On the old main road to Limerick, just outside Roscrea, is the headquarters of Farm Relief Services (FRS). Last week, along with about 300 others, I attended the opening of a major new facility alongside the original building.

Most people I suspect are aware of FRS but how many have a clear view of the origins of the organisation and, more to the point, the gap it fills in Irish farming today?

Of the four strands to the FRS business, supplying relief labour to farms at either busy times or in response to a particular event, is probably their best known activity and about 1,500 farms, mainly dairy farms, will be supplied with extra help this year.

But the capacity of the group to anticipate and meet the needs of the practical farming industry extends well beyond this.

I wasn’t aware that if you failed your quality assurance inspection that it was an FRS employee that came out and went through the detail of the report and came up with concrete steps as to how the deficiencies could be put right, as easily and economically as possible.

Similarly, with the new insistence on every tillage crop having to be sprayed by an operator with an up-to-date proficiency licence, the training to qualify is again given by FRS.

The gap in the practical training of important, everyday, farm tasks is real.

The other two main areas of business are in fencing and recruitment. While the fencing is mainly farm-based, the recruitment activity is across the economy.

The development of a specialised IT solution to tedious form and “blue book” filling is a recent development.

Irish farmers have had a mixed record in businesses designed to meet the specialised needs of the sector.

Dairy processing has by and large been successful; meat processing much less so.

Successful

There are not that many examples of successful service co-ops but FRS is clearly one of them.

What makes the difference between success and failure of farmers in business?

I am not aware of any impartial study but the FRS group may well serve as a useful template.

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