The Grianan Estate in Co Donegal, one of Europe’s largest organic farms, comes to the market this week for sale with an asking price of €17m, or roughly €9,000/acre. Situated at Speenoge, Burt, Co Donegal, the estate extends to 2,400 acres, which includes a 500-acre lake.

The land was originally reclaimed from Lough Swilly, making it some of the most fertile and productive ground in the country. Presently, the farm produces over 3,000t of organic produce per annum, including milk, vegetables and cereals.

The estate is currently owned by Donegal Investment Group, which acquired the farm back in the late 1990s from National Irish Bank (NIB). An Grianan came to national attention back in 1996 when the Graham family, after years of legal wrangling, were evicted from the farm by NIB for defaulting on debts of close to £2.8m (punts).

Most of the estate is in lease to the Witherow family, who run a 500-cow organic dairy herd on the land, while about 200 acres are used to grow organic vegetables under contract on behalf of Donegal Investment Group.

According to selling agent Pat O’Hagan from Savills, Dublin, the farm will be sold in one lot and there has been some quiet interest already. Due to the sheer scale of the An Grianan Estate, which is more typical of a farm size in the UK, it is no surprise that Savills have brought their farmland and country estates team from the UK on board for this sale as that is where a buyer is more likely to be found.

Donegal Investment Group’s managing director, Ian Ireland, said the sale of An Grianan was consistent with the group’s business strategy of disposing of non-core assets to return value to shareholders. The group has already sold part of the farm when it offloaded some 245 acres of the Grianan Estate for less than €3m back in February 2014.