“We are more and more conscious of our responsibilities - Trying to farm in harmony with nature.”
Our Farm
In 1972, Pat and Noreen Hegarty, James’s parents started the farm and the entire family are still involved. James and his brothers, Patrick and William, share the duties across the 1500 acres.
While James and his wife Marie have plenty of assistance form their three children, James, Lucy and Hannah “It’s a fantastic place for kids to grow up,” James said.
The Hegartys grow a full range of crops in both winter and spring. Winter barley, winter wheat, winter oats, winter oil seed rape, spring barley, spring beans spring forage, spring maize, and they also grow contract grain for local livestock farmers.
The family run a beef enterprise alongside the tillage farm – fattening cattle. Buying in calves and weanlings and finishing them as beef steers and some heifers too.
The cattle are fed on all his own cereals, with very few external inputs, all home produced.
The entire Hegarty family working together on the farm is a source of pride to James, “Having input from all family members is a real strength in our business.”
Your Food
James and his family are proud to helps sustain agriculture locally with their grain being used by farmers nearby
The family are members of Bord Bia, the tillage is IGAS (Irish Grain Assurance Scheme) accredited. TASCC assured for the feed business and Department of Agriculture registered.
The Hegarty family are proud of how they produce such quality crops. “A whole year’s work goes into it and selling that to local farmers and being able to stand over our own quality is what I’m proud of,” James said.
All ofthe grain is kept and processed and sold to local farmers. The family set up this business themselves under the name ‘Hegarty Agri.’
“We set up HegartyArgi,” James said, “we have our own truck where we deliver all the grain, it is alkaline treated grain, delivered to local farmers, mainly in Cork and some parts of Munster.”
Shared Future
As James and his family look to the future for his family, their farm and the environment he has high hopes the next generation will have a diverse range of sustainable opportunities on the land.
“We are more and more conscious of our responsibilities - Trying to farm in harmony with nature.”
“I have three kids a boy and two girls and my brothers have kids too, I would expect in years to come that the partnership will hopefully continue with first cousins working in the business.
James hopes to further develop the animal feed side of the business, as the feedback from farmers has been so positive, particularly as the Hegartys use native grains
Growing more beans has made a positive environmental impact reducing the need for imported protein into the food chain.
Having a partnership approach with local famers has led to the famers coming to James to grow forage crops.
The key to the success of the farm and the quality of crops comes down to the soil and its health.
“We need healthy soils, if we don’t have healthy soils we don’t have good crops – soil health is most vital.
“Producing quality native soils is the thing that does it for us.”
The farm forms one of the foundations of the ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy with local stock consuming locally sourced grain. That reassurance from loyal customers is a source of satisfaction for James.
“It’s very rewarding to have guys coming back to you saying – ‘God, my cattle done very well on your grain.’“
“Rotation of crops really encourages biodiversity, if you wander round you can see all the insects throughout the crop”