East meets West - Irish Farmer's Journal February 2005

Irish Farmers Journal Article Feb 2005

The Manager of Farm Solutions Limited, a subsidiary of The Solution Group in Wexford, travels to Eastern Europe every few weeks to interview experienced workers for full-time positions on Irish dairy, tillage and pig farms. His aim is to match employees to the specific needs of individual Irish farmers.

For the past four years his trips rotate between Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, where he interviews and assesses large number of agricultural workers. Those he selects are experienced, quite often with third-level agricultural qualifications and they all have a working knowledge of English. They are enthusiastic about coming to Ireland for a year or two. There are currently 50 working mainly on Irish dairy farms across the country.

Seven years working as a FAS-trained farm manager on a dairy farm and 14 years recruiting staff for farmers in Wexford Farm Relief Services equips Tom Bermingham well for this selection process. Having already spoken at length to his farmer clients, he knows precisely the type of worker they require.

Full-time farm labour has all but dried up and Irish farmers are now reliant upon labour from outside Ireland. "Ten years ago there was no shortage of experienced people for these jobs but that has changed,'' explained Tom.

"Too much negative publicity about the supposed hardship of farming and more young people opting for third-level education has contributed to severe shortages. Initially we sourced labour from the UK but the introduction of the euro followed by the foot and mouth crisis ended that. We had to look farther afield.''

Freedom of mobility

Since May 2004 workers from the new EU states have freedom to work in Ireland without the restriction of work permits, giving them ample opportunity for the first time to switch from one employer to another.

So what is it that attracts European workers to Irish farms and encourages them to stay? And what kind of money can they expect to take home with them when they finish their contracts?

Modern farms a big attraction Mirosla v Patuc from Slovakia has been working for almost a year on Scott Mernagh's mixed farm in Rathaspeck, Co Wexford. Miroslav's credentials in farming are excellent, having studied agriculture in secondary school from the age of 14.

After five years at Slovak Agricultural University he qualified as a livestock specialist, while also working on a German dairy farm during summer holidays. Since then he has spent a total of 11 months managing dairy farms in Slovakia. He did a stint in the army and worked on a farm in Israel for a further year. He is now 31 years of age.

"I wanted to come to an Irish farm to gain more experience, to improve my English, to get to know Irish people and to earn better money than I could ever do in Slovakia,'' he said. Based on his current earnings at the end of his two years in Ireland he could have saved between E20,000 to E24,000 without too much difficulty. The money Miroslav earns in Ireland is at least four times what he could earn at home.

The Mernagh farm has a modern computerised milking parlour handling 100 cows. When Miroslav arrived he had no trouble operating the machinery and was impressed with the technology and the efficiency of the farm. "In Slovakia it would take 10 people to do the work that two people can do here because of the technology,'' he said.

"There are almost 100 cows on this farm and you would need about four people to milk that many cows at home.'' He hopes that his experience working on such a modern Irish farm will secure him a good job in the dairy industry in Slovakia.

Good accommodation

Miroslav lives in a comfortable self-contained apartment in an outbuilding Scott converted. He pays a nominal rent for the accommodation, does his own shopping, cooking and cleaning and is totally self-sufficient.

Since his arrival he has joined a walking club in Wexford, which keeps him busy most weekends. He enjoys meeting Irish people and loves to cycle in his spare time. He has been home twice to see his family.

"I heard that Ireland is the best country in the world to live in and I think that is true,'' he said. "The standard of living is high, the people are very friendly and if you have a job it is no problem to live here. I think if you get involved in other things outside work you will be happier and will get much more out of the experience of working here.''

The Slovakian people are familiar with the economic boom in Ireland, according to Miroslav, and are hopeful that EU membership will help them to achieve similar success and improve conditions in farming. "Ireland has set an example for Slovakia because it was a poor country and now it is fourth richest in the world,'' he said.

Miroslav can put his hand to anything that needs doing on the farm, including tractor driving, silage making, fertiliser application and care of horses.

Scott, whose previous worker failed to turn up on his first day on the job, is delighted with Miroslav, describing him as one of the best workers he has ever had. "My biggest fear was that I would have to train Miroslav from scratch, but I found I just had to tell him something once and he immediately took it on board. He settled in very quickly and I haven't a bad word to say about him. I was lucky to get someone so good and I am hoping that after his two years is up he will stay longer.''

Support for farmer and worker

Miroslav and Balazs both agree that having someone to show them the ropes, help them open bank accounts and get PPS numbers was of great benefit when they arrived in Ireland. They were collected from the airport, brought to Wexford for a two-day induction and put on the payroll of Farm Solutions.

"The fact that each worker has been assessed prior to coming to Ireland and that farmers are assessed here greatly reduces the risk of a worker not being suitable. Many farmers value this greatly,'' according to Tom.

"Farm Solutions looks after employers' liability, insurance, PRSI. The farmer pays nothing up front, so the worst that can happen is that he has a worker for a month and he doesn't want to continue with him.'' The fact that four week's notice is asked for means workers can be relocated or new workers can be allocated to farmers.

Tom is almost paternal in his attitude towards his workers, making sure conditions and accommodation on the farm are "what the farmer would like for his own son or daughter''. Farm Solutions area reps maintain regular contact with employees during their stay in Ireland.

With 20 day's holidays annually, most workers can travel home once or twice a year quite cheaply and at the end of a two-year period can accumulate sizeable savings. "A Ukranian who worked here for two years was returning home with E22,500 in the bank. That would be equivalent to 20 years work in the in Ukraine. He said it was his Lotto.'' Feb 2005 >

« back

© Farm Solutions 2012. All Rights Reserved