Luke Brophy is one of the youngest vegetable growers in Ireland.
Luke farms with his father Paul in Naas, Co Kildare, where they grow around 300ac of conventional broccoli on mostly rented land.
They own around 80ac on the home farm, which has been converted to organic and they have a rotation of broccoli, oats, a combi crop of peas and barley and grass.
“I’ve always been involved from when I was young if my Dad needed help. I worked the summers on the farm in secondary school and college.
“The busiest time of the year is June to July around the summer holidays, you’re always stuck for extra help.
“My Dad always says to do something you love and you’ll never work a day in your life. There was never any pressure from him to take on the farm, he gave my two sisters the same advice,” he tells the Irish Farmers Journal.
Hellbent
Midway through secondary school, Luke was hellbent on engineering.
“I thought I’d be really well suited to it. All my choices for the Leaving Cert were for engineering. I got my top choice in UCD. I enjoyed it for the most part.”
He says he found the jump from secondary school and being in the top of his class for maths into college difficult.
Luke commuted up and down from the home farm in Naas, but found the days very long. “I was three to four hours in traffic some days, I found that really hard.”
Halfway through his degree, COVID-19 hit.
“That was a speedbump. We were all online for a while and it was easy to let stuff slip.”
He decided to leave the course and instead returned home full-time to work on the family farm.
“When I got involved, I didn’t realise how much of a shortage of Irish vegetable growers there are. Every so often Dad tells me ‘such and such is retiring’ and that there’s no one to take over the farm.
“It makes you feel kind of sad. My Dad pours his heart and soul into the farm, for it not to be continued on when he retires would be horrible.
“You feel proud when you can produce something people can eat,” he says. He adds that there is great fulfilment in seeing Irish broccoli on shop shelves with the label that it has been produced by Paul Brophy.
Broccoli being processed on the Brophy farm. \ Claire Nash
“My first full year was from February 2023, I’ve been here ever since.” He plans to go back to college to complete a horticulture course.
The Brophys stop production at the end of November until January or February. It’s a quieter time of the year where the work involves maintenance and planning for the year ahead. “It balances out the summer, you need the time to recharge,” he says.
Food security
“There’s not a lot of people taking up the mantle when it comes to vegetable growing,” Luke says.
“It’s sad to see. People don’t realise that this could be a big problem in the years to come. Food security will be a huge problem.
He said to diminish top quality Irish produce like Irish broccoli and let it fade away would be detrimental.
“You need a farmer three times a day – it’s sad to see. You can’t force people to start growing vegetables. It’s a very specialised business and to start from zero is a massive amount of investment.
“If there’s no people to take up that role in a few years, we might not have Irish vegetables,” he says.
Luke Brophy at their packaging facility. \ Claire Nash
Luke Brophy is one of the youngest vegetable growers in Ireland.
Luke farms with his father Paul in Naas, Co Kildare, where they grow around 300ac of conventional broccoli on mostly rented land.
They own around 80ac on the home farm, which has been converted to organic and they have a rotation of broccoli, oats, a combi crop of peas and barley and grass.
“I’ve always been involved from when I was young if my Dad needed help. I worked the summers on the farm in secondary school and college.
“The busiest time of the year is June to July around the summer holidays, you’re always stuck for extra help.
“My Dad always says to do something you love and you’ll never work a day in your life. There was never any pressure from him to take on the farm, he gave my two sisters the same advice,” he tells the Irish Farmers Journal.
Hellbent
Midway through secondary school, Luke was hellbent on engineering.
“I thought I’d be really well suited to it. All my choices for the Leaving Cert were for engineering. I got my top choice in UCD. I enjoyed it for the most part.”
He says he found the jump from secondary school and being in the top of his class for maths into college difficult.
Luke commuted up and down from the home farm in Naas, but found the days very long. “I was three to four hours in traffic some days, I found that really hard.”
Halfway through his degree, COVID-19 hit.
“That was a speedbump. We were all online for a while and it was easy to let stuff slip.”
He decided to leave the course and instead returned home full-time to work on the family farm.
“When I got involved, I didn’t realise how much of a shortage of Irish vegetable growers there are. Every so often Dad tells me ‘such and such is retiring’ and that there’s no one to take over the farm.
“It makes you feel kind of sad. My Dad pours his heart and soul into the farm, for it not to be continued on when he retires would be horrible.
“You feel proud when you can produce something people can eat,” he says. He adds that there is great fulfilment in seeing Irish broccoli on shop shelves with the label that it has been produced by Paul Brophy.
Broccoli being processed on the Brophy farm. \ Claire Nash
“My first full year was from February 2023, I’ve been here ever since.” He plans to go back to college to complete a horticulture course.
The Brophys stop production at the end of November until January or February. It’s a quieter time of the year where the work involves maintenance and planning for the year ahead. “It balances out the summer, you need the time to recharge,” he says.
Food security
“There’s not a lot of people taking up the mantle when it comes to vegetable growing,” Luke says.
“It’s sad to see. People don’t realise that this could be a big problem in the years to come. Food security will be a huge problem.
He said to diminish top quality Irish produce like Irish broccoli and let it fade away would be detrimental.
“You need a farmer three times a day – it’s sad to see. You can’t force people to start growing vegetables. It’s a very specialised business and to start from zero is a massive amount of investment.
“If there’s no people to take up that role in a few years, we might not have Irish vegetables,” he says.
Luke Brophy at their packaging facility. \ Claire Nash
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