On almost every Irish farm you will find a product produced by JFC Agri, the Tuam-based plastics company.

The company is undoubtedly Ireland’s best-known agricultural plastic company manufacturing everything from plastic buckets and calf feeders to water troughs and wheelbarrows.

Over 30 years in business, the company was founded by John Concannon, who remains managing director of JFC Agri today.

JFC Agri was first established on the back of a simple innovation developed by Concannon that allowed a farmer to feed three calves at a time using its multi-bucket design.

Today, the company finds itself manufacturing automated calf feeders that can feed over 140 calves without using a single bucket.

JFC Agri calf cribs.

According to Concannon, the journey building the company over the years has been more about people and innovation than plastics.

“In the early stages, the aim was to double turnover each year.

"From €18,000 turnover back in 1987, the company went to €50,000 and then €120,000 in year three and the graph has gone up, nearly every year.

"As we got bigger, the aim was to increase turnover by 15% each year,” Concannon says.

Having developed his first calf feeding innovation with the multi-bucket, Concannon made his early sales direct to farmers and through local co-ops.

However, the company began to grow quickly as export orders began to come in from the UK, where the dairy industry is double the size of Ireland.

John Concannon, JFC Agri, Tuam. \ David Ruffles

Volac, the UK-based dairy ingredients and animal nutrition group, was an early customer for JFC Agri when it placed a large-scale order for 4,500 buckets.

This was a major deal for JFC Agri at the time and Concannon still has the order docket from the sale, such was its significance.

Fast-forward to today and JFC Agri has targeted sales to reach €100m by 2020 with the company selling products into 65 international markets.

The group has manufacturing facilities in Ireland, the UK, the Netherlands and Poland, and employs more than 350 people.

Innovation

Right from the beginning, JFC Agri has been synonymous with innovation. The company spends anywhere in the region of €700,000 to €1m every year on research and development of new products.

However, since the Brexit vote in 2016, the company has increased its R&D spend significantly in a bid to develop new products with a worldwide appeal.

At the 2018 National Ploughing Championships in Tullamore, JFC Agri entered an important new product at the Innovation Arena run by Enterprise Ireland – an automated calf feeder.

JFC Agri Evolution calf feeder.

Following three years of work by the group’s dedicated R&D team and intensive on-farm trials, JFC Agri launched the Evolution automatic calf feeder last year, which can be programmed by one person to feed 140 calves.

Finding people with the necessary skills and interests in agriculture is becoming an increasing challenge on farms all over the world.

To counteract this and solve a major problem for many dairy farmers all over the world, JFC Agri’s automated calf feeder uses micro-chip technology in the calf’s ear tag to ensure each calf gets the correct amount of milk every day.

The system will recognise individual calves and alert the farmer if the calf is not feeding and may be sick or need further attention.

JFC Agri Evolution calf feeder.

During the three-year R&D phase it took to develop its Evolution automatic calf feeder, JFC Agri worked closely with Enterprise Ireland, receiving R&D grants and supports from the state agency to develop the new technology.

The company believes this new system will be a game-changer for its agri division.

In the past year, JFC Agri has expanded its 100,000sq ft manufacturing site at Tuam to create a new and dedicated facility to manufacturing the Evolution automatic calf feeder.

“This is a major technological leap for an Irish firm to be manufacturing an automated calf feeder as sophisticated, yet as easy for one person to operate, as this one,” said Concannon.

Diversification

While JFC Agri started out in agriculture, the company has since diversified into multiple sectors.

Today, JFC Agri manufactures plastics solutions that are used in a wide range of sectors including construction, civil engineering, material handling and even the marine sector.

However, agriculture still remains a core part of this family-owned business and the sector will continue to drive growth for JFC Agri.

The company’s ability to continuously innovate and marry new technologies with plastic solutions is keeping JFC Agri firmly on the growth trajectory.