Agricultural Meteorology in Ireland – a historical perspective from the Irish Meteorological Service

ABSTRACT

Ireland has a temperate climate influenced by the Atlantic Gulf Stream. This, combined with fertile soils and adequate rainfall, provides an environment ideally suited for grass. Grass is an inexpensive, nutritious feed for livestock, giving Ireland a competitive advantage in this sector. Tillage farming is also an important sector for Ireland, and evidence of the Great Irish Famine of the mid-eighteen hundreds is still visible in the landscape. In this paper, we examine aspects of meteorological involvement in Irish agriculture, from the perspective of the Irish Meteorological Service. We examine the rise of agrometeorology in Ireland and take a look at the development of related services, including potato blight warnings. Two influential characters of Irish agrometeorological history, Austin Bourke and Tom Keane, are examined, as well as organisations such as the AGMET Group. The paper concludes with a brief snapshot of current Irish agrometeorological activities along with future ambitions.

KEYWORDS:

• Agriculture
• meteorology
• Ireland
• history

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Tom Keane and the AGMET Group for keeping excellent records of meetings and activities over the last three decades.

The author would also like to thank Mairéad Treanor, Librarian, Met Éireann – The Irish Meteorological Service, for helping to track down historic documents and digitising much of the earlier references.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.