Grass-power: the political ecology of the grass crop in Ireland

Abstract

Utilising actor-network theory, this paper conducts an analysis of the grass crop in Ireland’s political ecology – showing the ability of non-human agents, in the words of Bruno Latour, to ‘make us do things’. In particular, it examines the mutually beneficial and extended interests of the grass crop with the dairy industry – this is well represented by the state and herein termed grass-power. This shows how Ireland is staged as a ‘grass country’ to a global audience, making dairy consumption appear neutral and inevitable. To date, the role of the grass crop in Ireland’s political ecology has been neglected, although it is shown here to be at the centre of environmental harms. This analysis reveals the contradictions and competing aims of Irish food strategies and suggests that to build sustainable landscapes, the imaginary that grass-cover is the only legitimate form of land use must be displaced and unravelled from political interests.

Keywords:

• Ireland’s political ecology
• Irish dairy industry
• grass crop
• actor-network theory

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank the reviewers for their constructive and insightful comments which significantly improved this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 EU Milk quotas were introduced in 1984.

2 Latour uses ‘actor’ and ‘actant’ interchangeably.

3 The expansion of dairy production is currently being called into question (Shortall, 2019), and a leave to appeal a proposed dairy production facility in Kilkenny has also been the source of tensions among government, the private sector, farmers and environmentalists (Hilliard, 2021).

4 An Taisce are Ireland’s National Trust.

5 (Billion litres) 2015: 5.40 2016: 6.65 2017: 7.26 2018: 7.59 2019: 7.99 2020: 8.29 – average 30 per cent increase (Central Statistics Office, 2021).

6 Note this department is distinct from Teagasc’s Dairy Knowledge Transfer Department.

7 Grass10 was one amongst a number of grassland management advisory services, and the primary campaign between the years 2017-2020.

8 ‘The process by which a community grants or withholds permission to an industry to conduct its business’ (Hampton, Jones, & McGreevy, 2020).

9 As diseases in the lives of young calves have ‘a major impact on the economic viability of cattle operations’, recommendations in the industry are also made to immediately remove calves at birth to a ‘clean calf pen’ to reduce morbidity and mortality (Lorenz, Mee, Earley, & More, 2011).

10 Recent reports also show that Ireland is currently applying for Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status for ‘grass-fed’ ‘beef’ products (Hosford, 2022) which would further emphasise and signal the connection between Ireland’s landscapes and ‘grass-fed’ to consumers.

11 To increase nitrogen fixation in the soil, Teagasc officials have encouraged reseeding of up to 10% of all pastures annually (Tubritt, 2021). These recommendations were made prior to the publication of Food Vision 2030, but with an increased promotion of multi-species swards in the new food strategy, there may be an increased incentive to do this now. Teagasc advises the use of glyphosate in the removal of old pasture (Donoghue, 2021; Teagasc, 2017) making a decrease in chemical fertilisers likely to follow with an increase in other environmentally disruptive agro-chemicals. The large scale use of glyphosate has been associated with increased depositions of phosphorous in land and water (Hébert, Fugère, & Gonzalez, 2018) and minimising soils capacity to absorb carbon (Rodriguez, Jacobo, & Golluscio, 2018).

Additional information

Funding

This work was partially funded by the Arts Council of Ireland (award number A442186).

Notes on contributors

Andrew Ó Murchú

Andrew Ó Murchú is a co-founder of the landscape research and spatial design collective ‘BothAnd Group’. He is Senior Lecturer of Architecture at Ravensbourne University London where he leads year two of the undergraduate programme. Previously, he has taught at both TU Dublin and the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. His design and research look at the intersections and interactions of ecology, food systems, landscape, and architecture. He is an academic member of the Landscape Institute and a recipient of the Arts Council of Ireland’s Next Generation Artist Award in Architecture.