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Moderated e-mail conference on small farms and food security

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Mon, 24 Oct 2016 16:45:10 +0000
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My name is Aisling Murtagh, a postdoctoral researcher at National University of Ireland, Galway. I have carried out research looking at the linkages between less mainstream trends in food and agriculture in Ireland, such as farmers' markets and community gardens. 
 
My contribution ties most closely with the questions related to defining small farms and the most appropriate threshold for research purposes (3.1.1). I think this is a complex question without one clear universally applicable answer. It seems very context dependent. 
 
Farm type is potentially important to consider in assessing the definition of small farms. The average farm size in Ireland, identified in the 2015 Teagasc National Farm Survey, was 46 hectares. Farm size varies by type of farm. Tillage farms were on average 63 hectares, while farms rearing cattle were 35 hectares. Also in the wider context of food security and small farms, farm type in itself could be an important issue. Mixed farms potentially produce a wider variety of foods and have higher levels of biodiversity and synergies across food production systems such as horticulture and livestock production.  
 
The idea of community food security (CFS) is also interesting in the context of small farms and food security. Allen (1999) notes that CFS seeks to connect production and consumption, which can support small-scale farmers. However, Allen (1999) is also uncertain of the capacity of such an approach and argues that caution is needed when working on food security problems with community based efforts focusing on local food production and consumption. It is argued they "can be at best supplements, not substitutes, for state-guaranteed food security" (Allen, 1999: 126). 
 
Understanding wider regional and national realities also appears very important. In Ireland, for example, agriculture is highly export oriented. Food security is reliant on international trade and local food production on small farms is perhaps under-valued and little explored. Critics argue there is little focus on the wider social, environmental and cultural impacts of the agriculture industry in agri-food policy. For example some of the criticisms of Food Harvest 2020, the Government's strategy for agri-food development until 2020, highlight this. Food Harvest is focused on productivity growth. 

Commenting on Food Harvest 2020, Wilde (2011) highlights the need for social, nutritional and environmental impacts of the food system to become part of how performance is evaluated and that Ireland doesn't have a formal policy statement outlining how food security is assessed. In a submission to Food Harvest 2020, An Taisce, the National Trust for Ireland, highlights that meeting targets could lead to competition for land between dairy and other farming sectors such as tillage, beef, sheep and horticulture. Food Harvest includes a target of increasing milk production by 50%. An Taisce questions if this could leave Ireland too reliant on one agricultural sector and that Food Harvest lacks vision on enhancing Ireland's food security and our reliance on imported grain, animal feed, fertilizer, fruit and vegetables (An Taisce, 2012).
 
Aisling Murtagh
School of Geography and Archaeology 
National University of Ireland, Galway
University Road
Galway
Ireland 
Twitter: @ashmurta 
E-mail: aisling.murtagh (at) nuigalway.ie

References
- Allen, P. 1999. Reweaving the food security safety net: Mediating entitlement and entrepreneurship. Agriculture and Human Values, 16, pp.117-129.
- An Taisce. 2012. Submission to Food Harvest 2020 - Environmental Analysis of Scenarios FH2020. Available at: http://antaisce.eezines.org/2012/jul2012/documents/An%20Taisce%20response%20%20to%20Food%20Harvest%202020%2006%2007%2012.pdf  
- Wilde, J. 2011. Food security on the island of Ireland: Are we sleepwalking into a crisis. Institute of Public Health in Ireland. https://www.publichealth.ie/document/food-security-island-ireland-are-we-sleep-walking-crisis 

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