Tony Grogan

Tony Grogan rears a purebred Aberdeen Angus suckler herd in the Glen of Aherlow, Co. Tipperary. Farming 22 hectares, he has been organic since 2015. There is a variety of different land types on Tony's farm with both mountains and the River Aherlow adjoining his land. The river is a Special Area of Conservation for the Freshwater Pearl mussel so the land requires careful farming. There is no slurry spread, instead he composts and covers his farmyard manure. He strategically spreads these precious nutrients in a targeted way . He grass measures every week so he knows precisely where needs a fertility boost.

Tony is farming with nature in mind across the farm and matches the intensity to protect it ‘What’s grown in my field is what’s suitable for it’. He practices a long rotation for his grassland management and has seen a return of Ladysmock, Red Clover, Self-Heal, Mint and others as a result. It has also meant he doesn't need to dose the animals, with fecal egg count readings returning very low.

Tony was a founding member of the Limerick and Tipperary Organic Farmers Group. He is glad to see other farmers are taking more notice of what they're doing in the group. They are farming with soils and nature in mind ‘Mycelium, dungbeetles and earthworms are doing the work for me’.

Nominator: Seán O'Farrell Farming for Nature Ambassador
Nomination: The first thing that comes to my mind is Tony's passion for nature, his love of the Aherlow river and then also the fantastic specimens of trees that exist along the hedgerows. The oaks and rowan are particularly brilliant. Tony likes to practice the family tradition of hedge laying. Tony also has a keen interest in local history, old farming methods and archaeology. Tony has been adding to the biodiversity value of the farm by putting in a pond, orchards and putting up barn owl, kestrel and bat boxes. Tony is in the Acre Cooperation Programme and he is ambitious to collaborate with other farmers to enhance the water quality of the Aherlow River and the SAC habitat in general. Tony wants to be learning more about the species in nature around him and his recent focus is on solitary bees. He is keen to share his knowledge and passion for these subjects by establishing an educational project on the farm and to establish eco-tourism in collaboration with other farmers and businesses in the Glen of Aherlow.
He is driven to leave a good legacy of habitats and species for future generations.