‘I just used the oil to run my car, I did not expect it to become a profitable business’ – A Co Offaly farmer’s journey with rapeseed oil production
Eugene Larkin runs an oil-pressing business in Co Offaly that is entirely family-run — here, he talks about how they have adapted to changing profits
Eugene Larkin (right) with his son Barry (left) and granddaughter Holly (centre) at Glenfield Rapeseed Oil based in Birr, Co Offaly. Picture: Jeff Harvey
This month, Eugene Larkin’s family farm in Birr, Co Offaly, will be covered in a sea of yellow — the rapeseed flowers grow in full bloom as spring arrives, with bees and butterflies buzzing in and out of it.
“I took over from my father back in 1980. It was a mixed farm at the time with sheep, cattle and dairy, with a few crops here and there. It was 78 acres when I inherited it, over the years, I bought more land, and now we farm 150 odd acres of land,” says Eugene (64).
