The Maertens family (AKA the Martin’s) of Clane, Co Kildare aim is to exceed expectations whenever possible. One of the county’s leading potato producers, quality and service are their trademarks. Irish Tractor & Agri magazine caught up with Bart Maertens to find out more.
30 years have passed since the Maertens family upped sticks from their native Belgium and put down roots in Clane.
Over the past three decades they have successfully integrated into the local community and their neighbours know where to go if they want to get their hands on tasty and nutritious potatoes for the dinner table.
Bart Maertens was four years of age when his late father Noel and mother Noella purchased a farm in Clane.
Noel sadly passed away on February 14 last but he left behind a lasting legacy which Bart is continuing to nurture. “His loss is a significant one to our family as a friend, father figure and a business partner,” says Bart. “He was a great role model who had a great work ethic with particular attention to detail.” Known affectionately as ‘The Belgians’, their farm enterprise specialises in potatoes and tillage crops.
“My father first came to Ireland in the sixties and worked on his uncle’s farm in Ashbourne, Co Meath,” explained Bart. “It was always his dream to return and, along with my mother, he came back on August 21st, 1986.
“I was four and my sister Ann was seven at the time. He started off with sucklers and sheep but as time went by he dropped them in favour of tillage.”
Over the years the Maertens family has invested heavily in state-of-the-art equipment for washing, grading and packaging potatoes. With extensive experience, they are committed to quality and their customer base includes wholesalers and local shops.
In addition, Bart’s mother, Noella operates a farm shop from the family home where they sell their produce direct to the general public.
Every member of the family plays a vital role and Bart’s wife Maura, who hails from a dairy background, is also very much hands-on when it comes to the family business.
The quality of the Maerten’s potatoes is second to none and they maintain the highest standards in everything they do, so that the end user benefits from a consistent and top-quality end product.
“Potato wise business has been pretty good this year,” revealed Bart who joined the family farm full-time after leaving Warrenstown College in 2000.
“Yields are average and sales are firm enough.
“We’ve a great name built up over years and have developed a strong clientele from wholesalers to local shops to the general public.”
The potato is still Ireland’s number one carbohydrate but consumption has fallen dramatically in recent times with rice, noodles and pasta gaining a larger percentage of the market share.
The experts attributes this fall in consumption to consumers cutting out carbohydrates and potatoes being perceived as fattening, especially by females.
It also said that consumers have switched to other more ‘modern carbs’ and that the image of potatoes is viewed as traditional, less convenient and unexciting.
It overlooks the fact that potatoes are naturally fat-free and a valuable source of fibre and potassium.
“The drop in consumption has had an effect on us and we’ve had to cut back in acres,” Bart acknowledged. “As things stand I don’t see potatoes gaining many new customers because there are so many alternatives.
“There’s a popular misconception out there that potatoes are fattening, particularly amongst the younger generation. That comes down to a lack of knowledge and I think schools have a role to play by educating the younger generation to help reverse the trend.
“The big challenge for the potato industry is: how do we stop the decline?”
On the tillage end of the business, it will, unfortunately, go down as another year of low prices and falling incomes.
“Yields were back a lot and grain prices are very poor. A lot of it is out of our control, we did all we could but were badly hampered by the weather.
“That doesn’t mean we’re going to chop and change what we do. It has been a bad year but we’ve had good ones too.
“We’re in it for the long haul so we have to focus on fine tuning our costs to get the best return. I wouldn’t be pessimistic by nature so hopefully things will turn around in the not too distant future.”
Bart Maertens
Loughanure
Clane
Co. Kildare
Mob: 087 6780990
Email: [email protected]
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 4 No 7, September 2016
