Kontext

 

Sales of organic fruit and vegetables have risen considerably in Ireland over the past few years. Retail sales of organic horticultural rose by €7.5m in 2016. Much of the organic horticultural products are imported (>70%) and while this will be inevitable given the range of varieties on offer, Irish farmers are individually limited by a lack of capacity to meet consistent demand due to their small farm scale. Farm viability is further compromised as the farmers are inclined to produce the same crop, harvested at a similar time, causing unwanted surplus & wastage which undermines economic performance on each farm.

 

Retailers and suppliers to retailers (packers & distributors) require better continuity and optimized (extended) growing times for many crops that can be grown in Ireland and prefer to have less fragmented supply, but the small scale of Irish horticultural farmers is a limiting factor. To address this issue, a group of farmers have come together as a collaborative group to initiate an innovative approach. The group requires a series of organic cropping systems that will optimize their individual production while complementing the output of the entire group. In essence; eleven farmers responding to market demand by producing as one farm. 

To work effectively as a group and produce a cropping plan suitable for a collaborative approach, critical scientific information needs to be collected from each farm on a regular basis to establish capacity and identify which producer is best suited for specific crops, which varieties to use and when best to harvest to maximise quality. Data gathered from on-farm monitoring shall feed directly into the cropping system plan, and help to guide the farmers through the process of working and thinking as one farm.

Additional information

 

The expected results and practical recommendations from the project are:

• Productivity assessment of each farm.

• Profitable cropping system specifically tailored to each farm established.

• Production methods, growing techniques, seed varieties, land conditions established.

• Soil and compost will be profiled.

• Climatic conditions will be profiled – analysis fed back into cropping system.

• Green cover crop and compost trial provided.

• Demand for organic horticulture assessed.

• Producers routinely using refractometers as a Quality Control tool.