Barrie Quinn's journey: from farm work to the Portnoo Market Garden project

County Donegal resident Barrie Quinn runs the smallholding Portnoo Market Garden on the west coast of Ireland. The land has been in the family since the 1800s. Before farming, Quinn worked as a plasterer and installed PVC windows, and also worked on the harvest of iceberg lettuce in Australia, where he first encountered the issue of using agrochemicals like glyphosate.

In 2016, upon returning to Ireland, he began growing vegetables in his parents' greenhouse, and during the coronavirus pandemic, he decided to focus entirely on this business, facing problems due to unstable employment. The first harvest surpluses—cucumbers, tomatoes, and apples—he successfully sold via social media in August 2020, after which he converted two hectares of unused family land.

During the land reclamation process, the farmer encountered a high copper content in the soil on one of the plots due to years of fungicide application against late blight. The problem was solved by planting sunflowers, which extracted the metals from the soil in a single season, after which potatoes began to be successfully grown in this spot.

The holding applies regenerative agriculture principles without the use of chemical fertilizers and sprays. To combat pests, conditions are created to maintain the ecosystem, including preserving wild grasses, attracting ladybugs, as well as using copper tape and sheep's wool against slugs.

The holding produces lettuce (which is the best-selling item), kale, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, green onions, and garlic. In addition to working the land, Quinn runs a popular Instagram account with an audience of over 780,000 followers, where he talks about his experience of growing produce, and conducts tours for school groups and visitors from different countries. The farmer wrote a book about his experience entitled Homegrown.