Jamie and Mairéad Kavanagh ‘fight against industrial farming’ with their no-dig enterprise
Mairéad and Jamie Kavanagh of Crainn Nua Farm with some of their produce. Photos: John D Kelly
Jamie and Mairéad Kavanagh started their organic vegetable farm, Crainn Nua, from scratch in 2021. Growing vegetables with a no-dig philosophy, they farm on half an acre just outside Callan in Kilkenny, and every Thursday they sell their wares at Kilkenny Farmers’ Market.
Neither had any farming experience and both had been working in a bank when they started the venture. But a series of events conspired to turn them to vegetable farming. Jamie’s brother Jason had had an accident, and suffered a bad brain injury. He passed away a few years after. Jamie’s mother died suddenly eight months later. The accident made Jamie reflect.