Dunany Flour counts President Michael D. Higgins amongst its customers. If it’s good enough for Ireland’s first citizen then it’s good enough for the rest of us. We spoke to Andrew Workman of Dunany Flour who was nominated for Tillage Farmer of the Year at the Zurich Farm Insurance Farming Independent Farmer of the Year awards.
From their farm which is located at Togher, Drogheda, Co Louth, the Workman family have developed their flour business using 100% natural organic grains, harvested on their 250 acre farm.
Home grown and home produced, all their flour is freshly milled to order retaining the recognisably outstanding quality of taste and texture.
Andrew Workman was shortlisted in the Tillage Farmer of the Year category at the recent Zurich Farm Insurance Farming Independent Farmer of the Year awards. Now in their fourth year, the awards recognise and reward the very best in Irish Farming.
A fourth-generation farmer, Andrew is one cog in the wheel of a very successful family business that also includes his wife, Leonie, who he met at Seal-Hayne Agricultural College in Devon, and their eldest son, Matthew (33). Another son, Alex (31) works in IT.
The Workmans switched to organic farming 10 years ago and it has proven to have been a shrewd move. Andrew says that their business is thriving.
“We went into conversion from a conventional farm to an organic farm in 2004,” Andrew explained to Irish Tractor & Agri magazine. “Two years later, in 2006, we received the fully organic symbol from the Organic Trust.”
The Organic Trust is the organic certification body of choice for the professional organic producer which is why the Organic Trust logo features on the bulk of Irish-produced organic products in Ireland.
Why did Andrew and Leonie decide to go down the organic route?
“’I took over the farm from my Aunt in 1981. She and my Grandfather had a small suckler herd, some pedigree herefords and 40 -50 acres of corn. They farmed from 1948 and tried several enterprises but none were particularly financially successful.
“There were several reasons for converting to organic. We hadn’t invested a huge amount of money in machinery and we had no staff except ourselves. I wasn’t a great person for spraying and fertilising.
“Basically, it wasn’t sustainable what we were doing in conventional farming. The bills were going up but prices were staying the same. So we had to think outside the box and went into conversion.
“Initially, the idea behind going organic was that we would sell on grain into the animal feed market but, having gone organic, the UK sterling market went right down. They could import animal feed for cost price of what we were doing it. Again we had to think outside the box and went into flour making.”
Operating under the name Dunany Farm, it is the only enterprise currently selling flour that is grown, dried, milled and packaged at home. Dunany Flour is now sold countrywide.
“About seven years ago we were visiting the Germany city Jena and we met a German who was passionate about flour. He was working a French mill and I thought if a German is working a French mill, it must be good!
“We purchased a French Stone Ground mill and the business has grown from strength to strength. We also have an old fashioned mill, a Danish Skjold mill that does extra coarse flour and works perfectly well.”
Andrew added: “It’s quite an exciting time for the business and we have a lot more bakeries coming on board. We’d have plans to expand the business but we have to be careful with costs because we are up against big companies who are somehow able to keep their flour down to cost. Organic grain is nearly double the price of regular grain.”
The Workmans also grow spelt and a large quantity of berries from this crop is sold directly to salad-making companies, while their oats are sold to Flavahans.
The Workmans use stone ground mills to produce the wonderful soft, fine ground wholemeal, spelt and rye flours.
Their unique extra coarse flour is traditionally ground to produce the nutty wholemeal, delicious for soda bread.
In addition to a busy tillage farm and burgeoning flour business, the Workmans also own a thriving equestrian centre.
“What we are doing in the flour business is quite unique. We’re growing, packing milling and selling wheat, spelt and rye from grain to flour.
“We’re also keen to promote the fact that you can use standard Irish wheat and make it into a very serviceable bread. That is something which I think should be understood and chefs and bakers are coming around to that way of thinking now. You can’t just say that because Irish wheat is low in protein it is no good for bread. That’s not true and, in fact, it’s especially good in soda breads,” Andrew concluded.
Dunany Flour
Togher
Drogheda
County Louth
Tel: (041) 685 2242
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.dunanyflour.com
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 5 No 6, September 2017
