Based in Gerrardstown, Co Meath, Pat Reynolds & Sons Ltd produces a variety of popular potatoes to suit every taste and requirement. Irish Tractor Agri & Plant caught up with Ivan Reynolds to hear more on the state of business at the minute for the family company, its superb machinery fleet and recent award success.
Business is good these days at Pat Reynolds & Sons Ltd and the plan for the Reynolds family and the entire team at Gerrardstown, Garlow Cross outside of Navan, Co Meath is to try and keep things that way for the foreseeable future.
Operating with 22 full-time staff, this exceptional family-run business is at the forefront of potato growing and the Reynolds name itself has become synonymous with quality potatoes.
Pat Reynolds snr and his four sons grow and harvest 950 acres of potatoes, which sees the business producing anywhere between 12,000 to 14,000 tonnes of potatoes per annum.
Irish Tractor Agri & Plant spoke with Ivan Reynolds, one of the four sons helping to run the family business set-up by their dad Pat snr, to get the lowdown on what they’ve been up to lately in Gerrardstown.
“The grain harvest was good enough last year. We did very well. Hopefully, this year will be as good,” he said.
“Of course, the weather is the main thing. Every day you’re looking out, you’re thinking will it rain or what will happen? Weather is the biggest thing and that bad harvest we had two years ago; it was very bad and hopefully we won’t have that again.”
Each year sees the potato cycle commencing around March/April when planting takes place, followed by the harvesting in September/October. In between, the potatoes are sprayed every 10 days to control and prevent the spread of potato blight, which can wipe out a crop overnight.
Since ‘Day One’, it had always been the ambition of Pat Reynolds snr to produce quality potatoes and also a variety to suit every taste.
In keeping with industry-leading standards of excellence down through the decades, the Reynolds family today produce the best farm fresh potatoes from their rich soil and the wide variety on offer for customers includes Lady Rosetta, Kiebitz, Verdi, Rooster, Maris Piper and Salad Potatoes amongst others.
It had also been supplying Tayto Snacks with potatoes for their range of products for more than 40 years.
All of that considered, it was no surprise to hear that this family business enjoyed award success this past February at the annual Tirlán Quality Grain Awards.
Pat Reynolds & Sons Ltd were winners in the ‘Green Oilseed Rape’ category and Pat snr and his sons made the trip to the capital for the awards ceremony at the Guinness Storehouse.
“Ah sure, it was great to get it. It’s great to get an award like that from Tirlán. Very good to get it,” said Ivan.
“The awards were on February 12th and we went up to the (Guinness) Store House in Dublin and it was very good. I was talking away to other farmers up there, so it was a great day out there and very well organised.”
The success is another nod to the quality products which the Reynolds family has been producing from its farm for more than half a century now.
Of course, those quality products can’t be produced without the right equipment and they’ve invested heavily down through the decades to ensure the best machinery is used in their harvest.
When it comes to tractors in particular, Pat snr has always kept his faith in the John Deere brand.
“We have 14 tractors in the fleet here. We’ve all John Deeres and we bought one Massey last year,” outlined Ivan.
“We just changed one for a 400 horsepower Massey. We picked it up in WBD and we also bought a new 250 John Deere last year as well. We bought a few ploughs last year and trailers. We’ve no plans at the moment to add again this year.”
So, all of that considered, the burning question is what has been the secret behind the continued success of this Co Meath potato growing venture over the years?
How has a small start-up grown into what is now very much a thriving family business with an excellent reputation for remarkable standards of productivity and quality?
The way Ivan sees it, you simply cannot beat local produce.
“It’s because it’s all local. The local shops are beside us. People are looking for local produce and they know that the product we produce is quality,” he said.
Indeed, the potatoes that come from Pat Reynolds & Sons Ltd are all washed, graded and packed in their own state-of-the-art packhouse, offering ideal handling and storage conditions.
They are available through Tesco, Super Valu and many other local stores, while the Reynolds family also supply Dublin-based Sam Dennigan and Co., one of the country’s leading fresh produce companies.
Business is good and, as aforementioned, the hope is that things will stay that way going forward.
Looking toward the months ahead, Ivan says an improvement in weather along with the current price of a potato will be what they’ll be keeping their fingers crossed for in Gerrardstown.
“We’d hope that the weather comes at it a bit better now. Hopefully, we’ll have a good run at it and the price of spuds will go up another bit,” he said.
“It’s back a bit there but, hopefully, it’ll go up another bit. Last year was a better price, so hopefully it’ll go up again.”
Here’s hoping.
Pat Reynolds & Sons Ltd,
Gerrardstown,
Garlow Cross,
Navan,
Co Meath.
Tel: 046 902 3989
First published in Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 13 No 1, Spring 2025
