From oil to grain

In what might be described as a second life career, Seamus now operates a tillage enterprise near Ballyhale in Co. Kilkenny, having spent most of his working life in the fossil-fuel industry. Seamus’s ‘retirement’ a few years ago to manage the home farm saw him receive a Tirlán accolade for his crop of green feed wheat. He is certainly winning at retirement.
Seamus takes up the farming story: “I took over running my Dad’s farm six years ago. He was farming since 1968 and I’ve been part of that nearly all the way, so I’m well used to farming the land. I was employed in the oil business previously and now I’m farming and enjoying it even though I’m retired, per se, but at the end of the day we have some very good people to help us, including our agronomist and contractor.”

Two diverse fuels

The grain-growing business is a different world to the fuel one, but Seamus enjoys the slower pace of life that comes with the former, he says. “The two worlds are not comparable. I was working in the petrochemical business which is a form of fuel that must be pumped from the ground. In contrast, you grow grain from a seed. I enjoyed working in the oil business for 40 years, and I’m now also enjoying working at a slower pace on the farm business. It’s something that suits me. I’m not as interested in livestock but I do like grain; I just like to see it growing and getting the quality right. I can do it in a relaxed manner without too much input because we have a lot of very professional people who do the work on the farm. This award is a testament to their hard work.”

Addressing the profit problem

Seamus took the opportunity to highlight some of the challenges facing farmers like himself. Competing on unfair terms is one such issue. “The world markets are not helping us in the grain business. It’s been a difficult few years. It is important for the powers that be at Government and EU level to look at helping the grain farmers compete with the cheap imports from outside of the EU. These countries are producing grain that is not meeting the specifications that we must meet so we’re competing on unfair terms and if that can be addressed at some stage it would definitely help cereal farming in Ireland.”
Price volatility is another issue that Seamus knows all about: “Grain is a commodity just like oil. I’ve seen oil go from 40 dollars a barrel and top out at one 147 dollars a barrel, and that happened in about six weeks. If I had enough money to buy a few million barrels of oil (at that time) I need never have worked again. Grain is a commodity as well, and the world market determines the price. There’s not much can be done but at the same time from the point of view of keeping Irish grain in Ireland and keeping Irish farmers producing grain it will be important to get some help along the way until prices improve.”