The advent of genetically modified produce, milk quotas and farmers’ collectives: a group of agricultural journalists gathered in anticipation on Thursday to see what kind of history an old milk container might churn up, nearly 40 years after it was buried.
The agrarian time capsule – containing a mix of news clippings, videos and tape recordings from 1988 – was supposed to be unearthed after 50 years.
However, the Guild of Agricultural Journalists (Agriguild), which was behind the burial, decided to open it 10 years after the lifting of milk quotas, to see what insights it held into farming life 37 years ago.
What’s remarkable is that much remains the same, said David Markey, publisher of the Irish Farmers Monthly.
“There are issues to do with the reform of [the Common Agricultural Policy], weather, farm organisations – all of these things were relevant then and they’re still relevant now.”
However, he continued, technology, research, innovation and mechanisation have fundamentally changed the farming industry. “If you take your standard tractor, it’s now able to do a lot more, it speeds up a lot of work on the farm.”
The year 1988 saw a boom in sheep farming and was “the start of a massive GMO [genetically-modified organism] revolution in agriculture” noted Michael Patten, a non-executive director of the Business Post, holding a letter from the churn which predicted the increasing relevance of biotechnology in agriculture.
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“It’s very interesting how the technologies that were emerging at that time have now become so mainstream in global food production.”
“The other big story from 1988 was the advent of the dairy PLCs,” Mr Patten said. The introduction of quotas in 1985, which limited production, led to the consolidation of dairy co-operatives into companies such as Glanbia and Kerry, meaning they could trade internationally. At that time, Ireland was limited to producing five billion litres of milk annually.
“We’ve [literally] come full circle,” said Mr Patten. Once quotas were removed in 2015, dairy production processing came back to co-operative ownership.
Today, dairy farmers produce nearly nine billion litres of milk. Despite this growth, “the number of active dairy farmers has more than halved”, said Mr Patten. Crop and livestock farming is otherwise static.
Turning to the future, attendees expressed concern about the decline of agricultural journalism in mainstream news media. They saw it as essential in connecting consumers to their food sources and ensuring the sustainability of the industry.
The time capsule idea originated as a “friendly and unusual gesture” to celebrate 1,000 years of Dublin city. The churn was donated by Bord Bainne, now Ornua, and presented to the then lord mayor of Dublin, Ben Briscoe, at the Mansion House.