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I spent time on a @farmfornature walk on EamonnMcDonaghs mixed farm in Mayo. He ploughs 2 acres with ox, sells the veg direct, almost 0 inputs, profits almost 100% from his output. Is ruthlessly, organically profit focused. Here's a thread on what I learned...
...
1. Be a price maker. Not a price taker. Eamon sells direct. To customers and shops he knows. At a price that makes sense to all three.
2. A conventional farm makes revenue by spending money on fertility. A successful mixed farm makes revenue by saving money on fertility...
1. Be a price maker. Not a price taker. Eamon sells direct. To customers and shops he knows. At a price that makes sense to all three.
2. A conventional farm makes revenue by spending money on fertility. A successful mixed farm makes revenue by saving money on fertility...
3. Livestock value in this system is not in the profit they generate. It's in the money they save and the resilience they provide. Bedding and manure underpin the veg enterprise. The revenue model of low cost inputs and organic output wouldn't work without them
... 4. Synthetic fertilisers are price volatile. On Farm fertility sources - compost, manure, woodchip - are not price volatile. Eamonn didn't notice the fertiliser crisis and the economic consequences his neighbours suffered. Longterm economic farm resilience is found...
... On the floor of your barn, in your compost heap, in your cover crops.
5. On my farm, I need to move from being a sheep farmer who has manure as an afterthought, to being a fertility producer who has meat as a side product...
5. On my farm, I need to move from being a sheep farmer who has manure as an afterthought, to being a fertility producer who has meat as a side product...
6. Produce or farm practices can make money. Save money. Provide fertility, labour, food or raw materials. Generate marketing. Boost grant support. Provide fuel or building materials. Each enterprise needs to do at least three of these on a mixed farm to pull it's weight...
7. There will be people who argue that this type of farming is soft headed, loss making and a hobby. Everything Eamon does makes a profit. A good profit. Mixed farming rewards efficiency, care, expertise and frugality with lower costs and revenue...
8. Other people will argue that this kind of farming can't feed the world. The current form of conventional farm doesn't currently feed the world. And what it feeds it can't feed for much longer without radical change...
My farm needs to pivot. We need to reimagine our livestock as an engine of fertility underpinning profitability. And livestock give us the key to managing input costs and maximising profit.
The future, fir my farm at least, lies in marrying the ideas of the past to the...
The future, fir my farm at least, lies in marrying the ideas of the past to the...
... Understanding, circumstances and opportunities of the present.
Farming. Like twas 1799.
Farming. Like twas 1799.
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