From Surf to Turf, with Fergal Smith

Having spent over a decade as an international pro surfer, Fergal Smith made the life-changing decision to return home to the west of Ireland and follow in his father’s footsteps as an organic farmer. Starting with just half an acre of land, Fergal has slowly grown his innovative food business into a 120-acre certified organic farm, growing vegetables using the no dig system, the Korean Natural Farming method and Holistic Management.
GIY are proud to align our mission, vision and impact with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In response to the urgency of the climate crisis, and in line with the UN Decade of Action, our ambition at GIY is to inspire 100 million people around the world to grow some of their own food by 2030.
In this episode of Food Matters, Fergal joins Mick Kelly of GIY to talk about how the Fukushima nuclear disaster inspired him to make this major life decision, the challenges and triumphs of building Moy Hill, and his commitment to sustainability, community, and inspiring the next generation of farmers.
Our food system is broken and at GIY we believe that nurturing a real connection to where our food comes from is the key to fixing it.
We're on a mission to inspire a global movement of food growers, one GIYer at a time.
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GIY is a social enterprise consisting of two companies: GIY Ireland CLG (Company No 477525) and GIY Ireland Activities Ltd (Company No 490550), both registered at GROW HQ, Farronshoneen, Dunmore Road, Waterford, Ireland and have the following directors: Eamonn Clarke, Carol Montgomery, Aoibheann O'Brien, Tom Popple (UK), Elias Darwish, Marie Oldham, Nevan Redmond, Laura Smith© GIY Ireland Ltd 2025