An organic farmer in Co Roscommon is inviting Ukrainian refugees to grow their own fruit and vegetables on his land.
Tommy Earley has earmarked two of his 100 acres at Mount Allen for Ukrainian people who are relocating to the area and want to grow produce for their own use.
He said: “We were ramping up vegetable planting on the farm anyway and we will have allotments. There will possibly be some Ukrainians coming to Drumshanbo and some of them might be farmers like ourselves.
“They may have had plans to grow a crop this year, but they won’t be able to do that. So if we can give them access to our land, it would be a nice thing. Working with them, letting them grow their own, whatever they want to do.
“It would be a bit of mindfulness for them, rather than thinking about what’s happening back home. We are blessed here, it’s so quiet and peaceful. We know nothing of war, but hopefully it will be some help to them, if some of them start to grow.”
Mr Earley is a member of Social Farming Ireland – a network which is committed to offering activity on family farms as a form of social support.
“I am used to people being here with Social Farming. You are not signing the place over to them. It’s just growing a bit of veg,” he said. “I would hope they could get to know some of the people in the community. Maybe they have people fighting back home and it would be nice to tell them how they are getting on here. If you can do something nice, why not do it?”
A member of Leitrim Organic Farmers’ Co-Op, Mr Earley said the conflict in Ukraine had made him think about the threat to food supplies in Ireland.
Ukraine is known as the ‘bread basket of Europe’ and farmers there are famed for their quality grains, which are widely exported. Since the Russian invasion began, farmers are among those facing terrifying challenges.
“This war in Europe is going to change that. Supply chains will start to break down at the start of the growing season. But if we get our act together in the next few weeks, we can get stuff in the ground,” he said.
“The future of food is going to be a locally-produced, plant-based diet. When you think about it, it doesn’t make sense to ship food around the world when you can grow something locally and live on that. We don’t need to have fruit from the far end of the world on Christmas Day. Everything should be seasonal. When we got into a bit of money in this country, we lost the run of ourselves. But we are not too far gone to go back. The land is still there.”
Mr Earley is committed to managing his farm for nature conservation, explaining that it is home to several important habitats and species.
“One of the things we offer here on the farm are Mount Allen Eco Tours. These are guided tours by myself where I bring visitors through the farm, showing them the different habitats and how they are being managed for wildlife. We have old stands of woodland, planted woodland, ponds and a river to the shores of Lough Allen. Between here and the lake we have lowland raised bog and we are setting about how we can restore that bog because, as you know, bogs are very good for the climate.”
The farm at Mount Allen has been in Mr Earley’s family for 140 years. And while he has carried out many innovative conservation projects, he says any new arrivals from Ukraine may be able to teach him a thing or two.
“I think a lot of the Ukrainians might be better growers than us, so we will have a lot to learn from them! We can help get them established in the community and producing their own food,” he said. “For all of us, there’s a great benefit in spending time out in nature, out away from screens and all that. There is a lot of healing property in the earth, especially working with soil. It’s one of the most wonderful things you could have in your hands.”
In our ‘Climate Heroes’ series of reports, we shine a light the people who are stepping up to protect our environment and tackle climate change. While these people come from all walks of life, they share a common purpose to improve the world around us.
© RTÉ 2022. RTÉ.ie is the website of Raidió Teilifís Éireann, Ireland’s National Public Service Media. RTÉ is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Images Courtesy of Getty Images.
