The potato or spud as it is more commonly known in Ireland has been a huge part of our diet for centuries.
However, in an era where time is of the essence for people and in many cases where both partners are out working, the traditional potato has slipped down our list of priorities.
Irish people are leaning more and more towards convenient food, i.e. as is in something that takes little time to prepare, so going to the ‘bother’ of washing potatoes and boiling them is becoming a rarer sight these days.
Nonetheless, it is no coincidence that the country is also battling an obesity issue amongst our younger generations.
They are naturally fat-free, a source of fibre, potassium, salt free, low in sugar and naturally saturated-fat free
When carefully cooked, they’re also a great natural source of energy. The main mineral found in potatoes is potassium, which has several important functions, including: contributing to normal muscle function, contributing to normal functioning of the nervous system and contributing to the maintenance of normal blood pressure.
One farming family in Co Cork who have been growing and supplying potatoes for over three generations are the O’Connor’s who own and run Ballyvodock Farm just outside Midleton.
Denis O’Connor is the latest generation of the family to run the business having taken over from his father Denis Snr who is still actively involved.
The O’Connor’s are not only potato growers as the do tillage as well, harvesting winter and spring grain, while they also grow beans.
“We farm over 600 acres of land. Five hundred acres of that would be grain and barley, while we would have in the region of 120 or 130 acres planted for potatoes,” said Denis Jnr.
“We also do a small amount of contracting work for farmers in the locality such as harvesting Silage & corn.
Ballyvodock Farm produces a range of potatoes including Queens, Kerr Pinks, Golden Wonders and Roosters which are produced all year round and supplied to a chain of Super Values and other shops based in Cork city & county.
We produce a traditional potato to a large customer base.”
Denis admitted that the demand for the traditional potato has suffered in recent years.
“Definitely the demand has dropped, but there is a lot of promotional work going on to get people to start eating proper meals again, everything is leaning towards convenient food these days.”
Another area that is sometimes testing for the O’Connor family is getting the proper land to plant their potatoes.
“We rent a good portion of land, it is not easy to get fresh land to plant on, but we have been fortunate enough in that regard down through the years.”
To facilitate the large quantity of potatoes produced, Denis revealed that they are well equipped on the cold storage front.
“We can house up to 1000 tonnes of potatoes in cold storage. We have warehouses here that cater for that.”
Denis added that potato prices are average at the moment as supply and demand is up and down all the time.
Prices can vary from time to time, presently prices are not too bad, but that can change from one week to the next. There is a scarcity of potatoes in the U.K at the moment, which saw the price rise slightly, but we need to get more people eating potatoes in their diet.”
The price of grain has been an ongoing concern for tillage farmers for a couple of years now and with no sign of light at the end of the tunnel, Denis stressed that it was a real cause for concern.
“It is very hard to operate when prices are down. And they have been that way now for two or three years. There is no sign of a recovery and it is hard to know when it will improve, but you just have to hope that it will sooner rather than later.”
To carry out their daily duties, the O’Connor’s operate an extensive fleet of machinery with John Deere, Deutz and Claas being the preferred choice of tractors with a new John Deere 6195R added to the fleet last August.
“We upgrade the tractors every few years. They clock up big hours, so in order to keep them fresh and maintenance free, we upgrade regularly.
“We deal with McCarthy Plant & Agri Carrigtwohill, Farm Power Cork & Castlelyons, and Kearney Bros Acres Fermoy, we find they all provide a very good service.”
Despite the pressures of what farming brings about, Denis stated that it would be very hard to work in any other environment.
“I suppose farming is in my blood. There are plenty of ups and downs, but you will get that in any industry. Hopefully, grain and barley prices will increase and we can then invest more money into our land.”
Contact Details:
Ballyvodock Farm,
Midleton,
Co Cork
Tel: (021) 4631773
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 5 No 5, July/August 2017
