Operating their famous stall at the Temple Bar Food Market since 1997 and certified organic since 1998, the McNally Family Farm is one of Ireland’s most celebrated growers. It’s a name that top chefs are proud to credit on their menus and there have been many well deserved awards, including an Irish Food Writers’ Guild accolade in 2018 and one of our own for the Market Kitchen food truck in 2020.
On their 77 acre farm in north County Dublin, they grow an ever-expanding range of produce, from the outdoor crops that are familiar in the area such as potatoes, root vegetables, brassicas and fruit, to the salads, herbs and speciality crops that thrive in the 50 or so polytunnels and allow all-year production of key items, notably salads.
While the number of growers in the area has fallen in recent decades, McNally Family Farm is one of a new breed of speciality producers who are working with emerging market opportunities and thriving.
Going organic has played a part in that success, and so has direct selling – at the Temple Bar Food Market initially (and now two other regular markets as well), and then to restaurants and cafés. And then there is their own farm shop, where there is also a café - which has helped it to become a popular with food lovers over a wide area, including Dublin city.
Like the shop, the café is open all year and, as well as being a perfect place to recharge the batteries when doing the shopping, it’s become a destination in itself for its simply delicious freshly-made food and great Ariosa coffee.
