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Built on a rich agricultural heritage, Ireland’s modern day agribusiness sector is thriving. From the latest feed technologies to some of the world’s most advanced specialist agricultural farm machinery, Irish innovation is leading the way on the international stage. For centuries, the poor quality of Ireland’s farmlands proved to be an enormous challenge for Irish farmers.
Offering products as diverse as grass balers, advanced feed systems, dairy equipment and machinery accessories, the agricultural machinery sector alone employs more than 1000 people Today, Ireland’s Agribusiness sector is a significant contributor to the Irish economy generating €24 billion in turnover last year. Almost €9 billion of product was exported, which was a record year for the sector and it accounts for approximately 18% of Ireland’s total industry output. Innovation has been at the forefront of the Irish agribusiness sector for many years, driven by the increasing demand for food worldwide and the move towards more environmentally friendly farming practices. Diversification has also played a key role with many major Irish companies expanding into new product lines and areas of agricultural expertise. Tanco is one such company. With headquarters in Bagenalstown, County Carlow, Tanco is the largest independent European producer of baling equipment and has recently diversified into the
Although many areas of the Irish economy face challenging times due to the current economic downturn, the outlook for Ireland’s agribusiness sector has never been better. Currently, Ireland produces enough food to feed 36 million people but has a target in place to produce enough food for 50 million people by 2020. With the world’s population now over seven billion, and predicted to reach eight billion by 2025, worldwide demand for food continues to grow exponentially. In recent times, volatility in the price of bulk commodities on the international market has led the Irish government to focus more on developing high value agribusiness products by actively investing in Source: Enterprise Irelandinnovation. Only recently, Ireland’s Taoiseach Enda Kenny told a gathering of food industry leaders that Ireland needs to be proactive in responding to the changing demands and evolving food production practices. Teagasc, the Irish body responsible for research, advisory and training services for the agriculture and food industry, has launched a new program of support in this area to include research and development consultancy and funding for new food products and processing technologies. Teagasc is working closely with Enterprise Ireland to boost this valuable sector of the Irish economy. Irish agribusiness in ANZ In Australia and New Zealand, agriculture is booming. There are approximately 100,000 farmers in Australia alone and sales of farm machinery total more than AU$3.5 billion each year. In New Over the past decade, Irish companies have proven to be very successful at penetrating this market. Irish heritage is very strong in rural areas and this has no doubt played a part in forging strong ties between rural parts of Australia and New Zealand and rural Ireland. A range of Irish companies now exports into Australia and New Zealand, delivering highly specialised equipment to the agricultural industry, including advanced feeding systems to the beef and dairy sectors and innovative baler and wrapper solutions for the cropping sector. Abbey Machinery is one of Ireland’s largest and most respected manufacturers of agricultural equipment with a wide range of products from feeding systems to slurry and manure handling equipment. http://www.abbeymachinery.com Brennan Fencing is one of Ireland’s longest established Fencing contractors and manufacturers of the Vector PowerDrive range. These Fence Post Drivers are robust and durable machines for farmers and fencing contractors. http://www.brennanfencing.com Dooley Brothers has over 50 years experiences in the trailer business and manufacture a broad range of high quality and robust trailers that can withstand the heavy condition is Ireland and across A/NZ. http://www.dooleybros.ie Combilift (Australia) is the world’s first Internal Combustion powered allwheel-drive multidirectional forklift. http://www.combilift.com.au Dairymaster is a world leader in the manufacture of dairy farm equipment including milking equipment, feeding equipment and automatic scraper systems. http://www.dairymaster.com Dromone Engineering An Industry leading company who develop hitching technology excavator attachments for the agricultural and construction markets. www.dromone.ie Easyfix design, develop, patent and market a wide range of unique and innovative products for the Agricultural, Equine, Recreational/Industrial and Construction markets. http://www.easyfix.co.nz Hi-Spec Engineering manufactures feeder wagons, slurry tankers, slurry pumps, industrial tankers, side spreaders and dust suppression units. http://www.hispec.net McHale is a leading international manufacturer of specialist agricultural farm machinery. http://www.mchale.net Keenan Systems maximises the use of farmgrown feeds and delivers feed structure for optimal animal health, performance and long-term profits using leading feed technology. http://www.keenan.com.au Quadcrate is a loader attachment that fits onto the back of a Quad to make the ATV/ Quad more versatile in order to make farm tasks more manageable, thus saving time. http://www.quadcrate.co.uk Samco Agricultural Machinery developed the Samco Systems is unique planter attachment which sow’s the Maize Corn Seed, Sprays Herbicide Control & Lays a Thin Layer of Degradable Plastic all in one pass. Tanco produces the widest range of quality agricultural wrapping machinery in the world, exporting them to over 30 countries worldwide. http://www.tanco.ie
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Over the last 30 years, however, Ireland’s agribusiness sector has stepped up to the challenge producing agricultural machinery