Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Immigrant farmers

Options
  • 24-11-2020 12:51am
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,857 ✭✭✭


    Just one of those completely random thoughts that pop in to your head occasionally.
    We have had a huge influx of non Irish into ireland over the past 25 years or so and for the most part Ireland has absorbed them and made them Irish. We can see this every day with Polish, African and a dozen other nationalities teenagers speaking Irish English like it’s their 1st Language.
    My question is, have ANY immigrants settled “on the land” so to speak and become farmers here.


Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 1,097 ✭✭✭Roger Mellie Man on the Telly


    I emphatically state that NO immigrants have settled “on the land” so to speak and become farmers here.


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,913 ✭✭✭Gregor Samsa




  • Registered Users Posts: 488 ✭✭Fritzbox


    Andrew33 wrote: »
    Just one of those completely random thoughts that pop in to your head occasionally.
    We have had a huge influx of non Irish into ireland over the past 25 years or so and for the most part Ireland has absorbed them and made them Irish. We can see this every day with Polish, African and a dozen other nationalities teenagers speaking Irish English like it’s their 1st Language.
    My question is, have ANY immigrants settled “on the land” so to speak and become farmers here.

    We already have 130,000 farmers/farms in Ireland - around the same number to be found in Australia, maybe 3 times the figure for New Zealand. Why would we be trying to a add new farmers to the population?


  • Registered Users Posts: 21,120 ✭✭✭✭Water John


    Saw in my local mart before lockdown an Asian couple, of two different ethnicities, selling store cattle.


  • Registered Users Posts: 9,381 ✭✭✭Yurt2


    Anecdotally, have heard of some South African families (Afrikaaner stock) that have done just that.


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users Posts: 5,323 ✭✭✭JustAThought


    Big difference between being a zero hours minimum wage labourer and a ‘landed’ farm owning farmer.

    Teelings bussing in Bulgarians by the planelode to break the covid lockdown to pick their berries dosn’t really stand as an accolade for
    foreigners farming in Ireland.


  • Registered Users, Moderators, Regional Abroad Moderators Posts: 2,176 Mod ✭✭✭✭Nigel Fairservice


    I wouldn’t say there’s too many. The set up costs would be massive I’d imagine. A lot of farming in Ireland seems to be inter generational. I don’t know anyone, foreign or Irish, who just went into farming.


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    Thinly veiled OP looking for a Polish lad with a bit of road frontage


  • Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators Posts: 9,998 Mod ✭✭✭✭Jim2007


    Andrew33 wrote: »
    My question is, have ANY immigrants settled “on the land” so to speak and become farmers here.

    Would seem you know very little of the situation, if you think anyone in that situation comes with sufficient capital to establish a business....


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,894 ✭✭✭Hangdogroad


    I know of German/Dutch/British expats from what might be termed hippy backgrounds who farm in West Cork on a small scale but dont think theyd count as economic immigrants. More of a lifestyle choice.


  • Advertisement
  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,277 ✭✭✭Your Face


    I am an immigrant farmer and I assure you all my immigrants are free range.


  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 7,377 Mod ✭✭✭✭pleasant Co.


    Big difference between being a zero hours minimum wage labourer and a ‘landed’ farm owning farmer.

    Teelings bussing in Bulgarians by the planelode to break the covid lockdown to pick their berries dosn’t really stand as an accolade for
    foreigners farming in Ireland.

    Teelings sell whiskey, Keelings is the one you mean to throw shade at.


  • Registered Users Posts: 736 ✭✭✭Das Reich


    With the cost of land in Ireland its prohibitive even for non farmers Irish. And why they would not not buy land in their countries where is much cheaper? And you can't compare immigration to Ireland, where it is for economical reasons, with let's say, a big country where land is cheap and have a good weather to farm.


  • Registered Users Posts: 18,874 ✭✭✭✭Del2005


    Big difference between being a zero hours minimum wage labourer and a ‘landed’ farm owning farmer.

    Teelings bussing in Bulgarians by the planelode to break the covid lockdown to pick their berries dosn’t really stand as an accolade for
    foreigners farming in Ireland.

    They have being using migrant labour to pick fruit and vegetables for generations. It's not that long ago it was Irish being used to do the jobs locals don't.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,850 ✭✭✭tabby aspreme


    A few German families, farming on a large scale around here, they came to Ireland after WW2, one thing they all did was plant forestry on some of the land after they bought it, which looks really good today.


  • Registered Users Posts: 32,634 ✭✭✭✭Graces7


    There are some Dutch farmers here now too.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 251 ✭✭Paul Weller


    Quite A few vegan immigrant farmers down my way...well they grow a lot of herb they tell me anyway


  • Registered Users Posts: 26,056 ✭✭✭✭Peregrinus


    Unless you have the forsight to marry or inherit a farm, you need a lot of capital to get into farming on a commercially viable scale. And, if you have that kind of capital, there are ways of investing it which will earn a higher or more secure return than farming.

    People do, of course, make a lifestyle choice to become farmers but, if you're doing that from outside Ireland and are willing to migrate to give effect to your choice, you can do it at a lower cost by migrating to other countries, some of which have nicer climates. Would you rather grow root vegetables in Roscommon or vines in the Veneto? :)


  • Registered Users Posts: 17,498 ✭✭✭✭Mr. CooL ICE




Advertisement