2017 was a year Jimmy Purcell won’t soon forget having been named the Hybrid Barley Grower of the Year in August. Irish Tractor & Agri caught up with the Tipperary man towards the tail end of the year to learn more about his exploits.
Success breeds success. The old saying rings through when you take into account Tipperary Hybrid Barely Grower Jimmy Purcell’s achievement this past year.
Describing himself as “a third generation grower”, this line of work has been in the Purcell clan’s DNA for some time and it looks to be coming full circle with Jimmy’s son have completed an Agricultural Science degree at UCD in 2013.
This past September Charlie Purcell became one of ten graduates to be selected as the Bord Bia Origin Green Ambassadors to promote the Irish agri-food industry’s sustainability efforts.
For now, Charlie’s full-time occupation sees him working with Glanbia but he still helps out his father on a regular basis and is in line to become the family’s fourth generation owner when the time is right.
Jimmy’s daughters have also been known to lend a helping hand from time to time, but at the moment the running of the Purcell farm is very much down to him day in, day out.
2017 was a busy year for him and at the tail end of it Irish Tractor & Agri was delighted to catch up with the man himself to learn about this award-winning farm.
“We’re in Arthurstown in Clonmel and I’d be the third generation grower here,” Jimmy outlined.
“We do all tillage farming here. We have 1,400 acres of tillage and we’re going alright with it at the minute now. It was a difficult enough year to get straw with the harvest we had but we got through it.
“Most of our straw goes to local farmers. We have lot of local stud farms and local horse breeders that it goes to. Walsh Mushrooms in Wexford would also be buying a good bit of our straw and compost.”
Walsh Mushrooms, among other clients, have been on board with the Purcells for some time now and are clearly fans when it comes to the quality of straw their growing down in Clonmel.
Tillage has always been the name of the game for Jimmy and down through the years he’s learned that quality is paramount to success.
Not many of his clients have strayed elsewhere after coming to him for the first time and that kind of repeat business is just as crucial an aspect to success.
“I’ve been dealing with a lot of my clients a long time now,” said Jimmy. “What we grow here is top quality and the straw that we have is perfect for the stud farms, so we’ve gained a couple of them as clients in recent years as well.”
On the machinery end, Jimmy has always put his faith in John Deere when it comes to his tractors. Busier times as of late have called for further investment and he has never been afraid to invest when it comes to the right machine.
“I’m always buying something,” said Jimmy. “It seems like that anyway and I’ll be buying again next year (2018) no doubt.
“I bought a brand new plough in 2017 and at the moment we’re operating four John Deere tractors – I buy them off TFM – and next year we might look at buying another tractor. It’ll be John Deere because they’re a brand I’ve trust in.”
As an award-winning grower, Jimmy is clearly a man that many have trust in too.
In the early part of last year, leading wholesale arable seed company Seedtech were on a mission to find and reward the country’s best Hybrid Barley Grower. The criteria followed simple agronomy and harvesting steps to achieve “#MoreGrainMoreProfit” with Hybrid Barley.
It was decided in August that Jimmy Purcell fitted that criteria.
Jimmy achieved 4.77t/ac with his crop of hybrid barley and after receiving his award, which he branded as “a great honour”, he stated at the ceremony in Carlow: “I’ve been growing hybrid barley for the last seven years because of its yield and profit-making potential.
“The crop’s performance in this year’s harvest was excellent both in terms of its yield and grain quality. I am really pleased to receive this award and would like to thank my advisor James Irish from Brett Brothers for the role he played in achieving these strong results. I’d also like to thank John Blackmore and Gerry Purcell jnr.”
Farmers from all around the country had competed for the prestigious award, with the competition itself having aimed to reward those farmers which “leveraged the unique strengths in hybrid barley’s genetics in order to grow an outstanding crop”, according to its organisers.
There were three regional finalists acknowledged at the ceremony on August 29th, with Jimmy having been the Munster Regional Finalist, beating off competition from the south Leinster and north Leinster regions.
“I have to say a great honour for me and the company to be recognised like that,” he added.
Looking towards the coming months and 2018 as a whole, Jimmy is hoping that things will follow the same trend as they did this past year.
“It’ll be about more of the same for me here. We’ll have the same crops and probably grow a good bit of hybrid barley,” he concluded.
What more could you ask for than that?
The REA Group are agri consultants which have dealt with all accounting/tax and debt of agricultural matters since Jimmy Purcell started farming. Jimmy would highly recommend the REA Group for their professionalism and commitment to their clients.
Jimmy Purcell
Orchardstown
Clonmel
Co. Tipperary
Tel: 087 2540077
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 6 No 2, March/April 2018
