The Environment

The biggest threat to our environment is climate change. Carbon dioxide, methane and other “greenhouse gases” act like a blanket over the Earth, playing havoc with weather and ecosystems all over the world. Fine if you want to grow figs in Scotland; terrible for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, or the hundreds of millions of people that could be drowned under an ex-ice cap. (Have you seen Al Gore’s Oscar winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth?)

The Atlantic Conveyor, which powers the Gulf Stream and hence stops Dublin freezing solid in the winter, could shut down completely if icebergs the size of countries continue to break away from the Antarctic coast. The summer Arctic may be completely ice-free in less than 30 years, transforming it from a global air conditioning system into a giant heater.

We are in the middle of the worst mass extinction event in history. Since 1975 we have lost a third of all the species on our planet. If we don’t do a lot, right now, to prevent climate change, then we could be facing a sudden and catastrophic collapse of the global ecosystem. The world will survive; human civilisation and most animals may not.
A recent study found that Ireland’s ‘footprint’ is bigger than it should be*, and it’s growing, so it's important that all individuals, organisations and manufacturers take active steps to reduce it.
(A preliminary study, based on four criteria, i.e. fossil fuels, built up land, food and forestry, concluded that Ireland’s “ecological footprint” is at least one and one quarter times its ideal size and is growing.) ENFO, Information on the Environment,   www.enfo.ie

At Quickcrop we believe that both as individuals and as a company it is incumbent on us to play our part in improving the environment. That is why we work to organic principals in all of our seedling production and only use wood from sustainable forests in our production. We have even gone as far as planting 6,000 native Irish trees on our land, which we hope to use for our own production in years to come. It may seem hard at times to think that we can make a difference or even if we do the difference will be negligible. But since we started farming with an organic mindset over the last few years on the 12 acres we have we have already noticed that we have way more insects and bee’s around the place. A small start but a change and that’s all we can hope for, for now.