‘Farmers from abroad love visiting working farms here’

Farmers from all over the globe are flocking to Ireland to gain first-hand insight into what farming here is all about. One Louth company is paying farmers to open their farms to the world, and promoting family-run rural businesses

farmers there that the idea for the business formed, in 2012,” says Siobhán.

“Given Ireland’s reputation as a green land and its connections with agriculture abroad, the farmers Gerry and Aonghus were meeting were always asking about coming to Ireland to look at farms.

“In those early years we had two or three groups per year but it has really grown — last year we welcomed 35 groups into Ireland.”

Visits are individually tailored to suit the customer’s requirements, and range from a day trip to schedules of a week or more.

Authentic

Farm Tours Ireland offers the chance to get an authentic experience of farming in Ireland. Key to the experience is the one-toone contact with real farmers, who share their history and expertise with visitors.

“For people outside of agriculture, it can sound like a bizarre business to be in,” says Siobhán.

“But farmers very much enjoy going to other countries, getting into the culture and seeing farming being practised at a grassroots level and getting access to working family farms.

“It has to be a genuine farm experience: they want to be able to chat to the farmers, see what challenges they have and how that compares to their own experience.”

Farm Tours Ireland has built relationships with farmers all over the country and compensates them financially when they bring international guests to their farm.

According to Siobhán, it’s not just the money that attracts the host farmers.

“The farmers are the key; they are the lifeblood of the business. We reimburse the host farmers for their time on the tours themselves and also the time they spend preparing, sweeping the yard, before the tours come in. Each host farmer gets a payment depending on the group size, so it varies from farmer to farmer.

“The payment is a nice sweetener, but most of the farmers say that they really enjoy hosting the groups. It’s nice for them to have international visitors coming to see their farm, it can be a nice confidence booster for them to showcase what they are doing. They get a lift from it.”

The company also works to promote some of Ireland’s less visited locations and supports smaller, family-run businesses whenever possible.

“We pride ourselves that this is not the typical tourist trip, hitting the usual spots. We are more off the beaten track, into the rural areas which would not normally see this