The remarkable story behind a Kildare man supplying 40% of Qatar's milk on Middle Eastern farm

A Kildare farmer is behind the biggest development of the farming industry in Qatar as he continues to swell the size of his cattle farm in the Middle East.

John Dore, an agricultural consultant based in Naas, has been running a farm around 60km north of Doha, and it has become a beacon of light in what is a troubled economic climate in the country following a land, sea and air boycott by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain.

It means that importing food has become a struggle, and the lack of milk became a major problem. Saudi Arabia supplied the bulk of the milk supplies to Qatar, but the boycott has meant that the oil rich country have had to develop their own farms to produce their own milk. That is where a 58-year-old Kildare farmer comes in.

Dore is the Chief Executive of the sprawling Baladana Farm which currently has a herd size of 4,000 cattle and is capable of producing 30 to 40 per cent of the country's milk needs, and Dore is planning to expand it to 10,000 which would produce enough milk for the entire country.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Guardian newspaper, the former PRO for the Kildare Turf Cutters Association stated that the boycott has changed Qatar in a positive way.

“The boycott has been great thing for Qatar in a way,” Dore said. “It has been a wakeup call to the entire country. It has made them aware of all the opportunities that are there, and not just in farming. Nearly 80% of its food came from its neighbours. It sometimes takes war or the threat of war to make countries look at their food security. Look at the common agricultural policy in Europe.

“The people that have shot themselves in the foot are the Saudis. If the blockade was lifted, there is so much pro-Qatar sentiment and nationalist pride that the people will buy Qatar milk, not Saudi. I think the whole environment will completely change. Our challenge is to get enough milk. If we can make enough milk, the people in Qatar will buy it.”