Giana and Tom Ferguson have been making Gubbeen farmhouse cheese in west Cork since 1979. Today, their operation employs 21 people.
What is special about your business? To begin with, geography. We are the most southwesterly cheese dairy in Ireland. S
Secondly, we hand make our cheese with milk produced by our own herd and all animals at Gubbeen are fed on GM-free feed. Gubbeen cheese can be eaten young, mature or extra mature and we produce washed rind and smoked versions.
After 10 days, the cheese has its characteristic nose of mushrooms, nuts, bog and forest floor and, as time progresses, these flavours deepen.
What sets your business apart in your sector? We are a true family business with each of us working the farm in different but complementary ways.
Tom has completely dedicated his herd to cheese-making. We also rear pigs and our son Fingal is a smoked meats producer with a fascination for the skills and science of charcuterie.
Our daughter Clovisse is a bio-dynamic gardener, cultivating vegetables and herbs. Her herbs are the key flavours in Fingal’s cures for his smoked meats. She has also trained as a chef and her foods are stars on our market stalls
What has been your biggest challenge? Having enough time and energy to do everything we want to do! It has also been a challenge (in a good way) to develop the four strings we now have to our bow between the farm, the dairy, the smokehouse and the herbs, vegetables and other foods.
We have achieved this within one generation by expanding the concept of what constitutes artisan farm made food and bringing a much wider range of products to our customers at the farmers’ markets.
What has been your biggest success? Building a team of people who are a joy to work with. We have the most wonderful people in the dairy, the smokehouse and the garden and we have been blessed with their loyalty and dedication.
They make a real input and have no qualms about speaking out if they think we are not going in the right directions or are missing something crucial. I feel such gratitude towards them.
What key piece of advice would you give to someone starting a business? Be open-minded. Think honestly about your skills. Acknowledge your failings or weaknesses and ask for help. Listen to everyone, never stop learning. Believe in yourself.
Whom do you admire most in business and why? Survivors, as I have always admired courage. I think it takes real courage as a woman to start out in a new area of business so I have many heroines – Myrtle Allen of Ballymaloe, Veronica Steele of Milleens cheese, Jeffa Gill who founded Durrus cheese and, historically, Mary Robinson.
What two things could the Government do to help SMEs in the current environment? In our specific food area, I feel that subsidising micro-testing for quality would put Irish foods ahead in European markets.
Secondly, we are at the rock face of great environmental change. SMEs need support now to experiment and come up with solutions for what lies ahead. The many small businesses that exist throughout Ireland could provide a fertile R&D platform for environmental trials in areas such as alternative energy and sustainable food production.
This could put Ireland at the forefront of environmental innovation internationally.
In your experience, are the banks now lending to SMEs? Yes.
What is the biggest mistake you've made in business? Getting cross instead of listening, not believing in myself enough and not having had time for further education.
What is the most frustrating part of running a small business? I don't ever feel frustrated. I feel very lucky and love the creativity of this work.
What is your business worth and would you sell it? I don't have a clue. I believe our brand name is work a huge amount, but I have a problem understanding this, as it is our home and farm.
So no, we won’t be selling our home, but we will be selling our cheese and salamis and rashers and salads and tarts and ketchups and eggs and . . .
In conversation with Olive Keogh
