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Company Name
Beechlawn Organic Farm Ltd
Owner / Manager
Padraig Fahy & Úna Ní Bhroin
Address
Beechlawn, Ballinasloe
Website
Field Vegetables
50 acres
Protected Cropping
20,000 sq feet
Activities
- Propagation
- Soft Fruit
Routes to Market
- Box Scheme
- Farm Shop
- Wholesale
If other, please give details
Own brand pre-pack veg for supermarkets.
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Are there volunteers on the holding?
yes
About the Role
How many hours work per week are involved?
40 -45 hours work per week Monday-Friday
What is the payment rate?
Minimum wage
What are the ideal start dates?
March 1, 2026
Full-time work is offered at end of internship to the right candidate.
What are the ideal finish dates?
December 31, 2026
Will the role involve direct sales at markets or shops?
yes
Yes, at Saturday Farm Shop if candidate wants to.
Will the role involve the use of machinery?
yes
Will weekend work be required?
yes
Once or twice during summer. Farm shop also open on weekend, if applicant wants the experience.
Do applicants need to have a full driving license?
yes
Is accommodation on-farm an option?
yes
Wooden Cabin €250 per month or room in house €300 per month.
Applicant Profile
What are the most important attributes you are looking for?
Good attitude, hard-working, diligent, resilient, willing to learn, open minded, good team player, patient, understanding computers (we are introducing a new system of keeping farm records while working on a tablet device an want the apprentice to use it also).
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Established in 2002, we started with one acre and built the business from there. In 2023 we grew 50 acres of organic vegetables including over 40 different varieties, which we sell to shops, supermarkets, wholesalers, market traders, restaurants and veg box schemes. Our main crops are kale, leeks, cabbage, beetroot, spinach and parsnips. We also grow cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, fennel, turnip, broccoli, celeriac, scallions, salad leaves and chard.
We manage approximately 100 acres of certified organic land on three farms in Ballinasloe Co. Galway. We have 20,000 square feet of polytunnels for protected cropping and propagation of seeds. We started selling through a box scheme in 2002, moved into farmers markets and then gradually into wholesaling, which makes up most of our sales now. We supply farmers market traders, restaurants, and box schemes.
We have certified organic status from the Irish Organic Association, Bord Bia quality assurance certification on our own vegetables, we are part of the All-Ireland Pollinator plan and Origin Green. We also have history of training successful organic horticulturalists through this programme.
We have a warm, welcoming atmosphere on the farm with committed hard-working staff. There is never a dull moment here and we move at a fast pace! We employ 20 full-time super people including a fieldwork team, packhouse team, office and sales team and delivery driver team. Our field team would include the intern who would be working on sowing seeds (we raise 400,000 of our own plants every year) planting out plants, pruning, weeding, watering, harvesting and sometimes washing and packing vegetables also.
Our farm has many aspects to it which involve different systems. There is a lot of machinery work on our farm involving tractors and various weeders, planters, bed formers, flat bed weeders, compostable film layer. We also use a forklift in our main depot. We use tractors and machinery for precision seed sowing, and some of the weeding. Doing an internship here will show you the logistical work as well as the physical work involved in large scale commercial organic horticultural production. We run a farm shop on a Saturday.
Check out our website beechlawnorganicfarm.ie and our Facebook & Instagram pages for photos and videos of our farm.
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