Based close to the village of Two-Mile Borris, Coolcroo Farm is renowned for the quality of its potatoes, which are naturally grown using traditional farmyard manure. The celebrated nature of the crop should come as no surprise given the Healy family’s All-Ireland winning pedigree! We visited the well-appointed family farm in County Tipperary and met up with Michael Healy to find out more.
From their home in the heartland of Tipp, close to the Kilkenny border, the Healy family are renowned for three things – hurling, athletics and potatoes. The long-running family farm is located in the townland of Coolcroo, a couple of miles from Two-Mile Borris.
Michael Healy, who oversees the successful enterprise, reflects: “My great grandfather, Tom Healy from Coolcroo, played in the very first All-Ireland hurling final in Birr in 1887 and scored the only goal and point of the game as Tipperary [represented by Thurles] defeated Galway by 1-1 to 0-0. That medal is in my brothers house.
“My grandfather, Tom, and father – also Tom – farmed before me . The farming enterprise today comprises some 900 acres, including 240 acres of owned land, all within a five-mile radius of Coolcroo. The Healys were renowned in the sugar industry for years but had to reinvent themselves when the Sugar Factory in Thurles closed, which was a massive blow to the local economy and for beet growers in particular.
Michael started the potato enterprise in 1990. “We had been doing sugar beet and silage contracting before that but a change was needed,” he notes. “I went in with my eyes open and knew it wasn’t going to be easy. There’s a lot of hard work and graft involved in potatoes. You have to have an interest in it and you have to like it, because you’re always at it. If you hadn’t got the passion for it, you’d be lost.
“I started in a small way, growing on ten acres for Wilson’s Country in Northern Ireland. I then started selling on my own and grew it from there. Today, we grow about 140 acres of potatoes, as well as 650-700 acres of grains (mostly winter and spring barley; some oats; a small bit of wheat) and some hay and silage.”
Producing in excess of 2,500 tonnes per year, Coolcroo Farm sells the majority of its potatoes predominantly through wholesalers into Ennis, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Nenagh, Mallow, Thurles etc. and local markets. They have their own pack house and washer, with potatoes typically packed in 10kg, 5kg and 2.0kg bags. Any waste is sold off for use as cattle feed, while the Healys also keep some cattle.
“Potato consumption is still there and this has actually been a good summer for selling potatoes as it hasn’t been too warm,” says Michael, who is joined in the running of the business by his son, Michael Jnr., as well as two other full-time employees plus three casuals. “Tipperary is a fairly small potato-growing area and a few growers have been squeezed out. You need a good solid market or you have no chance.”
One of the unique selling points of Coolcroo Farm potatoes is their high dry matter content. “I grow in farmyard manure,” Michael explains. “I put down 25 tonnes to the acre and sow in older tillage land, where we used to grow sugar beet, which results in a higher dry matter potato.
“We use a local agronomist who walks our potato crops on a weekly basis. He provides us with a spray programme tailored to our requirements ensuring we are producing the best-quality crops possible.”
Michael grows approximately 20 acres of Kerr Pinks; 15 acres of Queens; 15 acres of Records, 15 Golden Wonder; and around 75 acres of Roosters.
Anyone who ventures into the potato-growing business looking for a quick kill or an easy life is in the wrong line of work… “Prices are variable so you have to be patient and stick with it long-term and average things out over a number of years. Just because you have a good year this year, that doesn’t guarantee anything. You have to be ready for a drop. Likewise, you keep going and weather the storm when sales and prices are poor.
“It’s also labour-intensive – six days a week. Even though we have a modern packing set-up, it’s still time-consuming and demanding. It takes a lot of work to keep everything moving and to fill orders.”
Michael stays true to the mantra that you are only as good as the last potato you sold. “You have to store them properly and keep the quality high at all times, from when the potato is sowed until it goes to market. We box them in the fields with specially adapted trailers and we try if at all possible to dry them outside to keep the quality high before storing them.
“Using farmyard manure and the old tillage land also helps with the quality. There’s a lot of work goes into it but it’s worth it to keep the quality high and to produce nice, high dry-matter potatoes.”
Fleet-wise, Michael operates five tractors – three Case and two New Hollands – as well as a New Holland CX8070 combine and a Grimme GT170 harvester.
Looking to the future, the goal is to continue to produce the high-quality potatoes for which Coolcroo Farm has become renowned. “We always clear all of our potatoes and we have done it again this year, even though prices have been low,” he concludes. “There is always pressure on the primary producer and being so far away from the Dublin market is a disadvantage, but we have built up a nice market in the surrounding counties and have managed to keep the quality factor very high.
“It’s hard work, but potatoes have been good to me and I won’t say otherwise.”
Coolcroo Farm,
Coolcroo
Two-Mile-Borris
Co. Tipperary
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 3 No 10, November 2015
