 Never kick where no dangerous machinery is needed and where the carbon footprint is tiny and where the meat is high in protein and low in fat. Well there is a small group of about 30 snail farmers around the country and the umbrella group for them is Escargo Ireland and they are looking for support for the sector because the climate is perfect here and demand from abroad for snails just can't be met and the kit shoveling from Donegal Escargo joins us now and we're streaming as well live on Facebook. Kate good afternoon to you. How's it going? Good, good. Now tell me about snail farming how did you first hear of it and get into it? So I heard of it through word of mouth really and I heard there was a man started snail farming in lockdown 2020 and I was placed on furlough at the time I had plenty of spare time and I thought why not I'll give this a go now we'll see if we get on. So I done my research anyway and I made contact then with about the 25 30 other farmers done my research then and got in touch with Escargo Ireland got set up and just started then about last year 2021. Right and where abouts are you based? Just about a mile outside of Donegal town. Okay and what's the experience been like so far I mean was it was it hard getting set up was there a lot of research to do? Well whenever I started now I hadn't much of a clue about it and it didn't take a serious amount now to get set up but once I did I have no farming background whatsoever so I was a bit nervous getting into it all but once I got set up then and once I made contact with the group I had plenty of advice plenty of people backing me up so once I got farming then it seems to be going pretty well I haven't met any obstacles now. When you got in touch with the group were they very encouraging and supportive? Oh definitely yeah they couldn't give me enough advice and we all got together then one day to kind of share our experiences and see how everybody's farm was running so it was a brilliant way to kind of get that extra knowledge. See a lot of people would think about snail farming or anything to do with snails and think oh it's a bit creepy. No it doesn't bother me now snails are slowing off so they're not going to come after you or anything so I'm happy enough to get stuck in. Okay okay and and what what's involved a much a much ground do you need a much ground are you using and what's what's the return? Well for me myself now I'm still in the first year but like I said I don't have a farming background so I'm only using a small space less than a quarter of an acre and I said I'll use something small now to get set up see how we go on and if it goes well I'll expand then furthermore. It's going pretty good now once the snails were put in themselves they didn't take too much requirement I kept everything 100% natural in the field so whatever plants or foliage was growing there at the time I left there just put the snails in let them kind of do their thing they've plenty of shelter it's all organic and free range so they seem happy out. But it's not like you put up a fence and you just leave them to it there's boxes. The way I have it done is I've put in an outside perimeter to stop any predators from getting in then I have an enclosure for the snails themselves to stay in and I've lined up boards of timber leaning against each other to provide plenty of shelter from the sun or wind and they can stay in there during the day and at night then they come out they're nocturnal and they feed and they roam around and it's there. So I'm guessing they wouldn't like extremes of weather they wouldn't like too much sun obviously frost would be an issue maybe very wet weather or like like flooding. Yeah so that's why I think we have the perfect climate here because it is so mild whenever there does be really high temperatures they all wake or so they would stay in under the boards and then if there is any bad frost they hibernate underneath the ground so it doesn't seem to be too severe for them so it's it's the perfect climate because I think that's the problem now out in the hotter countries in Europe they're finding with global warming and stuff the summers are too hot and snails aren't surviving so that's why I think they're doing so well here now. So it could be that Ireland is actually the perfect environment for them and that you know there's great potential here. I would say so absolutely I would definitely say that we have the perfect weather for them and they love the rain so seems to be going good. Yeah well they're in the right spot then so when do you when do you get a return when when I mean how long does it take from you know letting them loose to getting a return and sending them off? Perfect so now I bought breeder sails whenever I started out my farm so I had to wait the fall maybe 10 months now for them to the breeders have laid their eggs and wait now for the baby sails to kind of fatten up and be ready so there does be a bit of a wait. I'd say about 10 months now I'd say a couple more months mine should be should be ready to go ready to be exported or ready to go into the restaurants things like that so. And most of the market would be export? Yeah I would say so now I would like to get them into a few local restaurants and things like that but the main goal would be to whenever I have enough go in to export them all would be the best the best job. And I mean you do get them in certain places and I don't think I've ever eaten a snail but they say it's you know an acquired taste but it's also said that they're high in protein and that they're they're really good they're they're a great meat. Oh definitely now I was a bit like yourself I wasn't really that in a rush to try them now but I did then in the end and they're lovely like they're very meaty they're really nice I don't mind in like chili and garlic so you know I thought they were great like they're really nice with a glass of white wine as well and but a girl was in another girl in our group she was in the 20 years when nobody had oysters in Ireland and now oysters are a big thing all together so we could be going the right way yes. Okay just take some time. Take some time. And and what what sort of help is needed you know what what supports can or could the government put in that would that would help producers? So right now at the moment I think one of the biggest challenges we're facing is that snails are classed as live animals so when it comes to exporting they have to be exported under live animals as well so you know insurance is higher it's harder you can't export them with shellfish or other things like that which would be a big help. And now I know most countries in Europe have classed them as shellfish so it is far easier to export them like that and you could export them alongside of other seafood as well so it would be it would make things far easier for farmers. It's it's wee bit tricky though because they're sort of in between it wouldn't be fair to class them as in live in the live animals category like say sheep or cattle. But but then again something like shellfish like prawns or or whatever you know someone would say no actually. It's a periwinkle it's a sea snail like you know so I would argue that they would be shellfish. Okay yeah oysters again probably another example there so anyhow that's that's one of the challenges that that you face trying to get that change so as they're exported under shellfish. And where do you see your market because we associate shellfish or snails with France but there must be other markets abroad is there? Yeah definitely Italy would be a big importer of escargot I know Portugal as well they consume a lot of it especially around New Year's it's a traditional food out there so I think 70% of their escargot consumption is on New Year's Eve for the year so there is plenty of markets out there and another one then would be the snail slime it's extracted to go into cosmetics cosmetic creams moisturizers skincare all that so that's a totally another you know section that you can use them for as well another market. Do people know that sometimes this is in skincare products like will it will it say on the label contains snail slime? Well I don't know it would definitely be some protein from it anyway I don't know but I know it's a big thing the snail facials and that there where people would put the snails onto their face and you know people pay hundreds for that it's meant to be great like but right. Is there much work with them you have to check them every day? Well every couple of days now I would go down and feed them and I would just feed them a blend of dried vegetables and things like that just to give them that extra bit of growth but if you just go down keep an eye there's it's not very much labour intensive you know you can go leave them every couple of days go down to them you know which is brilliant you don't need any big machinery you don't need a while load of land you know you can go down kind of when it suits you so it's pretty good like and unlike chickens it's not like they all come out when you come down with the feed you'd be waiting a while now for them to come out and greet you anyway but right you don't have any favourites or anything do you? No not at the minute anyway right okay well listen it's great and given that you're you know new to the industry and no history in farming of any sort and I'm sure you've you've had some some very real challenges but the best look with it all and and with the campaign as well and thanks for joining us Kate appreciate it. Thanks, thank you.