Farming for Nature with Ambassador Louis McAuley

Louis McAuley and his family manage a 1,700-acre farm at Kentstown and surrounds. Approximately 1,400 acres of the land is used for cereal production such as winter wheat, winter barley, oilseed rape, beans and oats. All of the cereal grown on the farm goes to their feed mill where they produce animal feed for cattle, sheep and horses. Up until 6 years ago the farm would have been a conventional plough-based tillage system. At that point, they noticed a decline in soil health and crop yields.

“The soil is one of our main assets on the farm," he says. "We wanted to introduce a system where we were improving our soil year on year, all the while producing crops.” In 2015 a low disturbance direct drilling system was implemented on the farm, meaning the seeds are sown direct into mulch/stubble and there is no ploughing or major soil disturbance which protects the soil biology and structure. They have also included a 6/7-year crop rotation system, as well as utilizing multi-species cover crops on the land to further regenerate the soil. The cover crops that are in the ground during the summer months produce a variety of flowers which attracts insects to the land. The remaining 300 acres of the farm is grassland, and the family run a dairy calf to beef system of around 200 animals. Silage is cut off the grassland and sold to local farmers.

Louis is a founding member of BASE Ireland and he is passionate about educating and encouraging farmers to adopt less-intensive tillage systems. The improvement in soil health on the McAuley farm has led to an increase in biodiversity on the farm, especially in terms of birds and bee species.

These farm walks are an opportunity for Farming for Nature farmers to showcase their contribution to nature and good farming practices on their land. They are a great opportunity to meet like-minded farmers and to gain an insight into the creative and inspiring ways that farmers are working to incorporate, protect and enhance nature on their land. There is a great diversity of ambassador farmers set to host farm walks this year covering a range of farming systems from tillage to dairy, forestry to market gardening, mixed stock to high nature value farming, from conservation agriculture to productive smallholdings, and much more.

The walks is €10 to attend. This is a not-for-profit initiative and all monies received will be circulated back into the farming community.

Purchase tickets for this farm walk at Farm Walks - Farming for Nature