Field Exchange, a festival bringing together farmers, artists, agricultural experts and food producers to discuss creative approaches to farming and food production, is returning to Brookfield Farm, Co. Tipperary, from September 5 to 7.
Following the success of last year’s festival, Field Exchange has expanded to become a three-day event featuring specially commissioned art installations, musical and spoken word performances, symposiums, workshops, and delicacies created from local produce by celebrity chef Valentine Warner.
The Field Exchange festival will be held on the Brookfield shores of Lough Derg, Co. Tipperary, from September 5 to September 7. Tickets are available to book via the website.
Brookfield Farm is an award-winning organic farm, agritourism hub and a conservation area for the Native Irish Honey Bee. The festival is the brainchild of the farmer and teacher who runs Brookfield Farm, Ailbhe Gerrard.
A pilot version of the festival ran in 2022 and was supported by Sabina Higgins, wife of President of Ireland Michael D Higgins, former government minister Catherine Martin, and others. The team subsequently secured funding from Creative Ireland’s Creative Climate Action fund to host Field Exchange in 2024 and again this year.
Day one of the festival kicks off at 11 am on Friday, September 5, with the Fields of Possibility Symposium. Speakers include author Anja Murray, journalist and chef Janine Kennedy, Artistic Director of the Nenagh Arts Centre Trish Taylor Thompson and food policy specialist Ruth Hegarty. Attendees will hear how agriculture can be reimagined as a creative, cultural and ecological act which enables rural communities to thrive by fostering wellbeing and cultivating a deeper connection with the land and place.
Specific topics covered include the benefits of agroecology and agroforestry – agricultural approaches which emphasise the connections between plants, animals and humans – and the role of creativity in regenerative agriculture. Attendees can also connect with a growing Community of Practice working at the intersections of farming, creativity and climate.
The day will continue with an evocative and moving performance at 5.30 pm by The Company of Trees, a musical and spoken word group, at the Brookfield Farm barn. The performance will be led by spoken word artists Michael James Ford and Philip Dodd, and musicians, Michael James Ford, Darina Gallagher, Sinead Murphy and the Delmaine String Quartet featuring video and photographs by Brendan Keogh
The day closes with a visit to Brookfield Farm’s lakeshore for the opening of artist Gerardine Wisdom’s Dexter bull sculpture made from Lough Derg rushes, commissioned for the Field Exchange festival.
Day two is a family-friendly event overlooking beautiful Lough Derg, where visitors can take part in craft workshops with CELT, sensory farm walks, and sustainable agriculture workshops. They can engage and contribute to agroforestry demonstrations by the Irish Agroforestry Ireland Forum (IAF) and try their hand at dry stone walling with the Dry Stone Wall Association of Ireland (DSWAI). There will be music and poetry performances, local handmade craft stalls and a range of delicious local food. Visitors can engage with sustainability advocates such as the Tipperary Food Producers’ Network and Talamh Beo.
Acclaimed chef Valentine Warner will be on-site for day three, leading preparations for the Field Exchange Celebration Lunch in collaboration with Tipperary Food Producers’ Network. Star of BBC show Great British Food Revival and a range of other cooking programmes on BBC, ITV and Good Food, Chef Warner is creating the lunch menu from local produce.
The Field Exchange partners with arts groups and heritage organisations on projects designed to promote biodiversity in the urban environment. In July, the Field Exchange teamed up with Limerick Civic Trust to install Seven Oaks (After Beuys) 2025 on King’s Island in Limerick City, an iteration of a major artwork, Beuys’ Acorns, by artists Ackroyd and Harvey.
Project lead Ailbhe Gerrard, a Farming for Nature Ambassador and An Taisce Climate Ambassador, says:
“We’re delighted to bring back Field Exchange for another year of events designed to promote the role that the arts can play in tackling the crises in climate and biodiversity, while developing a more complete understanding of food production and supply with knowledge sharing on sustainable and organic practices.
“This year, we’re welcoming back our expert speakers and contributors, including food systems specialist Ruth Hegarty and journalist and chef Janine Kennedy. On Friday, Ruth and Janine will be lending their considerable expertise to a symposium on changing mindsets in agriculture, reimagining food production as a creative act which enables thriving rural communities.
“The concepts from the symposium are brought to life on day 2 at the family agri-food festival, part-funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Arts Council.
“Building on the success of last year, we’ve moved to make this year’s festival a three-day event. We welcome Valentine Warner, who will be working with the Tipperary Food Producers’ Network to prepare a long table lunch from local produce, and we’re all excited to taste the mouth-watering fare.”
Field Exchange is one of 43 Creative Climate Action Fund projects taking place across the country. The projects work with communities using creativity to envision a better future and empower people to make real changes about how they interact with the environment.