Meet our Organic Farmers

Michael & Anne Keane

Barrigone, Co. Limerick

We milk mostly Dairy Shorthorn cows, with some Kerry and Droimeann cattle also. I find these old breed more suitable to Organic farming methods as my system is to milk off grass for as long as possible and these breeds are very suitable.The cows milk mainly from grass, and because our land is on limestone rock it is very dry and I aim to let them out on grass as soon as they calve.

I believe in producing food as naturally as possible without chemical inputs and using the land as sustainably as possible. Seaweed washes up all over the edges of the farm and I gather and mix it with farmyard manure to provide a natural fertilizer.

Pat and Angela Mulrooney

Sliabhnamon, South Tipperary

The farm was converted to an organic system in the mid eighties. A principle of organic farming is to produce food of high quality. The farm has been used for research into the quality of organic milk. This research was carried out by L.I.T. The result of this research indicated higher levels of beneficial omega 3.

We became concerned at the increasing use of chemicals on farms. This was the food produced to feed people. There had to be a better way.

Coolanowle Organic Farm

Coolanowle, Co. Laois

Farming organically is of considerable importance to us as we have a young family and we make every effort to use healthy, wholesome and locally produced food. The farm of Bill and Marianne George is primarily made up of grassland with some tillage crops for feeding. We are milking 90 British Friesian cows and 5 Mount Belairde cows.

The challenge for agriculture is to produce food to meet a growing population but at the same time to reduce our carbon footprint.

Fintan Rice

I’d always been interested in the environment, food quality and health related issues even as a teenager. I got married and when the kids came along it really hit home what we were eating so I started growing vegetables in the back yard organically and then I was supplying milk conventionally, I felt a bit of a disconnect. As well as the importance of what we were putting in our kids mouths it was important for me to farm in a more sustainable manner too. I have been organic farming since 1998.

I thought organic farming was just for Prince Charles and the hippy guys! Then I met Pat Mulrooney and John Stephenson and I saw how they were doing it.

John and Joan Stephenson

Kilmeaden, Co. Waterford

We are farming organically since 1987, in the early years there was no real market for the milk but we were happy that we could produce milk on a low input system, we haven’t looked back ! and we would not consider farming any other way.

We enjoy all kinds of food, organic if possible and we try to grow some of our own vegetables and potatoes every year.

Leo Barry

The environment has always played an important part of my life, whether it would be renewable energy or the food that I produce. So organic was just a natural fit.

John Liston

John is a certified organic farmer for over 15 years. My farming system is a traditional grass fed spring calving herd of Friesian and Jersey cows who produce milk from March to December. These cows are milked once a day, with the resulting milk containing high butterfat and protein constituents. John is also on the board of the Irish Organic Growers and Farmers Association, a certification body that regulates organic farmers and processors.

The farm was once part of the neighbouring early Christian settlement of Dysert Aengus (Hermitage of Aengus). All that remains of the monastery is a round tower and church. Cheese making was first carried out in these establishments with the knowledge brought to Ireland from the old roman empire.

Sean Condon

Limerick

Being a farmer holds great responsiblity as you are feeding your family, your friends, your neighbours and your community with the food that I produce. For me it was vital that the food I was producing I was happy for them to eat. I am the chairman of Limericks Camogie Board, community is important to me.