Irish horticulture has a new, green face. Just a few weeks ago Bertie Ahern handed the job of horticulture minister to former Green Party leader and passionate organic advocate, Trevor Sargent.
Sargent’s credentials show that he is well-suited to a post in horticulture. Standing in the market gardening community of Dublin North, he is associated with numerous rural organisations aside from the Greens. He is co-founder and a current board member of Sonairte, the Irish National Ecology Centre, as well as a member of the Dublin Food Co-op, the Irish Organic Farmers’ and Growers’ Association and the Organic Trust.
Sargent has wasted little time since his appointment in promoting organic ideals and the concept of seasonal growing. Earlier this month he launched food promotion body Bord Bia’s ‘Think Organic’ summer campain.
“The benefits to the consumer and the Irish producer are obvious,” he announced at the launch. “But there is also a much wider effect in terms of worldwide sustainability and reducing unnecessary food miles which are a significant factor in climate change.”
The campaign, which ended this week, ran from July 2 - 15, and aimed to further raise consumer awareness of organic food, how to recognise it when shopping and where to buy it. It looked to produce outdoor advertising and consumer leaflets with tips and recipes as well as information about local farmers’ markets, box scheme deliveries and farm shops.
The launch underlined Sargent’s intention to give an injection of support to the organic sector. “The development of the organic sector is a priority in the new Programme for Government,” he explained. “A key objective is to grow the amount of certified organic production in Ireland from less than one percent to five percent of overall agricultural output. As 75 percent of organic food consumed here is imported, much of this growth will also mean many opportunities for import substitution.”
This impetus given to the organic sector by Sargent’s arrival would seem to be timely. Tony Reid of the country’s Department of Agriculture told Commercial Grower that while they are currently working on getting updated figures to replace the Census of 2002, the organic sector is still very small in relation to agricultural as a whole. There are currently just over 1,270 organic operators in Ireland, which just under 40,000 hectares under organic production methods. This represents less than one percent of the total area farmed.
Of this, only 336 hectares is used to grow organic crops, and while the number of growers has increased to 258, it still serves to underline the minority status of organics in the country.
In the 2002 census, the last comprehensive overview of the organics sector in Ireland, producers said they felt that demand was not strong enough and consumers did not want to pay more for organic produce. There were also concerns over a lack of information on how to successfully grow organically, how to treat diseases and so on.
Sargent has called on the Irish public to buy seasonal organic produce, but also to check that produce has a label of certification from one of the three registered Irish organic certification bodies.
Broadening the spectrum to the whole of Irish horticulture, many observers in the UK believe the British government could learn a thing or two about the way in which children are taught about produce. Ireland has adopted the Bangor project’s Food Dudes scheme, an initiative that has been touted as an unqualified success and which is pertinent in view of the negative stories coming of the UK this week over the Fruit and Veg for Schools scheme.
The Food Dudes Programme was first piloted in Ireland in 2002/03. Since then it has been introduced in 171 schools with over 36,000 children participating, Bord Bia confirmed.
The programme basically focuses on changing children’s behaviour with regard to consumption of fruit and vegetables. Making use of the Food Dudes characters and a related rewards programme, the initiative encourages children to repeatedly taste fruit and vegetables and thus develop a liking for them. It is designed to ensure that increases in consumption are sustained over time, and Bord Bia believes that this has been comprehensively demonstrated in Irish schools, where children were reportedly consuming up to 90 percent more fruit and vegetables 12 months after the introduction of the programme.
Having deemed the scheme a success, minister for agriculture and food, Mary Coughlan, this year approved funding of €4 million for a roll-out of the programme to a wider number of schools in 2007. The Irish government, subject to available funds in future years, satisfactory performance and ongoing evaluation, says that the programme will be continued to 2012, with similar funds being available annually.
This funding will enable approximately 625 schools (85,000 pupils) to participate each year.
Irish ornamental horticulture has been heavily promoted at the recent Bloom 2007 event, which took place over the June bank holiday weekend in Phoenix Park, Dublin. The largest gardening event ever to have been staged in Ireland, it also featured the country’s largest nursery and floral display.
Bord Bia was at the show with a ‘Horticulture for Life’ exhibit, which aimed to showcase the importance of horticulture not just in economic terms, but in how it impacts on many aspects of modern life. Bord Bia describes it as ‘an industry vital to the needs of mankind’ in terms of both the technical nature of food production and the creative and artistic expression of garden design.
It also sought to get the message across that having surroundings filled with trees and other plants has positive effects on human health and stress.
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