Parsnip digging is ongoing on the farm and we are finally starting to find a rhythm. It is a completely new crop to us so the curve has been steep but the end product coming off the machines is starting to look the part.

Over the last few months, anytime I have been in a supermarket with my wife, she inevitably finds me harassing some housewives over by the fresh veg isles trying to understand why they would choose one parsnip or carrot pack over another.

The strange thing is often what the consumer tells you is at odds with the spec we are producing for. Our spec is for wonderfully aesthetically pleasing veg that looks like the vegetable version of a catwalk model. But as with catwalk models, our catwalk veg spec isn’t always to everybody’s taste.

In the fields, the crops are looking quite good. The challenge now is to keep the senescing foliage from causing any rots on the shoulders of carrots and parsnips. Surprisingly, some of the crops on the drier land may need to have the irrigation pumps primed and sent back into battle.

New tractor

With so much cashflow having being diverted to new gear for parsnips, we are now staring down the barrel of spending more cash on depreciating scrap in the form of a new tractor. Our prime mover is now coming on 7,000 hours and 7 years old, both of which we like to use as a rough timing for moving a machine on. The timing couldn’t be worse with so much spending over the last three months but it is the logical thing to do.

There are really only two brands we are seriously looking at - this is because these two brands are the only dealers within a reasonable proximity to us that have a strong enough dealership to stand over their machines.

We farm from the south coast of Waterford, through Kilkenny right up to Carlow which you would imagine would give us good scope to find suitable dealers. But for the type of high spec machine we need, along with the support required in a business where a breakdown isn’t an option, the number of potential dealers is quite low.

Pricing

Having started the ball rolling on some preliminary pricing, essentially flirting, I can see that we are in for a tough time. Through my contacts at home and my involvement in farming projects outside Ireland in the UK and Europe, I know pretty well what the tractor I want can be bought for off both brands but based on the prices I have so far, we are a long way off what I will pay for the pleasure of a shiny new stallion for our stable.

I would like to wrap up the purchase pretty quickly but sadly, this may take a while before we reach the point we all know is realistic.