MOST farmers are up to speed with the weather forecast given the nature of their work, but Martin O’Regan has to be more on the ball than most.

Farming 1,500 acres in multiple locations with his father Jim, even the slightest change in conditions could create a ripple effect that he’ll feel in his work load, product and pocket.

‘Everything is a gamble and when you’re spraying or baling straw you need very local updates from reliable weather apps,’ said the award-winning tillage farmer from Coolyrahilly, Kinsale. ‘The smartphone and the weather app have changed how we operate and are a complete game changer.’

Martin is one of the biggest farmers of his kind in West Cork and his credentials are well established: he was Flahavan’s 2025 Conventional Oat Grower of the year and is regularly among their top three growers.

He’s highly skilled at what he does, and sets a benchmark across the grower group. However, the job requires more than just an excellent knowledge of the soil, and knowing what makes a great crop. Also required is technical and mechanical knowledge to maintain their machinery which includes eight New Holland tractors, three loaders, one combine harvester, two big square balers and four trucks.

People skills are needed to manage their highly skilled team of five full-time staff and three seasonal staff; a focus on environmental care is required, and that ability to react quickly to changing conditions.

At this time of the year it’s intense, days are 6am to 11pm, and it’s usually seven days a week, which should provide some food for thought the next time you’re tucking into your bowl of porridge!

Sacrifices have to be made. Unlike many people he wasn’t in a position to down tools and head to the beach during the recent heatwave. The show had to go on, and while the warm spell was ideal for harvesting crops and baling and delivering straw, there were drawbacks.

‘Unfortunately the extreme heat and drought  affected overall yield in the winter crops. Overall yield so far for winter crops  has been not as good as what we expected – it’s in the range of 3 to 3 and a half tonne per acre of winter barley when you’d be expecting four tonne so there is financial aspect to it,’ said
Martin.

But nearly 20 years in the business, he’s used to the ups and downs, the gamble.

‘My father Jim started renting tillage ground in the 70s and slowly built up the business through the years, buying our own farm in Ballinspittle in the early noughties. I started working with him full time in 2007 having done three years mechanical engineering in CIT and a year in Kildalton Agricultural College,’ said Martin.

A middle child, he has two older brothers, and a younger brother and younger sister.

‘I always had a passion for farming. With tillage farming you need a good mechanical knowledge so it was an ideal combination of skills and interest,’ said Martin.

The scale of the O’Regan’s operation is impressive: father and son grow on 1,500 acres in Ballinspittle, Kinsale, Minane Bridge and Cobh.

That breaks down to around 200 acres they own, another 400 acres that are leased, and the remainder is share farming with land owners.

‘That’s with farmers who don’t just want to rent the land, they want to find the right person for their land; rather than just getting the most money from the land, they want to see the land being taken care of, doing well. We’re the same, we want to put in good practices. It’s a good working relationship to have. It shows a trust in us. All profits are split 50/50 so if it’s a good year, or bad year we all earn the same.’

They grow winter and spring barley, spring wheat which they supply to Barryroe Co-op and sugar beet delivered straight to livestock farmers; winter and spring oats (for Flahavans) and malting barley for the distilling industry.

Martin is modest and while delighted to win The Southern Star farming award is keen to highlight that it’s a team effort.

‘I’m very lucky I’ve my brothers and sisters who are willing to come and help during busy periods and we have a great team. We couldn’t do it otherwise, he said.

He also wishes to highlight what he feels is a disconnect between the consumer and the tillage sector that needs to be addressed.

‘I feel that there’s no basic understanding that if the farmer has to work, the tractor has to go on the road – instead you have some people complaining about being stuck behind us and slowing down traffic. What they don’t realise is that if we’re not there, the food won’t be there! I’d like to see more awareness starting in school so there’s greater appreciation for the work that farmers are doing while also adhering to strict guidelines,’ he said.

And he has no issue with the guidelines imposed on the sector and is very proud of the fact that everything he grows is tracked and traced by the Irish Grain Assurance Scheme, which is the first and only grain accreditation body in the world to achieve gold standard. He just wants more value placed on their work.

‘We grow 2m tonnes in Ireland but a further 5m tonnes are imported to a lesser standard yet we’re all paid the same. That’s an unlevel playing field and it comes back to the Dept of Agriculture and Bord Bia for not recognising the quality of the grain we produce that’s environmentally friendly, close to net zero carbon emissions.

Martin supervises winter oats harvesting with his children Ellie, Aaron and Bobby.

‘I feel that Bord Bia and the Dept of Ag need to do more to  promote the Irish tillage sector and make it mandatory that there’s a minimum percentage of Irish grain in all rations in Ireland,’ he said.

That, better marketing and incentives for the sector and more joined up thinking would go a long way to help the sector, he said.

‘At the moment it seems like we’re shouting into the void, it doesn’t seem like we’re getting any traction.’

He also highlighted what’s unknown to many people: that Irish whiskey doesn’t have to contain Irish grain, just Irish water.

‘Irish Whiskey is required by law to use Irish water but there’s no legal requirement to use Irish grain. We have been calling time and time again to have this technical file reopened to include Irish Barley. That file is now open and the Dept of Agriculture are looking for submissions and we’re asking everyone in the sector and beyond to support us, so that if you want your whiskey to be called Irish, it has to use Irish grain, before it closes on September 4th.’

Ultimately, there are many unique challenges facing the tillage sector, but Martin remains optimistic. He loves what he does, he loves where he lives, and being part of a rural community. Married to Amy, who works in business development in a Kinsale hotel, they are parents to Aaron (10); Ellie Rose (8) and Bobby (6). He strives to maintain some work life balance, grabbing days away when he can, and when the weather allows.

‘We went to the All-Ireland semi-final recently and the next day we went to Kaleidoscope family friendly festival which was fantastic.  At some stage you have to pull the stopper on work but at the same time you need to know there’ll be plenty of weekends you’ll be working as well.’

He concluded: ‘There’s potential increase viability of the tillage sector if we just had more joined up thinking and while there are long hours and sacrifices to put food on people’s tables, it’s worth it.’