The slogan from, possibly the most iconic Guinness Christmas advertisement ever produced, should truly resonate with every tillage farmer in Ireland right now.
Demand for the drink has never been higher. Supplies are being rationed in the UK; a new generation of young people are switching to Guinness in their droves. It really is the fashionable Christmas drink in 2024.
And, of course, it comes in both its traditional and double zero (0.0) formats, so Guinness really does tick all the boxes.
Meanwhile, this is all good news for Irish tillage farmers. A growing demand for the drink means that Diageo, the company that produces Guinness, needs more Irish barley to make all of this happen.
Every farm organisation in Ireland has long called for the development of a market-driven grain sector. And there are now very definite signs this is starting to happen.
Guinness will need growers
Meanwhile, Diageo is in the throes of developing a new, state-of-the-art brewery in Co. Kildare. The investment required to make this happen comes in at a cool €200 million.
And, of course, breweries cannot function without the grain supplies they need. So, here is yet more good news coming down the track for Irish cereal growers.
The last 12 months have been challenging enough for tillage farmers with poor autumn 2023 and spring 2024 planting seasons conspiring to give most crops the worst possible start.
However, as the year progressed, so did the fortunes of the sector. Growers enjoyed excellent harvest conditions with the weather continuing to play ball for all of October and most of November.
As a result, farmers can now look out on full fields of wheat, barley, oats and oilseed rape. The yield potential within these crops is immense. And let’s hope this potential is fully realised in 2025.
And government seems to be playing its part. The last number of weeks have also seen the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) depositing millions of euro in farmer bank accounts courtesy of the Straw Incorporation Measure, the Tillage Incentive Scheme and the Protein Aid Scheme.
This is real money coming into tillage businesses at a time of year when it is needed most.
So yes, it has been a challenging year for those Irish farmers committed to growing crops. But the year ahead brings with it the prospect of better times to come.
And this is a thought that should be uppermost in the minds of all tillage farmers as they enjoy Christmas 2024.