Munster tillage

Qualitymark

I keep reading that Munster was mainly pastoral because the land wasn't good for tillage (this is in the pre-Plantation era). Is this true, or codswallop?

merryberry

Qualitymark wrote: »

I keep reading that Munster was mainly pastoral because the land wasn't good for tillage (this is in the pre-Plantation era). Is this true, or codswallop?

I believe so. The land and climate, at the time, may have been more favourable for pasture, but advances in agriculture, such as drainage and land management, may have reversed this trend.

orm0nd

some good tillage land in parts of waterford. tipp. cork.

high rainfall further west would most benefit pasture

yellow50HX

Well it depends where in Munster.

Most of the east and south of cork is mixed and is used as both tillage and pasture. Where I'm from in east cork used to be massive veg growing country. Gunniess used to own a farm nearby for the brewery in Dublin, Murphy's and bemish also owned land here too and Jameson use local grain too, in fact the grain used in bushmills comes from cork too. I know a couple of local lads that grow organic oats for flavaghans in Waterford too.

Plenty of oilseed rape and maize grown down here too.

Last beet factory in Ireland was in mallow.

Serous good land along the suir valley in south tipp and into Waterford.

Most of the tillage in Ireland is concentrated in a couple of clusters;
North Leinster around the pale (Dublin Kildare, Meath, westMeath and Louth), south Leinster (Wexford, Carlow, KK, East Laois and South Wicklow
South east Munster (tipp, Waterford and cork)
Up north in North Antrim and Derry as well as down.

There are a few other spots too like parts of North Kerry, East Clare, north limerick, east galway, East Donegal

yellow50HX

From ask about Ireland website

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Tillage Farming

Growth of crops
Over 300,000 hectares of the best land in Ireland is engaged in tillage farming, or the annual production of crops for harvest. Cereal crops are the main output, led by barley, then wheat and then oats.



Cereals
Copyright Irish Farmers Journal
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Harvest
Copyright Irish Farmers Journal
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Harvest
Between 2000 and 2010, Ireland recorded the highest average wheat and second highest average barley yields in the world, according to John Spink, Head of Crops Science with Teagasc.


Barley
Copyright Irish Farmers Journal
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Barley
There are cereals grown in every county in Ireland, although the area in 2010 ranged from just 29 hectares in Sligo to 41,569 hectares in Wexford. This is mainly explained by differences in the suitability of the land and, to a lesser extent, more hours of sunshine in the south east.

The number of individual farmers growing cereal crops is highest in Cork, at 2,830, followed by Wexford at 2,395 and Tipperary at 1,240.


Oilseed rape
Copyright Irish Farmers Journal
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Oilseed rape
Apart from the cereal crops, Irish farmers grow maize, beans, peas, oilseed rape, beet and potatoes. Potato growing in particular has become very intensive, with just 12,200 hectares grown. There are 540 growers who plant more than five hectares each and around 200 specialised growers account for 75% of production. The crop requires exceptionally good land and is now confined to parts of Meath, Louth, Dublin, Wexford, Donegal and Cork. Donegal has a noted tradition of growing potatoes for the seed trade, while Dublin and Meath growers supply the table market in Dublin, as well as the crisp making requirements of the Largo Foods plant at Ashbourne.


Maize
Copyright Irish Farmers Journal
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Maize
Maize in Ireland is mainly grown as a forage crop that is harvested and ensiled for winter feeding to livestock. It requires warm south facing fields and tends to grow more successfuly in the south. One out of every four of the 22,500 hectares of the crop grown in Ireland in 2010 was in Cork. The crop is also popular in Meath, driven by the high prevalence of intensive dairy and beef herds.
Sugar production
Sugar beet was a very popular crop in Ireland from the establishment of Comhlacht Siuicre Eireann (CSE), which was formed when the State took over the ailing Irish Sugar Manufacturing Company’s Carlow factory in 1933.

In 1933-1934, sugar beet processing factories were built in Mallow, Thurles and Tuam. The number of sugar beet growers quickly reached 27,000 by 1936 and peaked at 50,141 in 1943. The company was a huge force in rural Ireland, diversifying through Erin Foods into vegetables.

CSE was limited by a sugar quota after Ireland joined the European Union and the company was privatised as Greencore in 1990. As part of a European restructuring policy, Greencore availed of a fund to controversially close the last remaining sugar beet factory, Mallow, in 2006.

Moves are currently underway to investigate the viability of resuming sugar beet processing in Ireland.

merryberry

yellow50HX wrote: »

As part of a European restructuring policy, Greencore availed of a fund to controversially close the last remaining sugar beet factory, Mallow, in 2006.

And a terrible f@#k up it was too.

yellow50HX

As for the orginal question on tillage in pre plantation times. Some of the worlds oldest water mills are in Munster, there is one in Waterford and 2 in a site in cork harbour which were some of the the most advanced in the world for a few hundred years.

The mills in cork were feed by bring grain up the river by boat from land located around the harbour and from the nearby coastal areas too.

Qualitymark

When were these mills built, @yellow? Cork was a plantation town from relatively early in its history, wasn't it, and Waterford a Butler stronghold, so pro-English.

yellow50HX

Qualitymark wrote: »

When were these mills built, @yellow? Cork was a plantation town from relatively early in its history, wasn't it, and Waterford a Butler stronghold, so pro-English.

Early historyEdit

See also: List of early medieval watermills

Tidal mill at l'île de Bréhat
Possibly the earliest tide mill was located in London on the River Fleet, dating back to Roman times.[1]

In recent years, a number of new archaeological finds has consecutively pushed back the date of the earliest tide mills, all of which were discovered on the Irish coast: A 6th century vertical-wheeled tide mill was located at Killoteran near Waterford.[2] A twin flume horizontal-wheeled tide mill dating to c. 630 was excavated on Little Island.[3][4] Alongside it, another tide mill was found which was powered by a vertical undershot wheel.[3][4] The Nendrum Monastery mill from 787 was situated on an island in Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland. Its millstones are 830mm in diameter and the horizontal wheel is estimated to have developed 7/8HP at its peak. Remains of an earlier mill dated at 619 were also found at the site.[5][6]