Based in Oldtown, Co Dublin, JRS Farms Ltd is a family-run business which operates 2,500 acres of Tillage, as well as growing potatoes and onions. Irish Tractor Agri & Plant touched base with its owner John Rodgers to hear more about the company’s superb fleet and its recent success at the annual Tirlán Quality Grain Awards.
February saw some much-deserved award success for the Dublin-based JRS Farms Ltd as it was victorious in the ‘Dried Seed Barley’ category at the Tirlán Quality Grain Awards.
It was a welcomed success for this family-run business, especially taking into account the challenges which it faced in 2024, with wet weather conditions over the course of the year making it difficult for tillage farmers to say the least.
Operating with six full-time staff, JRS Farms Ltd is situated in Murragh Farm, Oldtown, Co Dublin and has been operating as a limited company since 2017.
In the years before that, the Rodgers family had always been synonymous with growing winter barley, potatoes, onions, wheat and maize, having first moved to north Dublin in 1980.
Today, JRS Farms Ltd has its own drying facility on-farm and dry all of their own grain, supplying the likes of Paul & Vincent, AW Ennis and RH Halls, while on the potato and onion front, their produce goes to local farmers.
Irish Tractor Agri & Plant spoke with John Rodgers to discuss the ins and out of this family venture and its hopes going forward.
“There’d be six full-time working here and I have two sons involved in the business with me, Richard and George,” he outlined.
“We’d be farming about 2,500 acres and it’s all tillage. There’s a bit of potatoes, onions and forage maize to local farmers as well.
“Last year was very difficult, as you know. We had a very bad back end in 2023, it was a very wet back end and we didn’t get much of our winter corn sowed and what we did get sowed was sort of touch and go as such.
“We had to sow a lot of spring crops then instead last spring to make up for it. The spring crops turned out well, they yielded well.
“This back end, which was the back end gone in ’24, was very good. We got all the sowing done that we needed to get done and it was all done in good order and it’s all established very well.”
Of course, quality work can’t be carried out without the right machinery to do so and JRS Farms Ltd has always invested to make sure that they have the best tractors and associated machinery in its yard.
When it comes to tractors, John Deere has always been the brand of choice for John Rodgers, while the most recent purchase at Murragh Farm has been an impressive Amazone Pantera 4504 self-propelled crop protection sprayer which has a tank capacity of 4,500
“The tractors that we have here would be a John Deere 8520, a John Deere 8330, two John Deere 6250 Rs, two John Deere 6215 Rs, a John Deere 6155 R, a John Deere 6185 R and a Fendt 720. The John Deere 6185 R would be a new addition for us here as well,” said John.
“We’ve enough tractors for now. We did buy a new six-metre Amazone One Pass and bought a new 30-metre Amazone sprayer, it’s the Pantera 4504 and is a self-propelled sprayer that we got from Leinster Hydraulics & Farm Machinery.”
So, all of that considered, the clear question is what has been the secret behind the success of JRS Farms Ltd to date?
How has a small family start-up grown into what is now very much a thriving business with 2,500 acres of tillage, nine tractors in its fleet and an excellent reputation amongst its loyal customers?
For John, it all comes down to service.
“I think we do a good job and give a good service. We’ve flexible hours and open sort of earlier in the morning to later at night and open Saturdays as well,” he said.
On February 12th, JRS Farms Ltd saw its feats as grower recognised on a national scale when it won in the ‘Dried Feed Barley’ at the Tirlán Quality Grain Awards 2024.
The ceremony itself took place at the Guinness Store House in Dublin and John and his team were proud to go up and collect the award on the day.
“We have the plaque here in the office that we won last week. It’s nice to be recognised,” said the company’s owner.
“It was a lovely day up there last Wednesday. We were in the Guinness Store House all day and we got a tour and then we got a lunch and the presentations then. We were brought up to the very top then for a pint of the black stuff!”
Previous years have seen JRS Farms Ltd shortlisted at the Bord Bia’s Origin Green Farmer Awards, while back in 2006 the Rogers family were named ‘Potato Producer of the Year’ and they’d add a National Horticulture Quality Award to the mantlepiece 12 months later.
Looking ahead towards the coming months, John says that they are eager to see improved weather and a good summer overall as they continue to focus on doing what they do best over in Murragh Farm.
“The main thing with tillage farming is the weather. Hopefully, we get a good spring now, a good summer and a good back end. That’s what we’re hoping for really. That we can continue on with our work,” he concluded.
JRS Farms Ltd
Murragh Farm,
Oldtown,
Co Dublin
Mob: 086 256 5258
Email: [email protected]
First published in Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 13 No 1, Spring 2025
