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 five:
This year’s Rare and Special Plant Fair took place in Fota House and Gardens, Co Cork, and Kitty Scully visited the Fair to meet some of the nurserymen and women who breed these unusual plants.
Colm O’Driscoll heads for Wexford to Jimmy Kearns Fruit Farm in Enniscorthy where Jimmy has found ways to extend what used to be a 6 to 8 week season to as much as 9 months.
Kitty also meets apple grower Con Traas in Tipperary this week and is surprised to learn that 90% of the apples we eat in Ireland are imported.
Colm heads to Tully Nurseries in Ballyboughal, Co Dublin, one of a handful of large nurseries supplying Ireland’s garden centres and other retailers with plants.
And it’s also ‘back to school’ for Colm who went to college at the National Botanic Gardens, as he revisits the college to see how horticulture is being taught to today’s students.
‘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
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Notes on Ireland’s Horticulture Industry
Horticulture is the science and technology of plant cultivation.
The horticulture industry in Ireland encompasses both food production, and production of ornamental plants and trees. The horticulture industry is an important sector economically [MN1] in Ireland, with an estimated 6,600employed 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.
DAFM estimate that the Horticulture industry farmgate value in 2021 was worth €521m[1]. 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 wide range of crops are grown in Ireland, and are classified by the sector into various categories which includes Field Veg (eg root crops, brassica crops, bulb crops, salad crops etc), soft fruit (raspberries, blueberries), top fruit (Apples/Pears) and Mushrooms. The market for these products include supermarkets, local shops, farmer’s markets, restaurants and direct sale via the farm shop.
Ornamental plants grown under protection include bedding, pot plants, while hardy nursery stock includes field grown and containerised trees, shrubs and herbaceous perennials. The main sales channels for this sector are garden centres, DIY stores and landscaping via garden designers, landscape architects, Landscape contractors and public bodies such as local authorities and county councils.
Ireland has developed a solid reputation for the production of high quality Firs for both the domestic and Export Christmas Tree market. Production is mainly concentrated in counties Wexford, Carlow, Wicklow, Tipperary and Cork where soils and climate combine to produce high yields. It takes seven to ten years to produce a 2 metre tall tree, and this means year round care for the life of the tree, including weed control and pruning and shaping by growers on their plantations to produce the best tree possible.
Cut foliage describes the decorative branches cut from Eucalyptus, Pittosporum and many other ornamental plants and forest trees for use in bouquets and other flower arrangements.
Fresh Produce Retail Market
The Retail Fresh Produce Market was worth €1.65bn for the 52 weeks to June 22nd 2022[2] with Vegetables accounting for €605m Fruit €811m and Potatoes €232m. The retail value of prepared Fruit and Vegetables combined was €137m.
Food Service Market[3]
The Fresh Produce Food Service Market was worth €307 million at wholesale prices in 2021, equating to a consumer value of €921m.
Amenity (ornamental) Retail Market
The Retail Amenity Market was worth €1.5 billion in the measure from January to December 2021[4], which represented an increase of 26% on the comparable figure from 2020, and the highest ever since the Celtic Tiger era. Outdoor & Flowering Plants €271m, Fresh Cut Flowers €132m, Indoor Potted Plants €51m. [CM2] Consumer spend on Landscaping Services saw an increase of 63% with a value of €268m.
Amenity (ornamental) Service Market (Landscaping/county council/local authority)
The commercial services market was measured at circa €250m at the last measure in 2018.
[1] DAFM 2021 Provisional Estimates
[2] Kantar Worldpanel – Data 12th June 2022
[3] Bord Bia 2021 Irish Foodservice Market Insights page 95
[4] Ipsos MRBI Value of the Garden Market Study for Bord Bia –2021
[MN1]“….sector economically…..”
Kitty Scully Bio – 2022Kitty Scully is an Irish organic gardener and local food advocate. She holds an MSc in Organic Horticulture but her practical ability goes far beyond academic achievement.Her career in organic horticulture has been diverse, from managing a market garden for nuns, leading the organic conversion of Airfield Estate’s food gardens in Dublin, creating an edible landscape for a Tech company in Cork city and writing for national papers. Laois born Kitty frequently features on Irish radio and is no stranger to the screen having previously co-presented RTE’s ‘How to Create a Garden’ and ‘Corrigan Cooks Naturally’. Kitty gives talks, lectures and teaches workshops on food growing using organic methods and her enthusiasm for all that is soil based is endless.
”It was such an amazing experience travelling the length and breadth of the country discovering so many diverse horticultural projects and meeting the passionate personalities behind them”, says Kitty. “From compost manufacturing to Rare and Special Plant Fairs, we saw it all.”Although I’ve been immersed in horticulture in Ireland for over 15 years, I was blown away by the amount I Iearned on Home Grown, simply by visiting farms and gardens and gleaning the knowledge handed down by generations of growers.
‘A career in horticulture is not for the faint-hearted as it embodies so many challenges. 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”.
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Colm O’Driscoll bio“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. The vast range of those we visited is a testament to the vibrancy and diversity of the industry here in Ireland.
“A common denominator between all the people we met was passion, hard work, and innovation. I found their passion and knowledge infectious and each day I left with a new story or fact that enlightened my perspective on Irish horticulture”.
A dedicated exponent of organic horticulture and craft gardening, Kildare born Colm O Driscoll spearheaded the transformation of the gardens in Airfield Estate in Dundrum from part building site to one of Ireland’s must-see gardens. This November sees him taking up a new position as Head of Gardens in Lismore Castle.A Graduate of the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland Colm has enjoyed a diverse career gaining experience in many sectors of the horticultural industry including, landscape, retail, nursery stock, and organic food production.
Colm strives to innovate and introduce new and exciting plants while adopting sustainable methodologies, an endeavour that is clearly seen from his regular contributions to The Irish Garden Magazine, and through his lectures and workshops. Colm has an insatiable appetite for all things horticulture and he can regularly be found indulging in a busman’s holiday visiting various gardens.
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TVPR
Pauline Cronin
00 353 872629967