Bord Bia Pres 14/6/2011
Introduction
Ballard Farm changed to Ballard Organic Farm in 1999. The system of conventional farming at that time was winter beef production and spring malting barley. I have been asked to outline to you my experiences as an organic farmer since then, with regard to some of the key decisions and challenges during the conversion period and over the intervening 12 years.
The farm is 120ha, 50% old permanent pasture and 50% arable with a ph ranging from 6.5 to 7.0. The soil type in the pasture area can be described as a ‘silty clay loam’ while the arable area is a ‘clay loam’. The rotation system on the arable section currently consists of three years cereals and two years red clover
Reason for Change
My primary reason for changing to organic farming was to make some more money from my farm. I was coming from a very intensive system of winter beef finishing, maximising inputs in an effort to maximise profits. Costs were very high and margins did not at all reflect the personal effort and financial risks involved. In addition, the EU cattle premium system which had been in place for the previous seven years, served to grossly distort the entire beef business at farm level. As I saw it, if I

kept on doing the same thing I would continue to get the same result, so something had to change. Therefore, having considered the situation for quite a while, the only realistic options open to me were either to plant the entire farm with trees or convert to a system of farming where my efforts would have a better chance of being rewarded in terms of income and job satisfaction. Organic farming seemed to me to tick these two boxes and therefore in July 1999, I began the gradual conversion process to organic farming.
Beef Enterprise
I firstly converted the grassland and cattle enterprise as this was a way to ease my self into what seemed like a complicated system especially with regard to complete record keeping.
The beef cattle system involved buying in store cattle and finishing them during the winter period. One of the earlier challenges in 1999, was that there were virtually no organic marts which mean that in order to buy cattle, I had to directly contact other organic livestock producers, working from a list of names and phone numbers. This was very time consuming between making the contacts, going to see the cattle and getting them home. However, over the years I built up a very reliable network of suppliers from Clare up to Sligo. More recently, a greater number of livestock farmers have come into the organic system and I can now source animals much nearer to home.

This system of buying in, finishing and selling continued unchanged until 2009, when a key decision was taken which involved the setting up of a small autumn calving suckler cow enterprise, using Simmental cows and an Aberdeen Angus sire.
The first calves from this venture were born in October 2010.
Ideally over time I would like to have an enclosed herd, producing all my own animals where I have virtually complete control over the quality of the end product. My intention is to add to the value of these animals above the norm, by some how finding a new route to the market place. However, the jury is still out on how that will be achieved.
Support Systems
The availability of the DAFF grant for the development of the organic sector, was of great assistance over the years in supporting critical investment on the farm. I have used this scheme on a number of occasions and without it I would not have made the same level of expenditure. The investments concerned were mainly aimed towards greater labour efficiency and technical efficiency. In addition, it has always seemed to me that this scheme was administered very efficiently with the minimum of red tape. The Organic Farming Scheme was also a very important source funding as well as REPS 3.

Arable Enterprise
The cereal enterprise was introduced gradually in the anticipation of making big mistakes on a small scale and trying to learn the lessons along the way. From a technical aspect, not only is the organic arable enterprise much more challenging than the organic beef enterprise, it is significantly more challenging than conventional arable farming. As a conventional grower of spring barley, life was quite simple if not rewarding.
Crop nutrient requirements were relatively easy to calculate and to apply and a disease and weed control programme could be put in place during the growing season with the help of an experienced expert provided by the local grain merchant.
Therefore as a conventional arable farmer I was relying on
‘chemistry’ to manage crop nutrient requirements and to prevent and treat disease and weed problems. As an organic arable farmer I am relying on ‘biology’, soil biology, to grow abundant crops that are healthy in terms of their resistance to disease, their ability to outgrow weeds and that are full of health giving nutrients for those who eat them. For me, this was, still is and will remain the greatest challenge of all.

Knowledge Deficit
My lack of knowledge in the area of biological farming was a big problem. Back in 1999, there was no ‘blue-print’ for organic arable farming.
Farming with the soil meant a whole new way of planning crop production, new crop types, sustainable rotations, and composting farmyard manure. Everything has to be planned in the long term, there were no quick fixes. As a conventional farmer, you look after the crop, as an organic farmer you look after the soil and the soil looks after the crop and I had little or no experience of doing that.
In effect, this meant that in order for me to learn the basics about how to enhance soil biology, I regularly travelled to the
UK to attend open days, seminars, workshops and farm tours, subscribe to publications and invite experts from the UK to give seminars and workshops over here.
Over this time, not only did my growing system change from chemistry to biology, I also changed my crop type from growing spring barley to growing mainly winter oats for human consumption. I also buy organic cereals for animal feed from other arable producers and over the last four years, I have developed a market for animal feed to organic livestock producers.

Adding Value
Traditionally, farmers have been slow to undertake developments which will add value to their crops or livestock and I have been no exception in this regard. However, on the principal of ‘better late than never’, last January I decided to produce and sell my own brand of organic porridge, from oats grown on my own farm and this was the start of ‘Kilbeggan
Organic Porridge, The Creamy Porridge’. Because I was taking a leap into the unknown, I outsourced the processing and bagging of the porridge which meant that I did not have to make any capital investment and I could spend my time and energy getting the product into retail outlets and on to breakfast tables. I had a lot of learning to do regarding sourcing bags, labels, boxes and learn about best before date, bar codes, distributors, margins, deliveries and most important getting paid. However, there is help out there so that you can learn and cope with these new challenges. I have got help from several sources including Bord Bia and Westmeath Co. Enterprise
Board. I must say that from day one, the good will and encouragement from colleagues in the organic sector and from the public towards local products and the concept of farmers producing and selling produce from their own farm is fantastic.
Thankfully, the reaction to my porridge has been very positive and as soon as the current crop of oats is harvested, I will be moving the enterprise on to a new level. My target markets are health food shops, delis, craft butchers, fruit and veg stores.

The Future
Looking to the future, there are two key priority areas for me.
Firstly, to add greater value to what the farm produces both in beef and cereals in a way that rewards me, the farmer, in a fair way for the effort involved. Secondly, the unending challenge to understand and enhance the life in the soil so as to produce health giving food that people really like.
Pat Lalor 14/6/2011
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