Since its inception in 1999, Stablefield Ltd. in County Tipperary has developed into one of Ireland’s premier mushroom production businesses. We met up with founder / proprietor Tom Sweeney to take a look at the history and ongoing success of this thriving family business.
Fifteen years ago, Tom Sweeney took his first tentative steps into the world of mushroom production. He has never looked back. During the intervening years, Stablefield Ltd. has grown into one of Ireland’s most important mushroom growing businesses, producing up to 80,000lbs per week and providing full-time employment to up to 50 people.
Tom had inherited a small farm from his uncle and initially developed one of the fields (known as The Stable Field, hence the company name) into five standard tunnels on a greenfield site at Killeatin, Clogheen, County Tipperary. “We started our first production on January 17th, 2000 and developed it from there,” he reflects.
What was it that tempted him to get involved in mushrooms? “I had been working in pigs for years and one day I saw an ad in The Nationalist where they were looking for mushroom growers in the area in a joint venture between Tipperary Co-Op and Monaghan Mushrooms. It caught my attention and I decided to go for it.
“I knew it was a viable proposition. I got some training in the agricultural colleges and started off with a modest operation – five small growing areas with bags of compost on the floor and everything done by hand.
“However, I realised very quickly that it wouldn’t be viable to remain at that level so I upscaled in the form of putting in staging and tunnels and starting to grow more types of mushrooms.
“In 2005/06, I increased the number of tunnels from five to eight and raised the existing ones to accommodate more compost. In 2008, I added another tunnel, having moved to Phase 3 compost at this stage and everything was now done by machine. In 2010, I added three more tunnels to bring the total up to twelve. Today, we have twelve tunnels on six-week cycles, which is effectively two tunnels per week.”
During the last decade-and-a-half, Tom has consistently invested in the business to increase efficiencies and to ensure that they produce top quality product consistently. “We’ve made large investments so we’ve had to cut our cloth accordingly and improve our efficiencies,” he notes. “For example, we installed a steam woodchip boiler in 2010, which has halved our heating bill and we expect to get a payback from that over four or five years.
“We’re trying to consolidate now and improve our efficiencies any way we can. We’ve also installed top-of-the-range air conditioning units, which will help us to comfortably grow better-quality mushrooms.”
Stablefield Ltd. exclusively produces white, closed-cup mushrooms, which are grown in a range of different sizes for different markets. Each day’s picking is determined by what the order is for that particular day.
All of the company’s mushrooms are marketed through Commercial Mushroom Producers in Monaghan – one of Europe’s leading horticultural producer organisations, representing 90% of Irish mushroom production and growers. With the help of Monaghan Mushrooms, CMP sources the markets and provides transportation.
“The mushrooms are picked here and placed into punnets and they then go to Monaghan for grading, wrapping and bar-coding and they will be in England within 24 hours,” says Tom. “Most of what we grow is destined for the export market.”
In relation to the volume produced, Tom continues: “We strive to produce 80,000lbs per week but we have to cut back production during the summer months as demand is generally lower during the summer period. To make up for the shortfall, we’d like to source other markets so that we can continue to produce and sell the same volume of mushrooms all year around.”
Tom Sweeney, who also runs a beef farm and works as a funeral director, is joined in the family business by his wife Eleanor, son Sean and sister Katie. His other son, Tommy, who is in college at the moment, also has a keen interest in the business.
“The plan going forward is to consolidate the business we have and to introduce as many efficiencies as we can before expansion is considered. We are constantly upgrading our farm as there are better techniques and equipment being developed all the time, which we embrace. That’s why we recently introduced the top-of-the-range air conditioning and cooling system. The woodchip steam boiler produces all our heat and steam, which sterilises all the houses up to 65 degrees. We have replaced oil completely and, from a carbon footprint point of view, this is a big plus.
“We’re also looking at the viability of using wind energy or some alternative system to produce our electricity to bring even further efficiencies to the business. CMP employs a team of advisors to help us in every area of managing the business and we have access to that expertise as and when we need it. We have been with them since they started and Commercial Mushroom Producers is hugely important to the development of most Irish mushroom farms.”
Looking to the future for the industry as a whole, Tom is optimistic. “I think the future is bright for the mushroom industry,” he states. “Food will always be needed and if you produce top-quality produce there will always be demand for it.
“Having said that, mushroom growing numbers have decreased rapidly since we started. There were around 600 growers in Ireland when I started and that number is now down to 60 or 70 producing the same amount or more.
“We have stayed in there and have become more efficient but we’ve had to produce increased volumes and higher quality to stay in business. You strive to become as efficient as you possibly can because there is a downward pressure on prices all the time.
“But there is only so much you can do and it is a tough battle against the multiples, who are squeezing the life out of farmers. But we’ll keep going and hope for some price increases soon.”
Tom Sweeney is also a board member of CMP and does all in his power to promote not just his own business but the Irish mushroom-growing industry as a whole.
Stablefield Mushrooms
Killeatin,
Clogheen
Co. Tipperary
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 2 No 4, September 2014
Mushrooms, Stablefield, Tipperary
