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Well, that might not work in Ireland ... :-/

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CelticRambler
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Well, that might not work in Ireland ... :-/

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Post by CelticRambler »

:shock: Has it been that long? Sorry, Ncdjd2 - meant to follow up on this ages ago, but got distracted.
Ncdjd2 wrote: Sun Aug 08, 2021 2:55 pm Is the veg box thing their only source of income though ? From what I can see France is way ahead of us here with regards to markets and how people value fresh produce.. I could be way off in that CR that's the impression I get from watching programs about France. The way I wanted to operate was to grow a crop, harvest it, get paid for it and prepare for the next crop. Like when my father, myself and brother used to do it when I was actively involved in farming.. but these avenues are gone now.. it's all contracts and big farm named distribution companies who are as bad as Larry when it comes to how much money is offered for the crop.
First of all, don't believe everything you see on the telly. :D An awful lot of those markets are nothing more than self-employed traders selling the cheap imported veg they bought at the wholesalers that morning for twice the price you'd pay for the same consignment that was delivered to a local supermarket. And if you go to any of those supermarkets, you'll see plenty of "Walmart" types firing punnet after punnet of pre-packed industrially-grown veg into their trolley without so much as a casual glance at the label. :evil:

That said, there is a general appreciation for food - moreso how it's been cooked than the food itself - that you don't always get in Ireland, but it's swings and roundabouts. I think Irish black pudding, for example, is far superior to anything you'll get in France, and Irish beef is waaaaaaaaay ahead of what the French will serve (coz the feckers only hang it for 7-10 days :roll: ) On the whole, due to a deeply ingrained fear of being accused of "la concurrence déloyale" - unfair competition - there's a certain tradition of mediocrity across most of France.

But where the French have a sizeable advantage is that that mediocrity leaves plenty of room for quality producers to make a significant impression. Or rather for people farming in France, and it's quite often non-French farmers that raise the bar.

The other advantage farmers-in-France have is the price of land. To answer your question, yes, a veg-box scheme can serve as someone's sole source of income, and give them a reasonably good income at that, because their overheads will be considerably less than anyone doing the same thing in Ireland. Only yesterday, I had a look at the price of land (have my eye on a bit of the neighbour's field) and was surprised to see that our area is "quite expensive" ... at 3500€/ha. Half an hour down the road, I could get a field for 2000€/ha, and an hour and a half down the motorway and up in the mountains, it'd be around 1700€/ha. Most of the "new" market gardeners I know are in that half-hour-away sweet spot.

Then I looked at the price of an acre of bog in the Wesht. W-T-F ! :shock:

These "market gardeners, though, wouldn't be doing what you and your father and brother did. Single-crop farming is a job for the big industrial contractors here too. My acquaintances would be growing more or less the same range of fruit and veg as I am, but on a larger scale, and selling it direct to consumers via a box scheme, or have a stall at local markets, or sell it directly to local (independent) supermarkets. They may or may not have an additional line in eggs or honey or jam or the like. But chances are they won't have a YouTube channel - too busy enjoying their time off and dancing with me at the weekend to be shooting, editing and uploading videos! :lol:
765489

Re: Well, that might not work in Ireland ... :-/

#2

Post by 765489 »

3500 euros a hectare ??? fookin hell... you wouldn't get a 20m x 20m plot for that where I live... but again the city is encroaching so a lot of even the so called "greenbelt" land will command big prices per acre / hectare. I could tell you what a 20 acre field a mile down the road made from me but it would probably make you shout WTF outload at the computer screen :D
CelticRambler
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Re: Well, that might not work in Ireland ... :-/

#3

Post by CelticRambler »

Those prices are for my neck of the wood. Not the cheapest, and there's plenty that's twice or three times the price if you go looking for it. Some of the most expensive is down in the sunny south-east. About 20k/ha ... and (literally) burnt to a cinder this week. Not sure there's even enough charcoal left of the trees to recover some of the cost.

But yeah, the prices in Ireland are just mad. Even madder than they were when I thought ye'd all gone mad twenty years ago and opted out of returning to the Aul' Sod.

I've always thought it bizarre, too, that town/city planners make a deliberate effort to approve building on the best quality arable land. I know that in times past, it made sense to build your hamlet in the centre of a decent bit of farmland, but only if you're going to keep cattle and sheep and chickens, and going to grow the food that you'll eat for the year. There's just no sense at all in using great pasture to build yet another MegaTesco and a P&R for the Luas, for people who wouldn't recognise a freshly picked beetroot if it hit them on the head. :roll:
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