We finally were able to experience true Irish weather and break out our rain coats!  We met Eddie who is an advisor in Wexford.  He took us to one of Teagasc’s Catchment Locations.  The Catchment program has been in existence since 2008 and basically studying the water quality and land use of watersheds.  Stream water from the catchment is constantly monitored by equipment for nitrates and phosphorus loads.  Researchers can access the results remotely from their lab.  In addition, deep wells are also sampled on an interval and samples tested in the lab.  Advisors work with farmers on their nutrient management and the treatment of the land.

From the catchment site, we traveled to meet Joe Doyle who is a tillage (crop)  and dairy farmer.  Joe is new to dairying and is only in his 3 year of milking. He uses a robotic milker and milks 62 cows.  We walked through his pasture management.  Working with a new system, Joe has been able to ultilize the advantage of being able to lay out a system and not live with existing infrastructure.  Joe also grows malting barley!

Our afternoon was spent on Kearns Fruit Farm with Dr. Damon Kehoe, Jimmy Kearns, and his family!!  The family focuses primarily on strawberry production with high tunnels and glass greenhouses being utilitied. In Virignia, we primarily use plastic culture.  Personally, I was shocked by the level of production and the system used.

We spent our evening eating Fish and Chips at a seaside restaurant in Wexford and then touring the castle at Johnstown.  Teagus owns the castle and at one time used it for office space and labs. The castle dates back to the 1500s.  The 1,000 acres surrounding the castle is a research farm for Teagus and offices.