Lack of food circulation in Galway will keep us from reaching climate goals, says local farmer
Venture outside Galway city and you’ll find rolling hills dotted with sheep and cows, fields of crops, and farm after farm full of potential food production. But where is that food going? Does it end up in local markets? And, if not, how is it being sustainably exported in line with climate action goals?
Fergal Anderson and Emanuela Russo run Leaf and Root Farm in Loughrea, one of the only farms in east Galway producing food that is eaten exclusively within east Galway. Mr Anderson is also a member of Talamh Beo, an organisation that places farmers and communities at the heart of food security decision-making.
When asked about the path from Galway’s green pastures to the Saturday morning markets that residents flock to with their canvas tote bags and fresh cappuccino, Mr Anderson called the lack of locality “negligible”.
“Even though Galway is held up nationally as quite a good place for local food production, I would say there are extremely few outlets proportional to the population,” he said.
“Most of the farming that is done in Ireland, and Galway, is not really about orientating food towards domestic production.”
This means the fresh vegetables and meat found at local markets, or even at nearby grocers, likely isn’t from the farm down the road. They may be sourced from other parts of Ireland or even imported.
“So, the animal next door can end up in Turkey, or could end up in London,” Mr Anderson said.
He did a count of local farms that supply directly to the citizens of the village they live in and found that only 35 farms did so. Less than 1pc of the 13,000 farms in county Galway keep their distribution hyper-local, and that is a source of concern for him.
Sustainable food production – shifting farming towards “climate-resilient agricultural practices” – is one of the major objectives in the Galway County Council Climate Action Plan.
Farming, agriculture and food production are inextricably intertwined in Ireland. Mr Anderson said there are two avenues that will help the effort to localise and sustain the Galway food production service.
The first involves initiatives like Talamh Beo and its Local Food Policy Framework. This framework outlines the “multiple benefits to the local environment, community and economy”.
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The second involves looking at the food production system as a whole and minimising unnecessary national and international food distribution. Providing a smaller-scale food interaction could empower farmers and the community.
“If you can reduce the external inputs, then you’re beginning to look at a system which is more circular,” Mr Anderson said.
“All those things are interconnected, so it's not this case of applying a scientific solution. No, let’s look at the whole system.
“There’s a spiritual depth in Ireland, but there’s a colonial legacy which has devalued our own produce.”
The focus shift to supermarkets was part of that devaluation. People began to love the convenience and cleanliness of the supermarket experience, thinking that growing produce in your own garden was “dirty”.
“That’s a total colonial mentality of ‘modernity is superior to my traditional practice’.”
Leaf and Root, Mr Anderson and those 34 other farms producing to their community may be able to shine a simple yet ancient light on how to move the county closer to sustainable food efforts.