Since its launch at the Ploughing Championship in 2015, model toy company The Field has expanded its offering from a single model toy field to include a farm, compound and grass roll, a half-acre field and paddocks.
The company, a finalist in the National Enterprise Awards 2019, is owned by Padraic Cuddy from Roscommon.
He got the inspiration to start creating toy fields when his three-year-old son Tommy wanted a field to graze his many farm animal toys.
Padraic handcrafted a realistic model toy field, complete with hedging and traditional timber gate.
His company Class Grass provides the artificial grass for the field and hedging.
Exports
"Exports to the UK and Northern Ireland was initially 10% of sales. The Irish side of things has levelled out, but we are working to build the export markets," Padraic told the Irish Farmers Journal.
He said that between Class Grass and The Field, the business employs eight people.
"Our goal is to reach €1m in turnover and employ 10 people.
"With that, we could become an Enterprise Ireland customer and grow marketing support in export countries.
"There's three- and four-year-old children in Arizona and New Zealand interested in farming; it's a worldwide opportunity."
Focusing on the USA and German markets would be Padraic's priority if he won the €10,000 prize fund at the National Enterprise Awards next week.
Awards
The National Enterprise Awards celebrate small businesses from across the country, focusing on start-ups, innovation and exports, with the finals taking place on 29 May at the Mansion House, Dublin.
There is over €40,000 in prizes to be won, with the overall winner taking home €10,000.
Terra NutriTech was last year’s winners, an ag-tech company that specialises in precision liquid supplementation for livestock.
Read more
Agricultural businesses in the running for €40,000 enterprise awards prize fund
Clonmel Covers 'inundated with work' making windbreakers for sheds
20 minutes with Padraig Hennessy, Terra Nutritech
Since its launch at the Ploughing Championship in 2015, model toy company The Field has expanded its offering from a single model toy field to include a farm, compound and grass roll, a half-acre field and paddocks.
The company, a finalist in the National Enterprise Awards 2019, is owned by Padraic Cuddy from Roscommon.
He got the inspiration to start creating toy fields when his three-year-old son Tommy wanted a field to graze his many farm animal toys.
Padraic handcrafted a realistic model toy field, complete with hedging and traditional timber gate.
His company Class Grass provides the artificial grass for the field and hedging.
Exports
"Exports to the UK and Northern Ireland was initially 10% of sales. The Irish side of things has levelled out, but we are working to build the export markets," Padraic told the Irish Farmers Journal.
He said that between Class Grass and The Field, the business employs eight people.
"Our goal is to reach €1m in turnover and employ 10 people.
"With that, we could become an Enterprise Ireland customer and grow marketing support in export countries.
"There's three- and four-year-old children in Arizona and New Zealand interested in farming; it's a worldwide opportunity."
Focusing on the USA and German markets would be Padraic's priority if he won the €10,000 prize fund at the National Enterprise Awards next week.
Awards
The National Enterprise Awards celebrate small businesses from across the country, focusing on start-ups, innovation and exports, with the finals taking place on 29 May at the Mansion House, Dublin.
There is over €40,000 in prizes to be won, with the overall winner taking home €10,000.
Terra NutriTech was last year’s winners, an ag-tech company that specialises in precision liquid supplementation for livestock.
Read more
Agricultural businesses in the running for €40,000 enterprise awards prize fund
Clonmel Covers 'inundated with work' making windbreakers for sheds
20 minutes with Padraig Hennessy, Terra Nutritech
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