Our organic journey in the West of Ireland began in 2004, when myself and my wife Jenny moved back to Ireland to take over my grandfather’s farm.
The journey has been challenging, tearful at times, and exhilarating at others, a journey like we never imagined. In 2010 we thought we would not survive as the bite of the financial crisis began to take hold. We changed our business model and started supplying supermarkets with our own fresh produce.
In 2015 we were issued an ultimatum by our biggest supermarket customer to improve our margins, pay for anything they wasted and generally do more. I decided in flash of indignation that I had had enough and pulled out of all our supermarket stores.
We changed our direction once again and doubled down on our home delivery service and focused 100% on what we were best at, namely getting our organic produce from our fields and the fields of other farmers direct to our customers doors.
Between 2012 and 2017 we fought tooth and nail to get a bank loan to help secure our future, to help grow our farm and business.
We secured the backing of the government who supported our new packing shed with a grant to help realise our dream. But one bank after another turned down our application for a loan.
In 2017 when we thought the final bell had tolled, a long-term customer offered to provide part of the funding that helped us to secure a loan to help make our new home a reality and allow for expansion of our business.
We installed a rainwater harvesting system to use fresh water to wash our vegetables in our polytunnels, free from fluoride and leached chemicals.
We installed a 12 KW photovoltaic system to generate our own electricity here locally on site which is helping us realise our dream of a completely sustainable food system and nudge another step nearer to being carbon neutral.
In the past 14 years we have planted nearly 5000 native trees on our farm and we were the first company to ditch plastic in all our boxes in Ireland.
All that we have accomplished so far has happened because of the unwavering support of my family, my friends, and now the fantastic team of people I find myself surrounded by and of course our amazing customers that support our farm by getting an order of veg and groceries delivered each week from our farm.
Finally we have the scale and the support to really make a difference, to get our boxes to even more families, to get others to take note and see that it can be done, that it works, and fundamentally it makes a difference now and for the future generations.
Kenneth https://www.facebook.com/greenearthorganicsireland/
