"Organic veg and Livestock talk at an tIonad Glas

Padraig Fahy, a Galway-based teacher and his wife Úna Ní Bhroin, met at the organic college in Drumcollogher in Limerick. They set up Beechlawn Organic Farm in 2001, converting Padraig's parents' beef farm to an organic vegetable farm.

To do so, they required dedication, common sense, business acumen and an understanding of organic principles, sales skills.

But Mr Fahy says that, while hard work, running an organic farm is also rewarding; "It's great to work for yourself and to be able to spend more time with your children. It's enjoyable and rewarding and you get to eat really good food".

And Mr Fahy will further explore the pros and cons of organic farming when he addresses an information evening, which will take place in An tlonad Glas, the organic college in Drumcollogher as part of this year's Organic Week between Nov 6 and 12.

He will be talking about the benefits of converting your farm or garden to organic vegetable production while Mary Lynch will give a talk on organic conversion in regards to livestock farms.

Mr Fahy will be telling those present what is involved in converting to an organic farm from investment, to advice on receiving grants while awaiting a license, and to how to market goods.

He encourages any farmers who are looking at changing their farming system to go organic as it "provides a viable future". His business is proving successful and has to import some veg from abroad to meet his own demands.

"There is a need for larger scale farmers to supply the growing market for shops, markets, restaurants and wholesalers," Mr Fahy continued.

And the growing market does not stop at vegetables. Demand for organic beef, chicken, lamb, eggs and milk means that this is a great time for people to change to organic livestock farming, according to Mary Lynch, who lectures at the organic college."

"Ballinasloe Farmers Market Celebrating their First Anniversay during Fair Week - with Official opeining on Friday 6th October at 11 am with Trevor Sargent of the Green Party

Ballinasloe Farmers Market was established in Autumn 2005 in Croffya Yard, Main St. as an outlet for locally produced quality food, a sector of the industry almost totally ignored by traditional retail outlets.

The development of such a service was very much needed here, as people were travelling to Galway city and elsewhere to source the type of food now available at our weekly Market.

The market has a wide variety of Local Produce with:

Fresh Organic Vegetables from Beechlawn Farm in Ballinasloe, 4 acres of field vegetables and have 6000sq foot of protected crops (polytunnels).

Owners Padraig and Úna concentrate on "in season" produce sold direct from the farm to the consumer. During the summer months most of the salads and vegetables locally sourced. In wintertime, however, the farm produces less and Padraig and Úna buy in from other Irish Organic producers as well as importing from abroad.

Padraig and Úna also sell Organic Fruit, but whilst "apples, pears, plums and other soft fruit can be grown in Ireland, there are few Organic growers". Until this market niche is filled there products have to be imported from countries around the world, coming from as far as Ghana. Mexico, Argentina and the Dominican Republic.

The farm, and bought-in, produce is all certified by a recognised organic standards authority. Most people notice a big difference in the taste.

This summer Stefan of Gennet Fish joined us. He travels to Rossaveel Harbour each Thursday sourcing a wide variety of the Freshest Fish from the dockside market, which he offers to customers each Friday. Each week a special is offered, see notices for weekly update.

Leitrim Organic Farmers Co-op are now selling Organic Meat at the market. John Brennan, co-op manager & Declan Carroll his local butcher have moved from a mobile butchery to a permanent shop open Thursday Friday & Saturday, they are delighted with this new venue.

The co-op has almost a hundred members including many from Co. Galway. The co-op provides marketing opportunities to hard working Certified Organic farmers and returns the maximum value for their animals. The consumer has access to the meat they want, which otherwise is hard to find in butchers around the County.

Locally produced Organic Soup's are supplied by Orla Clancy from Clanwood Farm, just across the border in Co. Offaly.

Honey comes from local producer John O'Reilly as well as Meadowsweet Apiaries in Ballinahown, Co. Offaly. Andrew McGuinness the proprietor also makes other products from the beeswax including hand creams, polish, and candles.

Dorothy Halliday sells a wide selection of Irish and imported organic cheeses, as well as tofu, pesto, humus, sun dried tomatoes and olives. Dorothy also sells Free Range Eggs as well as Jams and Chutneys from "in Season" produce.

Other products available on Market Day are:

Ann-Marie with home baking & hot drinks, Organic Wines are also available from McGover's Wines of Ballinamore.

Local Arts and Crafts featuring Willow work from Dorothy Halliday and Fergal Ryan, Paintings from Ahascragh Painters and the Gables Art Group, Woodturning from John O'Reilly of Woodmount, Creagh, Handmade Greeting Cards from Marion Deely, Homeopathy from Lee Ni Chinnéide and Jewellery from Sarah and Jamie of Jewellers Forge Designs."

"Producing €100,000 from nine acres

Memories of helping his father to grow vegetables on the family farm coupled with a year's travel in India prompted Padraig Fahy to leave aside his Arts degree and undertake a course in organic horticulture in Drumcollogher in 1998.

Seven years on, he is a certified organic producer with IOFGA and has a turnover in excess of €100,000 from nine acres devoted to organic production in Ballinasloe Co. Galway. He also holds a licence to import and distribute organic produce. Padraig, who still finds time to teach horticulture on a part-time basis with Roscommon V.E.C., sells his produce in a number of ways.

The main sales channel for Padraig is a box scheme in Ballinasloe and Athlone which accounts for 75% of his production and runs for 50 weeks of the year. In addition, he wholesales surplus produce to his brother-in-law for his box scheme in Galway city. Padraig also supplies produce to some stallholders at the Galway farmer's market.

10% of his sales are made weekly through the local Ahascragh farmer's market. Considering that it involves just three hours a week of actual selling, it is well worthwhile. "you get to talk with your customers and receive valuable feedback on your produce. It is a social outlet too as you can be working on your own for a lot of the time. Another advantage is that you receive payment that day."

The biggest challenges for Padraig are the continuity of supply and maintaining quality control. "If the quality isn't right, you will lose your customers. You must be prepared to ask yourself, 'would I go into a shop and be prepared to pay for that?'"

From August until Christmas he can supply customers with his own produce. However, prior to that it may be necessary to buy some from other Irish producers or import fruit such as tomatoes from organic wholesalers in Holland. "With imported produce you can see the quality standard your own produce must match."

Last year, Padraig put his nine acres into REPS 3 which qualified for the standard REPS payment. He receives additional payment for two supplementary measures, organic farming and traditional orchards.

He got permission from IOFGA to allow horses to graze some of the untilled paddocks. One of his chosen options was broadleaf tree planting so he planted alder, windbreak for the polytunnels.

It is a timely measure. High winds damaged one of them in 2003. Last year he erected two new tunnels. Rather than spend a large amount of money on new frames, he purchased them second-hand at a fraction of the price. He made a further saving by erecting the tunnels himself.

Labour is a key element in organic vegetable production, particularly during the busiest months of April, May and June. "When you start doing the marketing yourself, you do need someone on the farm doing the work."

Padraig recruited Kostyantin, a veterinary student from the Ukraine under the Macra Na Feirme Seasonal Horticultural Workers Scheme. Under the scheme, Macra will source workers from March through until October for growers.

"It's my first time to take on somebody under this scheme but I am very happy with it. Kostyantin comes from a horticultural background so he had a fair idea of this type of work already." Padraig sometimes recruits students from France on work placements from the end of June until Christmas.

Though hard work, Padraig has achieved a very good turnover in a short space of time. It did not go unnoticed either by one particular customer of his. "A lady said to me recently, 'I don't have to buy any fruit and veg from Tesco anymore, you must be really hitting them"' So maybe that's my long term aim - to eat into Tesco's profits!"

He does hope to update his storage facilities in the near future though and may look at opening a farm shop. He would like to cut down the amount of hours he works as well.

"Success can also be gauged by being able to work less and I would like to just work 40 hours a week."

The box scheme

At the moment, Padraig has about 80 customers in the Ballinasloe and Athlone area with some as far away as Longford.

He offers a medium basket of organic produce for €15 and a large basket for €20. At this time of year the basket usually contains a mix of produce like 2Kg of potatoes, 1Kg of carrots, cabbage, lettuce, cucumber, 250 grammes of cherry tomatoes, spring onion, a pepper and a courgette. The basket might sometimes contain a kilo of apples, bananas, a half kilo of oranges, and some kiwis, with eggs included every second week.

"Some people may not want to buy into the box scheme on account of the standard mix of fruit and vegetables. In that situation you have to be flexible and take their order over the phone."

A day and a half is devoted to the direct marketing and packing. He prepares the produce on Wednesday, packs it early on Thursday morning, with all baskets delivered by evening. As it is usually a standard order, it is just a matter of collecting the empty basket to have it ready for filling the following week.

"I can then be back here on Friday to do any outstanding jobs and do the bookwork. Ideally, I can take Saturday and Sunday off."

One of the downsides of this method of marketing is when people are away. "In fact, up to half of your customers might be away in August at a time when your produce is reaching its peak."

Last year, Padraig sold some of his excess produce to a wholesaler at a reduced price.

Word of mouth is the most effective way of getting new customers and he finds that they last better that way.

Challenges facing Padraig

Padraig says that selling one's produce through a farmer's market for the first time can present a number of challenges:

 • The challenge for a new comer is to set a fair price and give value for money.
 • Cashflow.
 • Customers expect quality and the challenge is to maintain this.
 • Advertisement of the markets - how can you let the customer know what you have to sell?
 • Will you be able supply more than one product in time?
 • Customers expect that the person behind the stall grows the produce - can you meet this expectation?
 • Is the someone available to do the work at home while you are selling?

"How does an organic farmer or grower justify charging a premium?

One way is to claim that organic food is healthier.

Research on why consumers choose organic food suggests there has been a trend towards health, and away from environment, over the past 20 years. While environment is important to organic consumers, health is marginally more so.

Other research suggests it's impossible to separate the two, that it's the 'whole package' that appeals to people.

in other words, if organic food were only "good for your health", that wouldn't be sufficient. Also, organic consumers often say it is difficult to separate health and environment.

To quote one customer I spoke to recently: "health, food and environment: you can't separate them. We are what we eat, and then our health is coming from what we eat, and if you go back to the environment, and if that's not healthy, then you're not healthy".

That said, organic foods have intrinsic health benefits.

Even leaving aside residues and additives, it can be claimed that organic food is healthier because of the good it contains, and not just because of the bad ingredients it does not contain.

Many studies have show organic foods to be higher in vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants and essential fatty acids.

One 12-year study in Germany, and another in the US, found that organic foods were higher in most minerals, but in particular potassium, iron and calcium.

In the American study, organic foods were 63% higher in calcium, 73% higher in iron, and 125% higher in potassium.

A 2001 independent review of the available evidence found that organic crops had significantly higher levels of the 21 nutrients for which they were tested. Compared with conventional produce, organic crops were found to have greater levels of vitamin C (27% more), magnesium (29% more), iron (21% more) and phosphorous (14% more).

Organic Spinach, lettuce, cabbage and potatoes showed particularly high levels of minerals.

While some claim that the differences are too small to matter, others claim that more is more.

This does not apply only to vegetables and fruit. Organic milk was recently found to have up to 71% more omega 3, and a better omega 3 to omega 6 ratio, according to a report (December 2004) published by the University of Aberdeen. This is because of the higher amounts of clover in the sward.

This is especially interesting when we consider that a conventional (and more expensive) 'omega milk' has been launched. This is fortified with omega 3, whereas in organic milk it occurs naturally.

Yet, Dawn Omega milk is an award winning product, both at home and abroad: it won the best Irish product at the Sial D'or International food awards, and best drink product at the Checkout awards last year, in Ireland.

Where are the awards for the Glenisk Dairies organic producers? It's also worth remembering that the price difference between organic milk and 'omega milk' is small, especially when comparing the Tesco one-litre of organic milk to 'omega milk'.

It seems that in every category organics are more nutritional. Even ketchup. The USDA claims that organic ketchup is higher in lycopene, which protects against many cancers, and may do so for heart attacks, also. The same study concluded that organic ketchups are higher in antioxidants.

So, the next time someone tries to tell you that "food is food", or "milk is milk", you know where to tell them (politely) to go."

"Travel broadened the mind and sent Ballinasloe man back to his roots

Travel broadens the mind they say and for Padraig Fahy from Ballinasloe, that certainly was the case. After he qualified from college in 1996 with an arts degree, Padraig had intended to get a job and help his father Tom look after the cattle on the farm.

However that same year, his desire to see a bit of the world left a lasting impression on him and particularly his travels though India. Padraig saw how every available piece of land was utilised to the full and how self-sufficient the farmers were. It reminded him how when he was young that much of the food came straight from their garden. "I was always interested in the environment and I come from a farming background. When you travel, you travel as much inwards as outwards and you reflect on your own background and what you grew up with," he says.

1998 was a landmark year for him. Apart from watching Galway win the All-Ireland football final, he also commenced a course in organic horticulture in Drumcollogher run by Limerick VEC where he met Úna Ní Bhroin.

"My guard was down at the time," he jokes. Today they have two children, Meadbh and Róisín, farm nine acres organically and supply over 120 customers a week from Galway to Athlone.

They also supply a number of shops in Ballinasloe, Roscommon and Athlone while Padraig teaches horticulture on a part-time basis with Roscommon V.E.C. Meanwhile Tom helps our whenever things get busy and in turn, Padraig gives him a hand with the cattle.

Tom is delighted with his son's decision to farm some of the holding organically and he recalls his own father's skill as a gardener. "My father Pat was a psychiatric nurse in St. Bridget’s Hospital. He also looked after the hospital garden with the help of some of the patients. In their own way, they were farming organically."

Pat also grew a field of vegetables at home which provided a valuable source of income for his family. Tom recalls how he used to help him every Saturday bring vegetables to the market in the town.

"When we came home in the evening, we gave the money to my mother. That is what helped to keep the place going," he says.

Tom inherited his father's initiative. In the days before pasteurisation, he milked a few cows and bottled the milk himself before going out and delivering it to shops, hotels and houses around Ballinasloe. He recalls an amusing incident with two old ladies who were customers of his. "On Saturdays I used to leave them a double delivery. However one particular Saturday, they said to me: 'Mr Fahy, how can you give us two days milk on a Saturday when a cow has to be milked every day?!'"

Even while Padraig was on the course in Co. Limerick, he found that much of what he had learned while helping his father as a boy came naturally to him. So it was no surprise when he and Úna made the decision to farm a few acres organically.

They got some financial help from Galway Rural Development to set up their enterprise. However the road to organic farming wasn't always a smooth one. Padraig did not qualify for installation aid or meet criteria for drawing down grants from the organic section of the Department of Agriculture.

Then only a few months ago, strong winds tore the cover from one of their two polytunnels which caused some disruption to the spring planting programme.

While considerable effort goes in to growing organic produce, an equal effort is required to sell it. During his time in Drumcollogher, Padraig helped to get the local market up and running for the first time in over thirty years.

"I enjoy the contact with customers just as much as the gardening. I grew up helping my father deliver milk so selling direct to the consumer wasn't an entirely new experience for me," he says. However, both he and Úna believe that a local farmers market would be of great benefit to themselves as well as to other growers of home produce.

They sell mainly through the 'box system'. This involves regular customers buying a box of fresh produce once a week. A box costs from fifteen to twenty euro. It contains seven or eight types of vegetables which customers order the previous week. They deliver the box to the household every Thursday or Friday.

Úna says this system has similarities with the U.S. where community supported agriculture is widely practised. There, consumers give a one-off payment at the start of the year and in return receive a weekly supply of fresh farm produce.

One of the keys to successful organic marketing is the ability to provide a continuous supply of top quality produce. Padraig and Úna achieve this through succession sowing of vegetables like lettuce. Also, much of their produce comes from other producers after they have sold all their own produce like potatoes.

As organic farming can be such a labour intensive business, they also recruit foreign workers each year. On the day I visited them, Lorenzo, an agricultural engineering student from Italy who has an interest in horticulture and also hopes to improve his English, had just started work on the farm.

With CAP reform just around the corner, one would imagine that the time is right for more farmers to consider organic farming. However, the limitations on fertiliser use and the means of weed control deter many of them from converting their farms.

Padraig says that although farmers cannot use synthetic fertilisers, they can instead use farmyard manure or green manure like clover to build up fertility. This year he is using seaweed dust.

Padraig believes the key to disease control is 'prevention first'. This he achieves through the use of good organic seed. Early sowing also helps reduce disease. The choice of variety is important, particularly those that don't attract blight.

"If blight does affect a crop, then producers can use bluestone and washing soda as a treatment," he adds.

He treats the carrot crop with liquid garlic to ward off root fly and uses mesh to keep the birds away as well. For weed control he uses a flame weeder instead of chemicals while he sprays liquid seaweed extract on the crops to keep them healthy.

All organic producers must hold a licence with one of the three organic organisations. Padraig estimates that around 70% of producers are affiliated to The Irish Organic Farmers and Growers Association (IOFGA), 20% to Organic Trust while the remainder are members of Demeter. The Fahys are members of IOFGA.

"We have an annual check each year. A further ten to fifteen percent of organic producers also have a spot check. We are in the second year of our conversion plan and we had a spot check in January.

"The inspector rang to say he would be here in two hours. He walked around and checked everything, then looked at our books to make sure that everything was okay," says Padraig.

He would like to see one national symbol for organic produce which consumers could readily identify as well as more financial support for the organic sector.

"Almost 80% of organic fruit and veg is imported. If the state wants to have Irish food, they will need to subsidise agriculture. I know that people are always giving out about subsidising agriculture but when you think about it there are lots of other areas subsidised. So why shouldn’t agriculture be subsidised especially if we want to keep people living in the countryside as well?"

While nobody can predict the future especially when it comes to agriculture. Padraig feels that organic farming will be worth considering.

"The farm here is where a lot of other farmers might be in eight or ten years time. There may be very little subsidies available by then. With reduced stock numbers, many holdings will be compatible with organic farming. However, there also needs to be an increase in the number of demonstration farms in the west."

Next year, Padraig and Úna hope to convert another few acres to organic production and keep some livestock. In the meantime, the next generation of organic farmers, Meadbh and Róisín will be learning all about it - with Tom's help of course!"