Irish farmers are still an international favorite with the first order for the Irish Farmers Calendar 2024 coming all the way from New Jersey.
Back by popular demand, the calendar was shot in Dublin, Kilkenny, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow throughout the last 13 years. The best photos were compiled by fans across the globe.
The creator of the calendar series, Ciara Ryan, says that 2023 was to be the final edition of the calendar, but the fans cried out for more and as a result, the "fan favorites" edition was born.
“This year the calendar is a special edition of fan favorites featuring images from the last 13 years shot in locations over six counties and featuring the work of four talented photographers," said Ryan.
"So far, this has gone down a treat with fans and we see new orders coming in every day from all over the world. It is great to see the calendar still has universal appeal in its 14th year”.
The 2024 edition of the hit Irish Farmer Calendar features hunks of agricultural charm from Cork, Wexford, Dublin, Roscommon, Tipperary and Kilkenny. Farmers appear in their full (or at least topless) glory along with a rabbit, a goat, a lamb, horses, hens and even a Lamborghini pulling a hay trailer!
Ryan told IrishCentral that the calendar has been running for 14 years now, with one year's break due to the pandemic. She explained that it was the iconic sexy fireman calendars that gave her the idea to create this annual treat.
August: Steven Conway from Carlow.
"The firemen's calendars were the initial inspiration I felt the farmers should be featured in the same light but not just posing and looking pretty," Ryan said.
"I wanted to add another dimension to the images in the form of humor."
Over the years, this kitsch and fun page-turner has become quite the conversation starter and even a kind of tradition. It certainly became that in the IrishCentral HQ. Ryan's also heard of office antics.
November!
"I was told that an office purchases the calendar each year and places it on the wall above their water cooler. At the start of each month, the entire office gathers around the water cooler to reveal the new month's topless farmer to gasps and delights," Ryan said.
It really is incredible how popular and renowned the calendar became and how quickly.
Ryan said, "In its second year, a close friend of mine came across it hanging up in a backpackers hostel in New Zealand."
April: Ger Barker Revels from Dublin.
The calendar has always been a quirky head-turner, previously beating One Direction, Conor McGregor and Justin Bieber in the annual calendar charts, not to mention Cliff Richard and Daniel O’Donnell and achieving international recognition with ‘Irish Farmers’ the book, published by McMillan in the US.
Labeled “agri porn” by Irish television’s Ryan Tubridy, the calendar has received orders from the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Japan, Hong Kong, and South Africa, with an international audience hungry to see the charms of Ireland’s farms. The first order of the 2024 calendar came from New Jersey, followed by Germany and Finland.
For more information and to order your own visit www.farmercalendar.com.
* Photography by Ian Shipley, Frances Marshall, David Kenna and Jan Golden.
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