Southern Fuel & Farm Supplies Ltd was formed in April 1994 by Maurice Smiddy after the takeover of a number of the Suttons Ltd Cork, Agri / Fuel outlets by the local Co-Op around that time.
Maurice having worked for over 10 years with Suttons Ltd and with both himself and Bridget being steeped in East Cork with family connections spread far and wide throughout the region, we both felt we had a fair chance to get a general Agri & Fuel supplies business off the ground. Farmers have always recognised the need for competition and choice and were then and continue to be very supportive of the new business. Maurice had a reputation for bringing choice and value, along with some new ideas to the farming community. In the early 90’s he became the front runner in the early-stage promotion and development of Forage Maize in Cork / West Waterford.
From a small acreage in the early years, to where the company is now supplying maize crop inputs throughout the south of Ireland and beyond and with the support of Pioneer, one of the world’s leading suppliers and breeders of Maize hybrids, we are recognised as experts in the Forage Maize field. Maurice explained how the Forage Maize business took off and brought us into the best and most progressive farms in the region where we built strong relationships with customers and where farmers realised the benefits of a second forage in the diet and the positive impact it had on both milk and beef production, animal health and performance. Over time we have built a great trust with these farmers and their families, and thankfully we are still with them today, and with many more.
Thirty years later our agricultural business is now much broader. The move from rented premises in Ballinacurra, Midleton to the old East Cork Foods / Universal Foods premises and yards at Knockgriffin, Midleton in 2002 was a game changer for the company. Purchasing 5 acres in the heart of Midleton at that time, while a huge commitment, gave the business the platform and the space from which to grow and develop. While the maize crop is still an important part of our business, we are also a significant supplier of Animal Feed products, Fertiliser, Cereal seeds, Beet, Maize and Grass seeds. We are also a competitive buyer of grain from our tillage customers, and in that regard since 2018 Southern Fuel & Farm Supplies Ltd through our Malting Barley division, Owenacurra Agri are one of the leading buyers of Malting Barley in southern Ireland. Along with providing our customers with a comprehensive start to finish field agronomy service, we provide a full range of brand leading crop inputs. We have built a reputation for top quality agronomy advice backed up by our crop walking field service which means helping our customers achieve best results with crop outcomes on a consistent year after year basis.
Crop packaging products as in bale and net wrap, silage covers & protection nets have been an important product range for Southern Fuel & Farm Supplies Ltd since its beginning. Today we supply many of the leading crop packaging brands to the most progressive agricultural contractors and farmers in the county and beyond.
The progress we have made with the introduction of Maxammon in 2011 as a means of enabling farmers to successfully home save and store home grown grain crops on farm without the need for drying, and more importantly to produce highly nutritious and game changing animal feeds, using home grown high PH Barley / Wheat / Beans etc, this has been a major step forward for farmers where animal performance (Milk or Beef) is the priority. With the current and future demands for us all to reduce our carbon footprint and become more sustainable both from an environmental and obviously from an economic point of view, anything that can help to reduce imports of animal feed products from far away countries is really welcome now. We can see many of or dairy farmer customers taking on more land to offset nitrates issues and to stay within overall fertiliser threshold rules. The additional land in many cases is now going into tillage crops to be home saved and utilised by dairy / beef farmers. Maxammon is the answer here.
Southern Fuel & Farm Supplies Ltd took on the sales and distribution of OMEX Liquid Fertiliser in 2018 for Southern Ireland.
OMEX are the major operator in this space not only in Ireland and in the UK but all across Europe, in the US and beyond.
It became clear in 2018 that Environment, Sustainability and Carbon foot print were becoming almost like a new language in the Agri world at both EU level and in Ireland. In Southern Fuel & Farm Supplies Ltd when we researched and investigated the credentials and potential benefits of Liquid Fertiliser, it became very clear very quickly that coupled with the huge advances in sprayer technology, liquid fertiliser and liquid fertiliser application is the future.
Nothing we have seen since then has changed our minds on that.
Those that have moved to Liquid application won’t be moving back. The benefits are real and practical, and while changing from the long established traditional bagged granular application system will take time, more than ever we are convinced that it will change to Liquid, particularly as the noose tightens on CO2 emissions and water quality, and particularly as farmers look for a greater bang for their buck as rates of application for Nitrogen, Phosphate and Potash are reduced.
The concept of “getting more from less” is not a myth when it comes to the use of Liquid Fertiliser over granulated fertiliser products. Again the sprayer has the ability to be as accurate at 12 metres as it is at 36 meters and beyond. That coupled with the benefits of sprayer sectional and even individual nozzle control means every square centimetre gets accurate application. There simply is no overlap or waste of product going into ditches or roadways or waterways etc. Obviously the fact that it’s in liquid form means almost immediate uptake. This means immediate utilisation by the plant / crop when it gets into the soil/roots. Minimal losses upwards and downwards means a much more reliable and predictable outcome for farmers. Grow with OMEX Liquid Fertiliser.
Between 2023 & 2024 we completed phase 1, 2 and 3 of our Grain assembly, Storage and Grain Drying Development on our company Farm at Barryscourt, Carrigtwohill. This is something we are really proud of in that it supports our tillage business and more importantly, it supports the whole tillage farming sector in Cork and west Waterford where our Malting Barley Contract Growers benefit from a premium paying crop, so badly needed in this regain after the closing down of the Malting Barley intake in Midleton, the shutdown of the Sugar Beet factory in Mallow and the closing down of the Vegetable processing industry in Midelton, all in the years between 2000 to 2006. Devastating for Cork / West Waterford Tillage farmers at that time and for the last 15 years, before we managed to restore Malting barley growing on a reasonable to large scale again over the past 6 years. With the support and encouragement of our customer Boortmalt Ireland we hope to continue the progress with Malting Barley on a long-term basis and should there also be a swing to greater demand for plant based proteins, we are now well placed for that future.
While we have seen a steady decline in our solid fuel business in recent years with the change to smokeless solid fuels in the Irish market along with significant increases year after year of carbon taxes on solid fuels, there is no doubt, but environment policy must take precedence. Our oil distribution business, Imokilly Oil continues to develop and grow where we operate same from Cork to Waterford. We are very excited by the emergence of HVO in the past few years as a first step in the move to low CO2 emission liquid fuels. We certainly believe that energy product development in this direction with the progress and solid advances in the use of Hydrogen technology, will prove a real and viable option for consumers, particularly for transport but also for home heating in the future. We certainly need to see more government backing for this going forward. Reducing customs & excise duties on HVO fuel would be a good start. While retro fitting out and insulating old and not so old homes in Ireland and particularly in rural Ireland is a great idea, a 92% reduction in CO2 emissions could be achieved immediately by simply encouraging those using Home heating Oil / Kerosene (of which many homes in the countryside are) to switch to HVO as a liquid fuel replacement.
Our customers are the most important asset to our company. The key element to our growth over the years has been the support and business afforded to us by our customers both farmer and domestic. We also acknowledge the support of our suppliers. Their help, support and encouragement has contributed to our growth over the past 30 years. Many of our suppliers see us a the ideal partner to bring their products and ideas to market. Southern Fuel & Farm Supplies Ltd has always been to the forefront of bringing new products and new ideas to farm. We see it as a strong part of our identity with both our customers and suppliers.
Of course it’s our staff, our teams that have played the greatest role in the development and success of our business over the past 30 years. We place huge emphasis on the quality of our staff. We have been fortunate in recruiting excellent people to represent our company over the years. From our management team /area managers to our stores and distribution team along with our finance and office administration crew, all turn up for work every day to do the best days work they can and to ensure that in everything we do the focus is always on the customer.
We look forward to the next 30 years.
Where to find us.
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