Nora and Connie Sheehan of Bord Bia approved Lisna-G Farm – which is located in Castletownroche, Mallow, Co Cork – specialise in fresh cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage and potatoes.
When Nora Sheehan was sounded out about taking on the role of chairperson of the North Cork IFA Potato Committee she had to think long and hard about.
“I was asked three years ago would I take it on and refused initially,” she recalled when speaking to Irish Tractor & Agri magazine. “But then I thought about it and decided to give it a go.
“The main reason was because I’m married 26 years now and my involvement on the farm revolves mainly around the physical side of it. I have very little contact with our customers because Connie looks after that.
“We talk about isolation in farming and women can also become isolated. Traditionally, women were expected to have the breakfast, lunch and supper on the table and very little contact with anyone else.
“I initially thought I hadn’t the time to do it but then I thought if I don’t make move now I might never do it and it would be my own fault for isolation. It was a huge decision at the time but has turned out to be the best move I ever made.
“I still do all the work, take care of our 12-year-old twins Conor and Siobhan, but I’ve another outlet there now as well. Life is not all about working on the farm.”
It’s no exaggeration to say that her hands-on involvement in the IFA has given Nora a new lease of life.
“I had never driven to Dublin on my own before I started attending IFA meetings,” she laughed, “and I never come back from a meeting without having found out more.
“I’m the only female on the committee and I have to admit I found that strange at the start but now we’re all one unit. I’ve had opportunities to go to Norwich on a Salad Potato trip, we were up in Donegal this year on a seed potato trip, and everywhere you go you learn something new.
“We have our local meetings once a month in Mallow or Fermoy where I give my report on the potato industry and I like to hear what’s going on in the other sectors of farming too.”
Top of the agenda for Nora and her IFA Potato colleagues at the moment is trying to halt the drastic decline in the consumption of potatoes in Ireland.
As most of the fresh potatoes grown in Ireland are also consumed in the Republic, that fall in demand has big implications for local farmers, like Nora and her husband Connie.
“The big thing about potatoes,” she says, “is that there is a huge issue around this idea that they are a big contributory factor to the growing rates of obesity in this country. At Weight Watchers, for example, potatoes are the first thing that are looked at.
“On the whole, there needs to be a rethink in the country, people have to realise that potatoes are an important part of a balanced and varied diet and that they are not the problem when it comes to obesity.”
To this end, Bord Bia, in conjunction with the IFA and the Irish Potato Federation, has embarked on an EU and industry funded three year promotional campaign for potatoes, ‘Potatoes: More Than A Bit On The Side’, which aims to increase the consumption of potatoes and specifically targets 22-44 year old females.
The campaign, which also includes ‘National Potato Day’ and the re-launch of www.potato.ie, highlights the fact that potatoes offer enormous potential within the world of modern cooking and the added health and nutritional benefits that they have.
As part of the day, Nora and Connie host a farm visit at Lisna-G for pupils of local schools and the theme of the visit is ‘Versatile Spud’ with tastings available and samples.
“The campaign is aimed at 22-44 year old females who are responsible for the weekly household shop and cooking potatoes at home.
“Potatoes are very versatile and we have to get away from the idea of boiled potatoes. Children visit the farm, come out into the field and see first hand the process that’s involved from start to finish.
“Some thought they come straight off the shelf! They’re not aware that there is more vitamin C in a potato than there is in an orange and more potassium in a potato than there is in a banana.
“Local county chairman Billy Cotter gave a talk on Farm Safety and we use National Potato Day to highlight all of that.”
Listening to Nora, whose father David ‘Cody’ O’Leary won an All-Ireland SHC medal with Cork, talk so passionately about what is unquestionably a labour of love for her, it comes as a surprise to learn that she doesn’t hail from a farming background.
“I come from a family of seven, four girls and three boys. There was no family involvement in farming but, as a child, I picked potatoes every summer for a local farmer and ended up marrying his son! I married Connie in 1990 at the age of 23 and moved in to Lisna-G farm.”
The Sheehan family enterprise currently consists of 40 acres of potatoes (Kerr Pink and Rooster) and 25 acres of broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage and their produce reaches kitchen tables via wholesalers in Cork, Limerick, Tipperary and Ennis as well as local shops.
“Our vegetables did exceptionally well this year. Price wise they were up and we got the rain and sun when we needed it.
“On the vegetable side the biggest challenge is that the younger generation don’t have the same interest in it as we have. I have a great passion in what I do, ever since the time I picked as a child, I loved working in the fields. In spite of the long hours involved I find it hugely rewarding.
“A lot of interest, skill and knowledge is being lost as the number of fresh vegetable producers has been on the decline for a number of years now. There were 377 in Ireland in 1999 and that dropped to 215 ten years later. We lost that many growers in a decade.”
“The biggest threat is under cost selling in both the potato and vegetable markets by some of the large supermarket chains particularly the two large German discounters Aldi and Lidl. IFA are going to have to take them on both locally and nationally and force the government to take action to ban below cost selling. Another thing I found out when I got involved with the IFA is how much work goes on behind the scenes to keep prices up. They deserve massive credit for that.”
Lisna-G Farm
Castletownroche
Mallow
Co Cork
025-38345
087-6534787
087-2747681
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 4 No 7, September 2016
