Carbon may have negative connotations, but in farming and food production, it is vital.

It sustains life in the soil, which leads to better nutrition.

As key players in the battle against climate change, farmers are being encouraged to adopt more sustainable practices. One such approach gaining traction is regenerative farming.

This method will be the focus of the Fields Good conference in Glenarm, where hundreds of farmers are expected to gather on Saturday to learn and share insights.

Missouri rancher Greg Judy, a speaker at the event, has transformed his farming methods in the American Midwest.

“I used to call myself a grass farmer – I’m not a grass farmer, I’m a microbe farmer,” he said as he searched the soil on Will Fraser’s Cullybackey farm for worm manure.

“Conventional agriculture, you use a lot of inputs – nitrogen, fertiliser, phosphorus.

“We don’t use any of that stuff.”

Rather than leaving cattle in one place for extended periods, he now rotates them up to three times a day.

This system allows the grass to regenerate, provides animals with long, diverse growth, and enriches the soil with earthworms and their castings.

Will Fraser, a recent adopter of regenerative farming, was inspired by an oak tree in his field—its eroded side a symbol of past farming practices.

Previously, cattle were left in the same fields for months at a time, and excessive use of fertilizsrs, even organic ones, had a damaging effect on plant life.

“In bad weather, they all camped around the tree,” he said.

“That’s where compaction has damaged the roots, there was over-fertilisation around the base of basically an ancient tree which has led to that big dead branch sticking out.”

Now, he rotates his livestock frequently to prevent them from congregating in one spot, and he promotes grass diversity to encourage soil health and biodiversity.

He describes this approach as a “no-brainer.”

“We’ve got so much risk in our system, particularly from a climate and weather point of view, we need to get a much more resilient soil and pasture base from which to work,” he said.

“We need to be building a system which can cope with the weather we’re getting – the cold springs, the wet summers – where we can get animals out and get them performing off grass.

“We’ve got a long way to go but we’re making the first baby steps in the right direction, we’re able to save costs and hopefully build resilience in terms of how long we can keep stock out and how much feeding value they’re getting from the system.”

While Fraser admits regenerative farming may not suit everyone, he sees it as a “win-win” for many farmers.

For Bronagh O’Kane, the event’s organiser, this approach deserves greater support.

“This isn’t a fad, this isn’t a trend, it is happening worldwide,” she said.

“The tricky part is the transition and it’ll be different for every system, but we really need the government to step up and come up with some good plans to help us transition.

“It’s already a difficult industry as it is, to make good margins in and so to ask us all to go beyond, we need help and that’s a big ask.”

Greg Judy, who has been touring Northern Ireland’s farms before the conference, emphasises that regenerative farming is more about shifting focus than implementing radical change.

“The type of grazing we do, it’s very environmentally friendly, it’s wildlife-friendly, it’ll help heal the water cycle,” he said.

“Bare soil is death.

“The cow – that same tool that was used to destroy the American West and turned it into a desert because of overgrazing – the same tool can be used to regenerate the soil.

“It’s not the cow, it’s the how.”

 

 

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