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HOME GROWN

(48)Home Grown presenter Colm O'Driscoll with Muckross Traditional Farm tour guide Pat Lehane in Killarney National Park (programme four, Monda Image Name: (48)Home Grown presenter Colm O'Driscoll with Muckross Traditional Farm tour guide Pat Lehane in Killarney National Park (programme four, Monda
(48) Home Grown, programme four. Presenter Colm Scully (right) with seed potato farmer David Loughran, Co. Louth Image Name: (48) Home Grown, programme four. Presenter Colm Scully (right) with seed potato farmer David Loughran, Co. Louth
(48) Home Grown programme four, Monday November 28th, RTÉ One. Presenter Kitty Scully with Ed Tobin (left) and John Stafford of Slaney farms. ( Image Name: (48) Home Grown programme four, Monday November 28th, RTÉ One. Presenter Kitty Scully with Ed Tobin (left) and John Stafford of Slaney farms. (
(48) Home Grown presenter Kitty Scully with Romain Cools, President of the World Potato Congress in the RDS(programme four, Monday November 28th Image Name: (48) Home Grown presenter Kitty Scully with Romain Cools, President of the World Potato Congress in the RDS(programme four, Monday November 28th
(48) Home Grown presenter Kitty Scully at O'Sheas Farm, Kilkenny.(Irish chips story, programme four, Monday November 28th, RTÉ One) Image Name: (48) Home Grown presenter Kitty Scully at O'Sheas Farm, Kilkenny.(Irish chips story, programme four, Monday November 28th, RTÉ One)

  A Celebration of Irish Horticulture

Home Grown is a brand new 7-part series which celebrates the Irish Horticulture industry,  presented by two of the sector’s dedicated advocates, Kitty Scully and Colm O’Driscoll.

Kitty and Colm travel all over Ireland in search of stories that celebrate Irish Horticulture and growing in all its variety. Ireland is a world leader in mushroom production. The GAA has its own farm where turf is grown for the pitch. Cut foliage grown in Tralee is used by high end florists in London and other parts of Europe. Grapes grown in North Co Dublin are being turned into wine. 

As well as stories about the different growers and producers, there are visits to inspirational gardens which are open to the public. This recognises the fact that, partly as a result of Covid, there has been a surge of interest in gardening.

Horticulture is the science and technology of plant cultivation.The horticulture industry in Ireland encompasses both food production and the production of ornamental plants and trees. The horticulture industry is an important economic sector in Ireland, with an estimated 6,600peopleemployed full time in primary production activity, and a further 11,000 employed in value added and downstream businesses such as wholesale, retail, distribution, landscape and garden design; and construction as well as local authority and county councils and parks and landscaping services.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s provisional estimates put the Horticulture industry’s farmgate value in 2021 at €521m. This places the industry as the 4th largest sector in terms of gross agriculture commodity output value. Of the €521m total output, Edible Horticulture production represented €423m and Ornamental Horticulture €98m.

“A career in horticulture is not for the faint-hearted as it embodies so many challenges” says Kitty. 

“It was fascinating to hear stories on the ground, and refreshing to meet so many resilient, hard-working, charismatic characters; dedicated to keeping this often overlooked industry alive and embracing old and new innovative technologies in the process”.”What excited me most about recording Home Grown was the opportunity to get behind-the-scenes access to many of the leading enterprises in Irish Horticulture”, says co-presenter Colm. “The vast range of those we visited is a testament to the vibrancy and diversity of the industry here in Ireland.” 

Programme four:

This week Home Grown celebrates the great Irish potato as Colm starts this programme with a visit to  specialist farmer David Loughran from Louth,who provides seed potatoes for other farmers to plant. 

Kitty and Colm both visit the World Potato Congress  which was held in Dublin this year, and where they meet some of the world’s potato experts.

Kitty heads to Slaney Farms in Enniscorthy, and sees how oddly shaped potatoes that are rejected by supermarkets are made into delicious Irish Jackford’s Gin by Wexford farmer Ed Tobin.

In Kilkenny, Kitty discovers how O’Shea Farms became the first supplier and distributor of Irish-grown potatoes dedicated to Irish chip shops.

And Colm then goes back in time to Muckross Traditional Farm in Killarney National Park to see how potatoes were grown in the traditional way – and to learn about Poitín.

‘Home Grown is produced by InProduction TV & Scéal Creative Ltd. and is sponsored by Bord Bia

Press enquiries:

TVPR
Pauline Cronin 00 353 87 2629967