Last Monday, As Co-ordinator of the Horticulture Industry Forum, I travelled North to visit a number of producers and to address a meeting of the Northern Ireland Horticulture Forum. Vice-Chair of the N.I. Forum, Barbara Erwin accompanied me on my visit and provided me with a thorough briefing on the state of the industry there. Our first stop was to Derrylard Nurseries on the southern shores of Lough Neagh. Shane Donnelly showed us this impressive family run facility and went through the history of the business. Co Armagh is renowned for its orchard and fruit tradition. Shane’s grandfather grew apples and soft fruit and over the years the business developed and changed. Originally everything was grown outdoors but Lettuce has become the main edible crop with Tulips, Stock and Lilies comprising just over 50% of the total output, and almost everything is now grown under 12 acres of Glass with automated production systems. In his grandfather’s time, the family supplied their produce to both Belfast and Dublin. His grandfather’s brother John, managed the Dublin market supply chain and had to get this produce to Portadown train station where it travelled on to Dublin. John decided to buy land in North Dublin and founded Iona Fruit Farm between Garristown and Oldtown, which began operating in the 1930’s and is still in production today. In fact, I rented a house on this farm for 3 years in the 1990s!
Barbara and I travelled on to Mayobridge, Co Down to C&L Mushrooms, where the N.I Forum meeting was to be held. This business was founded almost 35 years ago by Mary and Gerard Fegan. Gerard brought those attending the Forum on a tour of this hi-tech facility before the meeting. The business is a major employer in the area and supplies its white mushrooms to market through Northway Mushrooms a Producer Organisation (PO) that has supplier growers on both sides of the border. Just across the border in Monaghan, another PO Commercial Mushroom Producers (CMP) also provides the same service to growers both on the northside and southside of the border. This interdependence and healthy commercial rivalry between two competing POs has facilitated the development of a thriving mushroom industry across the island of Ireland but as Michel Barnier visits Dundalk and Derry today the spectre of Brexit threatens the future of this industry.
My presentation to the N.I. Forum covered the history and operation of the Horticulture Industry Form and my role as Co-ordinator. I outlined the major challenges that producers were facing in the south and how we were working together to overcome them, and to lay the foundation for a thriving sustainable industry here. It was clear from the Q & A session that we share similar challenges on both sides of the border and how important it will be that producers across this island cooperate to meet the challenges that lie ahead.
When I return home, I discovered that a close friend and neighbour is a cousin of Mary and Gerard Fegan of C & L Mushrooms. I was amazed and struck by the fact that in my hometown of Garristown, 75km from the border that I had direct links with two of the most enterprising horticulture businesses north of the border. This “interconnectedness” is mirrored multiple times across Ireland and it is crucial that Brexit does not undo the commercial and political progress that has been achieved over the past 20 peaceful years.
