Help Manna Organic Farm rebuild tunnels after Storm Eowyn

We are Thomas and Claire O'Connor of Manna Organic Farm on the Dingle Peninsula in Kerry.

We never thought we would have to do this. It is a last resort, and we have heavy hearts to be here, asking our wider community for help.

We lost two full polytunnels to the storm. They were our main salad production tunnels. The plastic was ripped off and the bars are bent out of shape. They need to be rebuilt and recovered.

We love doing what we do, growing vegetables and salads for our community in Kerry; but without help our ability to produce food this year will be seriously hampered.

We have engaged the government on every level to try and get them to help small local food producers who suffered damage to polytunnels and infrastructure during Storm Eowyn. Their response is to re-open the Horticulture Investment Scheme which has huge restrictions and also won't pay out until October at the earliest. For those of us who are small scale local food producers, it is not viable. We don't have the money to fix the tunnels, and they need to be rebuilt now for the season ahead. We have already started seeding up plants that have no tunnels to go into.

As well as growing vegetables on Manna, we are also a place of education. We use biodynamic, agroecology, agroforestry, permaculture and biological farming systems on our farm. We are trying to incorporate as much biodiversity as possible onto our small holding. You can see our farm and listen to Thomas talking about it in the video attached.

Irish Agroforestry Forum Interview & Farm Tour

Farming For Nature 2019 Ambassador Video

The damage from a different angle...

We know that everyone is under pressure and it has been a difficult year so far. Please support and share our gofundme if you can. We are very grateful.

Thomas and Claire O'Connor