merrion street

The Friendly Farmer, aka Ronan Byrne, produces free range meat and poultry from the family’s 35 acre farm outside Athenry. After returning from Poland in 2007, where he managed a large scale dairy farm, Ronan decided he wanted to make a sustainable full-time living from his family farm in Athenry. He did some research and, after reading how many chickens an individual is likely to eat in their lifetime (it's a surprisingly high number) decided to focus on poultry production. Ronan won the The Zurich Irish Independent Rising Star Farmer of The Year for 2014.

Find out how Ronan has grown his business with the help of his Local Enterprise Office, who helped him with funding and mentorship to build his own abattoir.

For more information

Find more information about The Friendly Farmer.

Find your Local Enterprise Office.

Find out more information on starting a food business from Bord Bia.

Interested in finding out what funding is available for your business? Take a look at the Supporting SMEs online tool, which gives information on over 80 government supports for businesses.