Two Irishmen have set up a business selling dirt to nostalgic Irish Americans who want a handful of "the mother country" on their graves.
Pat Burke (27) and Alan Jenkins (65) have just shipped their first $1 million load of "official" Irish soil to New York - at $15 per 12-ounce (340-gram) bag - and confidently expect it will be followed by many more.
"The demand has been absolutely phenomenal," Mr Burke, an agricultural scientist from Co Tipperary, said today. "We knew it would take off but not in our wildest dreams did we expect the reaction we've had so far."
Mr Burke, who has patented a way of processing the soil so it passes US import rules that demand it is free of disease and non-indigenous insects, said the pair were in talks with "one of the world's largest retailers" and a US shopping channel.
"We're looking at going worldwide," he said. The firm has pledged to donate 80 per cent of its profits to charities in Ireland and the United States.
Globally, the Irish diaspora is estimated at more than 70 million people.
Mr Burke said the idea for the business came about after Mr Jenkins attended an Irish association meeting in Florida. "He found that all that these second-, third- and fourth-generation Irish wanted was a drop of the old sod - a true piece of old Ireland - to place on their caskets," he said.
The firm has already received an order from an elderly New York businessman, originally from the west of Ireland, for $100,000 worth of dirt.