Farming for Water Campaign, visit here.