A Working Tillage Farm

The Farming System

My name is Barry Good - Barra De Gud in Irish - and I farm tillage crops with my wife Lorraine and two children on this 103-acre farm at Ballinvologe, Minane Bridge, County Cork.

Sustainability is on my mind every day when I am making decisions about this farm. Is this good for me, my family, the farm, and the environment. These are not ranked in order of importance - they are all equally important considerations, and with a sustainability mindset they can all benefit together.

From a tillage farming perspective I like to keep a tight rotation in my crops. Year one I set Spring Beans followed by Winter Wheat. Then I set Spring Barley for two years before starting the rotation again with Spring Beans. I find that this keeps the soil in really good condition and helps to produce high yielding good quality crops.

I set a lot of winter Catch Crops and I incorporate most of my straw back into the soil. Both measures help achieve a really good soil structure.

Our spring barley is supplied as malting barley to the Malting Company of Ireland for the production of Jameson Irish Whiskey at Midleton Distillery - meaning that every time someone opens a bottle of Jameson, there is a chance that the barley in that bottle was grown in these fields