Farmers look to get more from their land
WEST Kerry famers who are interested in earning more from their land travelled to Ballymaloe House where they met with celebrity chef Darina Allen and her husband Tim to learn about how the Allen family turned their farm in Cork into a highly successful business employing 50 people.
The West Kerry famers are all members of the SKIN (Short Food Knowledge and Innovation Network) project, which encourages famers to work together to develop the potential of their land.
The SKIN project is operating in 13 countries across Europe and in
Ireland is operated by Teagasc. One of the stated aims of the project is to help reconnect and strengthen the relationship between food producers and consumers with an emphasis on quality and provenance rather than quantity. Essentially, this means encouraging farmers to value the quality of the produce from West Kerry farms and to look for a price that recognises that quality.
Ballymaloe House is considered to be an example of best practice within the SKIN project and is one of 100 case studies undertaken on food businesses across Europe.
The visit to Ballymaloe included a farm tour as well as providing the West Kerry group with an opportunity to present their ideas to Darina and Tim Allen. Darina Allen was particularly taken with Dingle Mutton pies and suggested that every restaurant in the town should offer samples of mutton pies to customers as they are unique to the area.
The SKIN project started earlier this year and holds regular meetings, anyone interested in finding out more about the project should contact Aoife Forde on 087275603 or Aoife.Forde@teagasc.ie.