Below Cost Selling

by Kenneth Keavey

How many more horticultural enterprises organic or otherwise need to go to the wall before we realise it is too late?

A very significant report has been commissioned by the IFA and published this week: the Jim Power Economics’ report states ‘Retail Price Compression Threatens the Viability of Irish Horticulture’. In other words loss leading and below cost selling of fresh produce is putting Irish farmers out of business. 

The report’s findings are far from surprising and many primary producers up and down the country will tell you, the power that large retailers hold is enormous. They have hollowed out the horticulture industry here in Ireland and it is in real danger of closing it’s doors for good unless there is meaningful change. 

It states that farmers are the weakest link in the supply chain, they have the least say in what they get for the food they grow.

Imagine the food we eat, put into our bodies, the very stuff that makes us tick and to a large extent will dictate how long we will live, our fresh food as far as supermarkets are concerned should cost as close to zero as possible.  Are we all complicit in this race to the bottom though?

It is why in part that we ditched supply to the supermarkets all those years ago, in the famous words of Frank Sinatra we decided “to do it our own way”.  It isn’t all roses either here as we are constantly competing with the very idea that food should be cheap, and we cannot compete with the supermarkets. 

But it really is only through your support, by reading this, by supporting our business and farm week in week out that we are still here and have expanded our farm and continue to grow healthy happy food, whilst nurturing the land for 16 years.

The report goes on to say:

“A cheap food policy is not a sensible food policy”

It singles out the discounters as the main driver that have severely undercut the price given to Irish farmers, and as a result all other major retailer have had to follow suit to stay competitive. The end result is less for the farmer. This year the second biggest Brussel sprout farmer in Ireland closed his doors for good as the price he was getting for his food meant his business was unsustainable.

I really wonder how many of those farmers that adorn the walls of the supermarket aisles have forced smiles on their faces for fear of losing their contracts? 

As real costs increase and as the price the farmer gets paid for the produce decreases how does that equation end up? Yesterday we paid over €2000 for agri diesel for our tractors, last year it was less than half that.  It clearly is not sustainable.

Where will all this end, I wonder? Well maybe, just maybe, it will end with change, and with more and more people making the choice to support local food where possible, even if it costs more (and yes in these times that is a big ask). 

But the benefits are immense: Local food means better food, healthier food, local jobs, local enterprise in rural areas, higher nutritional content, better flavour.  If it is organic too then the health benefits and the benefits to the planet are surely worth something too?

Kenneth

Unsustainable Supermarkets

by Liz Child

The word ‘sustainable’ doesn’t just refer to environmental issues, it can refer to anything and means ‘something that is able to be maintained at a certain level’, like matters of economy and food security. So when we say ‘supermarkets are unsustainable’ we are not just talking about their over-use of plastic or their mountains of food waste, we are also talking about the way they source their products and pay their suppliers.

It has recently come to light here in Ireland, (read this article for the facts and figures) that local vegetable growers are being squeezed from all sides, so much so that many vegetable farmers in Ireland are forced to quit. Supermarkets demand lower and lower prices and present vegetables as ‘low value’ with ridiculous discounted prices (which, understandably, customers then begin to see as the norm which perpetuates the problem), and yet farming costs go up and up. It is unsustainable. Where will this leave us in the long term? Will there be no more Irish vegetables soon?

You know something is not right when it is cheaper to put potatoes, cabbages, onions, tomatoes, lettuce etc, all things that grow very well here, on a ship or an aeroplane and bring it over to Ireland than to just grow it here and pay Irish farmers enough to cover their costs. Now, just 1% of all farms in Ireland grow vegetables.

This is not to say importing is wrong. We love to trade with the world, who doesn’t love exotic fruit, tea, coffee, chocolate, olive oil, wine…? In fact, even here in Galway, our small business imports plenty of products and fresh produce ourselves to fill the gaps in your boxes (by the way, we never use airfreight). But when there is an Irish, organic option, even if it is more expensive, we always choose that. We grow as much as we possibly can ourselves, then source from other Irish organic farms, then import the rest. We would love to see more organic vegetable growers here in Ireland.

So what’s the solution? Do we just give up trying to produce vegetables here in Ireland? Do we rely solely on imports? Well, with food security issues being what they are at the moment, we believe that would be a very unwise decision. Not to mention missing out on the many benefits of buying local. One way to help is to buy Irish as much as possible. If you must go to a supermarket, spend a few extra cents getting the Irish option, otherwise we urge you to skip unsustainable supermarkets altogether and buy directly from farmers, farmers markets and veg box delivery schemes like ours. The future of food here in Ireland depends on it.

Have a look at our all-Irish selection here.

New Beginnings

by Kenneth Keavey

A sense of possibility and new beginnings is naturally in the air in Spring. On the farm, maybe it is the start of the new plant and seed arrivals that kindles this feeling, there is a sense that we can do things better this year, that we will try a little harder to get things right, that all will be well in the end.

Nature is waking up, the birds are singing, the daffodils are blooming, the new leaves are beginning to unfurl on the trees. The extra daylight means that life cycles are changing and growth increasing, it is a natural rhythm, and it resonates on a subconscious level if you let it.

Even our lovely new season salad is responding well to the extra light, and we will be harvesting our first crop of the new season next week.

The sun is higher in the sky and on clear days you can feel the first tendrils of warmth, there is more power too in its rays, the plants respond to it, we respond to it and the solar panels on our shed respond to it!

Frequently now we can see plants growing, hear the birds singing and the insects buzzing well before it is time. This can be symbolic of a world out of sync and it has ramifications for all living systems.

Planning a season of vegetable growing on the farm becomes more of a gamble as the natural order we rely on can change unpredictably and dramatically.

The change in our weather is a complex global problem, and the solutions too will necessitate change on a global level. But maybe the solutions are also simpler that we think, down at the level of you and I there is much that can be done.

Sometimes it seems to me that simple, traditional solutions can be overlooked. Planting trees is one of the simplest ways to help redress the balance, something we have done quite a bit of over the last number of years.

By supporting local food growers like us and the range of other growers we source from, you too are doing your bit to tackle the climate crisis.

The prediction of the weather for the year ahead was often associated with a saying closely tied to trees:

“Ash before oak you are in for a soak, oak before ash you are in for a splash”.

We are watching this closely, as yet there is no news… Nevertheless, if living and farming in the west of Ireland has taught me one thing it is that the weather is unpredictable it changes fast and sometimes when you least expect it, it surprises you.

Kenneth

PS Thanks, to your generosity over the last two weeks in donating to the Ukraine crisis. We will announce the final figure next week, but currently we have raised with your help just over €4500 for the Ukraine appeal. Thank you so much.

Colcannon

by Liz Child

This St Patrick’s Day favourite combines the two best vegetables of all time – potatoes and kale. Don’t let anyone tell you these humble vegetables are nothing less than extraordinary!

Potatoes (especially when you leave the skin on) are a delicious source of fibre, energy giving carbohydrates, antioxidants, potassium (more than a banana!) and magnesium. They also contain vitamin C, calcium, folate and vitamin B6.

Kale is well known for being a superfood. The humble kale, grown right here on our farm in Galway, is one of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet and contains well over 100% of your daily needs for Vitamins A, C and K as well as a whole host of other vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fibre and even an omega 3 fatty acid!

So we say this dish is not just for St Patrick’s Day, make colcannon regularly as a side dish or as a topping for your pies.

Liz x

Ingredients (per person)

  • 1 large or a couple of smaller potatoes, scrubbed and chopped into even chunks
  • 3 kale leaves, rinsed, tough stems removed (save the stems, they are delicious finely chopped and added to stir fries, stews, soups etc)
  • 1 scallion, sliced
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • salt and pepper to taste

Method

  1. Get your potatoes boiling in a large pot of water. Meanwhile tear up your kale leaves into small pieces and place them in a steaming basket or metal colander.
  2. When the potatoes are nearly cooked through, place the steaming basket/colander of kale over the pot and put the lid on. Let the kale steam until wilted and soft – this only takes around 3 minutes so keep an eye on it.
  3. Remove the kale and drain the soft potatoes, then tumble them back into the warm pot. Mash the potatoes with the butter and season with salt and pepper to your taste. Then stir through the wilted kale and chopped scallions.
  4. Serve with an extra dollop of butter as a side dish. It’s also delicious as a shepherd’s pie topping, baked in the oven to crisp up – see pic below.

Hope for the Future

by Kenneth Keavey

What a week it’s been. It seems wrong to feel you are struggling with everyday issues when there are such terrible things going on in the world, and yet life goes on. We still need to get up and do our jobs and get on with all the other things that life brings to our door.

As we push on into 2022 it is hard to know which way to look to understand what kind of a year it will be. A few weeks back there was plenty of reasons to be optimistic, finally we were emerging from a dark period and there was a sense of relief and hope for the future, much of that now seems to have changed.

Our heart here on the farm has gone out to the people of Ukraine, and there have been some emotional discussions, and discussion too about what we can do as a small business to help. We decided there certainly were things we could do, easily and quickly, so we did them. We have changed our donation box to the “Ukraine donation box” it is €30 and we are topping up the value by an extra €10 for each box. We are also donating €1 for each delivery we make this week (and next). All of the money raised will be given to UNICEF Ireland. We have decided to keep the appeal going for another week and we have already raised close to €3000! So, thank you so much to all who have bought a donation box or received a delivery this week.

I have found at times this week as the real pressures of business bear down and the cost of living and the inflationary pressures increase that there is no where to turn to. We seem to be caught in a perfect storm, we are in the food production and delivery business, the cost of everything has gone up so much, it is eye watering as I am sure most of you are feeling these cost of living pressures too.

We have been looking at this issue every which way you can imagine and have been trying to keep things on an even keel. We are doing what we can, if you look in the special section of our website you will see discounts on some of the staple products, it may not be much but it is a start and hopefully a help. Remember too we deliver to your door and if that means you save a trip in car not only are you helping the planet now you will also be saving money.

While all of these things are flying around in my head I find that there is always one thing that gives me an unequivocal feeling of progress, hope and optimism for the future and that is the farm. The season is starting again we have ploughed our first fields, we have sown our first crops, we are planting our first plants the week after St. Patricks week. The earth smells wonderful, the birdsong is amazing and the break in the clouds to give us the most amazing blue skies with a frosty farmscape have been intoxicating.

So, whenever things are getting that little bit too much, remember you have been one of the people that have contributed to nearly €3000 for people who need it much more that we do, and the fresh air, the blue sky and the earth beneath our feet are always there we just need to stop and look.

Here’s to a great St Patrick’s week ahead.

Kenneth

PS There is also a 15% off all of our orders for next week just use the code “STPADDYS” when you order.

From the farm or IRISH this week: Potatoes, leeks, spinach, kale, mushrooms, parsnips, cabbage (3 types), purple sprouting broccoli, celeriac, swede and chard.

Also Remember we are not delivering by courier next week as DPD are not operating on Thursday or Friday.

The Benefits of Buying Local

by Liz Child

With recent world events, it has become startlingly clear how important being self sufficient as a country can be. Don’t get us wrong, we love to trade with the world, we all love oranges, olives, wine, tea, coffee, chocolate etc. Keeping our fridges full with a healthy variety of fresh fruits and vegetables year round means importing from our organic farming connections around the world (by the way, we never use airfreight). Trading with the world is a positive thing, being friendly with our neighbours and part of unions benefits us all – nutritionally and to promote peace and prosperity. But, it’s also important to us to support local and buy local food as much as possible. Food security is a real issue and supporting local farmers and paying them fair prices (we’re looking at you supermarkets!) is always going to be an important topic that we will talk about regularly. So this week, with St Patrick’s Day on the calendar, we are celebrating all things local and Irish.

Good for You

Local food is fresh, more flavoursome and even more nutritious than food that has travelled! When there has been less time between harvest and your home, there are more nutrients. Did you know that as soon as a fruit or vegetable is picked it starts to loose nutrients? So the quicker it gets to your plate, the better. Locally grown food intended for local consumers will be picked when it is ripe too, so you’ll be getting the best flavour as well as avoiding waxes and preservatives found on food that has travelled a long way.

Good for the Planet

Buying locally produced food, of course means less food miles. ‘Food miles’ is the term for the distance food is transported from the time of its making until it reaches the consumer. Choosing local food requires less transport, therefore less fuel/energy is used to get the food to your plate – so local food has a smaller carbon footprint because it produces less transport related emissions. Less transport usually means less need for packaging too. We use as little packaging as possible to get our food to you, and where we do use packaging we choose paper or compostable bags over plastic.

Good for your Community

Supporting local food producers means more work and more money in your community. Spending money with Irish business will mean more Irish jobs, more Irish tax and therefore better services for everyone. Shopping locally strengthens the local economy too. Local businesses are more likely to recirculate the money locally – not just on wages and taxes, but also on local suppliers and services. This leads to a stronger financial foundation for our neighbours and communities and a more recession-resilient local economy.

Will you support the local economy and help Ireland build better food security by buying a box of organic fruit, vegetables and groceries from us today? We deliver nationwide. Have a look at all we can deliver to your door here.

Clean Dirt

by Kenneth Keavey

What is hiding in our food? 

Simone’s oranges picked in Italy contain nothing but a good helping of Italian sunshine and healthy nutrients from his soil. Our parsnips contain nothing but a good helping of Irish rain and the healthy nutrients from our soil. What then about their conventional cousins? Hmm well as it turns out, the story there is very different.

Dirt, clay soil the stuff that gets stuck under your fingernail is good for us. It is actually pretty healthy to get it on your hands, in fact research has shown that getting your hands stuck in clay may actually ease depression. (Mycobacterium vaccae the bacterium is found in soil and may stimulate serotonin production is currently under study)

Some of our produce comes with dirt on it and we are pretty proud of that, we know it takes a little more effort in the kitchen and time can be in short supply, we know when you have a busy household the last thing you want to do is to wash dirty carrots or parsnips. We get that, I know the feeling and sometimes I reach for that bag of washed carrots and am just thankful they are washed!

But here’s the thing we are not hiding anything, you can see the dirt and it has a very important function. It is a natural preservative, it keeps the veg fresh, it keeps the flavour in. You can smell the freshness when you wash one of our dirty parsnips. Crucially leaving dirt on your veg actually helps reduce food waste!

The great thing of course about soil is it can be washed off.

This unfortunately is not the case with chemicals. Many are systemic in nature, (simply put they get inside the plant or food and stay there). 

Some chemicals are applied to the skins of fruits and vegetables to preserve them. The most commonly known ones are the fungicides mixed into the waxes and applied to citrus fruit. 

We stumbled upon some pretty eye-watering facts during the week. It turns out that one of the big supermarkets are now kindly putting the names of the chemicals mixed in with the waxes on their loose citrus fruit on their website. Have a look see for yourself. (Check out the description on loose lemons on this retailer’s website. I’ll give you a hint the name of the multinational supermarket begins with T.)

This is what is found on your conventional (Non organic) LEMONS:

Here is the list we found (Depending on country of origin, the treatment varies)

Spain: Imazalil/Thiabendazole/Pyrimethanil & Wax E914, E904 

Morocco:  Propiconazole/Pyrimethanil/Imazalil & Wax E914, E904 

Egypt: Imazalil/Thiabendazole & Wax E904, E914 

RSA: 2,4 D/Imazalil/Thiabendazole & Wax E914, E904 

And if you were wondering what these wonderful preserving chemicals may do to us unsuspecting humans here are some fun facts:

Imazalil is a suspected carcinogen and a probable endocrine disrupter (compounds that mimic or inhibit the body’s hormones, generally not good for us)

Thiabendazole is a probable endocrine disrupter 

2,4-D falls into a class of compounds called endocrine-disrupting chemicals. 

Here is another fun fact, the amount allowed in a piece of fruit is set by something called the MRL (Maximum residue limit) and this is generally set by what works to kill a pest and not what is safe for human consumption. (Recently The EU proposed reducing the MRL for Imazalil to 0.01mg/kg  for citrus from 4mg/kg, but this was overturned by growers, so what is the safe limit?)

So, unlike the dirt on our parsnips which is harmless, and could be argued is actually improving our health, extending shelf life, locking in flavour and can be seen, these hidden compounds reside on much of the conventional fruit that is purchased in supermarkets and is bad for our health. It is refreshing to see at last that there is some transparency creeping into our food supply chain. 

Kenneth

https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/citrus.php

Learning From the Past

by Kenneth Keavey

So much has changed in one generation. A couple of years ago a customer sent me a paper clipping from 1939 featuring an article on seasonal vegetables. Imagine back then, there was diet and health advice: “Fresh green or root vegetables….should be the staple part of every family dinner”.

But the food back then was different to our food today in so many ways. It was fresher, it was local, it was plastic free and it was free from chemicals. Can you imagine if our food today was produced without artificial fertilisers, without toxic chemicals, not wrapped in plastic and was produced locally.

Our ancestors did not contribute to the mass of plastic pollution choking our planet. Plastic didn’t exist. My grandad would have grown his own veggies, and if he didn’t grow it, he would have bought them in the local market or in a green grocer. Supermarkets didn’t exist back then. There was no such thing as Roundup the food was clean. Fresh produce was highly valued, it was not discounted, loss leading was not a thing and as we have seen today this is sending Irish farmers out of business.

Today we live in a world of everything and anything all the time. It is amazing to have such choice, but there is a cost, a cost hidden behind the plastic: the chemicals, the exploitation of workers, the clearing of rainforests, the destruction of habitats, the pollution of our oceans. The list goes on.

THE SUPERMARKET MODEL OF FOOD PRODUCTION IS THE ROOT CAUSE OF ALL THESE PROBLEMS, A MODEL WE ALL RELY ON AND YET ONE THAT NEEDS TO CHANGE. HOW CAN A BAG OF CARROTS COST 49C? COST LESS THAN THE ADDITIONAL OF AN EXTRA ESPRESSO TO OUR COFFEES?

Life seemed much simpler in my grandad’s day, life was certainly tougher, food was scarce at times, but the food was clean, healthy and did not leave a trail of pollution behind. We don’t need to return to a land of scarcity, but maybe a mindset change to see value in fresh food again would be a good thing, it is after all the building block that we put into our bodies every single day.

Being out in the rain and wind, harvesting leeks and pulling parsnips, is no fun, and it takes a certain caliber of person to persist with this work well into the winter. But this is seasonal food, this is the reality of local food production. The smell of freshly harvested parsnips, is quite frankly amazing, covered in muck they feel alive and real and you get the feeling that just by holding them in your hand you are doing something positive for the planet!

Producing good clean food, while respecting the ground beneath our feet that gives us so much deserves to be valued. Because if we don’t value and respect the earth then there will not be much left for the next generation to enjoy.

I THINK FOOD PRODUCTION HAS SUCH POTENTIAL TO CHANGE OUR LIVES, TO CHANGE THE WAY WE EAT, TO CHANGE HOW WE WORK, TO CHANGE OUR WORLD.

Here’s to learning from the past!

Kenneth

When It’s Gone It’s Gone

by Kenneth Keavey

If Joe, or Ella or Hannah take on the vegetable growing gene, that will make us 5th generation vegetable growers here in the West of Ireland. We are lucky, our model of growing and distributing food protects us, to an extent at least.

“When it’s gone it’s gone” the words of Cathal Lenehan the second biggest brussel sprout grower in the country as he calls a halt to his farming career for good this week. As prices in supermarkets continue to erode any chance of vegetable farmers in this country surviving, Cathal has put a call out, a plea for them to recognise that farmers just can’t survive on what they are receiving from supermarket buyers.

In 2006 the last of the sugar beet farms closed in Ireland. A whole industry disappeared overnight, the skills, the experience, the infrastructure disappeared, lost forever. As we face down the inevitable pressure of producing more food for more people from the same land area, it seems extremely short sighted that there are not adequate supports put in place now to ensure farmers such as Cathal are protected.

Cheap imports undercut the market. Supermarkets devalue our fresh food, they use them as loss leaders. It is all about the bottom line. Supermarkets are in the food supply industry, they have a responsibility to mind their suppliers, pushing them to the edge in the short term, in the long term will not yield stability, resilience or loyalty. Ultimately this will lead as with the sugar beet industry to devastation for the fresh vegetable industry in this country, farms that have been growing vegetables for generations will suddenly disappear.

How sad would that be? Losing the art of being able to produce our own food, the art and skill of taking care of the land, of being able to produce viable healthy food on a commercial scale. That is not something you can just make happen overnight, it is learned over time and passed down from generation to generation.

I have never had any time for the supermarket model of procurement (buying). In 2016 we said good-bye to supermarket supplying for good. We were told one Monday out of the blue we needed to decrease our prices, and collect any unsold produce from the supermarket and reimburse the supermarket for it. We were told there would be no order that week until we complied, they were our single biggest customer, they had all the power. Well so they thought.

We were one of the lucky ones we had our home delivery business to fall back on, and although it was a major financial hit and in the short-term things were very shaky it was the best decision we ever made.

The good news is you made that decision possible. Your support means more than you know. It means we can breathe a little, it means we can plant trees, it means we can rest the ground and allow it to recover between crops, it means we can support biodiversity on our farm. It means we can give the attention to producing healthy happy food for you.

Thank you.

Kenneth

Do Small Changes Make a Difference?

by Kenneth Keavey

When I was younger, I believed that by convincing my parents to recycle glass bottles and joining Green Peace that we would make a difference, I was utterly convinced, I never doubted it for a second, I knew the planet was precious and that our changes made a difference.

All young children have a connection with nature and they believe they can do anything, what happens as we grow up? Why do we lose that sense of value for the natural world that we had as children? 

When we started the farm, I believed growing sustainable food would change the planet, and that all we needed was a tractor, some seeds and we would have a successful farm. 

At times on this journey, there has been disillusionment, pressure and stress, the fighting to do the right thing when it seemed it was all going against us. But ultimately, we stayed the course and stuck to our principles. 

I am not sure how long it normally takes, but it took (and continues to take) a long time to realise that no one change in isolation changes anything. Real change and success is built on lots and lots of little things done consistently over time.

This is as true for building a new habit as it is for fixing the planet.

So maybe one by one and little by little all our changes taken together can effect real change. Maybe your choice to plant a tree, to avoid weed killer, or to tell your kids about biodiversity and educate them in the beauty and preciousness of nature contribute to real positive change.

By buying from us you are effecting real change, you are choosing a different way to eat and are supporting serious changes behind the scenes. You are supporting your health, and the planet, sustainable food production and a new system of growing and selling food.

Your choice to support us means you are one of a community that are choosing a new and better way to eat, you are supporting farming and food for a better planet.

Does it matter? Does it matter that you support a zero-waste circular economy, a sustainable means of growing food and a better food future, does that matter?

Well in my book that does matter it matters a lot.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
― Margaret Mead 

Thank you for your support.

Kenneth

PS We deliver nationwide, explore our range here.