CAFRE traditional orchard management training

The College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) will be running an online information session on Tuesday February 1 at 7:00pm to assist traditional orchard owners to manage their fruit trees. 

The event aims to demonstrate how and when to prune trees of different ages, as well as how to maintain soil fertility and general tree health. The session will be based on video recordings from CAFRE Senior Horticultural Technologist Kieran Lavelle demonstrating pruning in the orchard at Loughry Campus in December 2021. This orchard has a range of trees from 5 to 50 years old and they display many of the issues that you would encounter in a traditional orchard on a farm.

Small orchards have historically been a feature of many farms across Northern Ireland, providing traditional varieties of Apples, Pears, Plums and Damsons with the produce destined for local sale or for use in the home. Agri-environment schemes have encouraged farmers to plant new orchards or supplement existing orchards using traditional tree varieties.

During the event, there will be a question and answer session. If you have any specific questions you would like to raise, please email them in advance to Robert.Beggs@daera-ni.gov.uk. The panel will answer these questions during the event.

Pre-registration is essential. To register, please visit the events section of the CAFRE website.