Horticulture Connected Spring Volume 8 Issue 1

HORTICULTURE CONNECTED

Spring 2021

News, analysis and trends in landscape, garden retail & edible horticulture

WILDFLOWERS

NOELEEN SMYTH ON HOW HORTICULTURE CAN SUPPORT THE BEES

VALUE OF THE GARDEN MARKET 2020

BORD BIA’S CAROL MARKS OUTLINES RECORD GROWTH IN 2020

MAINTAINING MARGINS THROUGH A CHALLENGING YEAR BARRY LUPTON INTERVIEWS DARRAGH CONNOLLY

SHINING A LIGHT ON SUSTAINABLE DESIGN PATRICIA TYRELL REVIEWS THE GLDA SEMINAR 2021

Volume 8 Issue 1

The residual, AGILITY pre-emergent STRATEGIC total herbicide for vegetation management Contains an innovative new active ingredient in residual weed control Combines new and trusted active ingredients for outstanding weed control Residual effects last for up to 4 months Can be tank-mixed with glyphosate for post-emergent control

Now available in the UK & Ireland LockStar contains 360g/kg diflufenican and 10g/kg iodosulfuron-methyl-sodium. Always read the label and product information before use. Use pesticides safely.

MAPP No. 19101 PCS No, 06593

For more information visit: www.icl.sf.co.uk | www.icl-sf.ie 2

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticultureconnected.ie / Spring 2021

01 / EDITORIAL

STOPPING RETHINKING RESTARTING

R

esilience is a word we have become used to hearing over the last number of months. Our personal resilience, the resilience of our businesses and the resilience of national and international structures and relationships have been acutely tested.

Overall, the global response to the crises of the pandemic has been admirable and we can be proud of the strength of the resilience shown by nations, organisations, businesses and people in heretofore unimaginable circumstances.

The long period of enforced confinement has allowed many qualified and experienced employees in all sectors, and none more than in the horticulture sector, time to reevaluate their future careers. Additionally, at a time where the issues of climate change and sustainability are, finally, at the top of the agendas of national and international policy makers, many young people are also examining the future and seeking alternative career and life paths. The horticultural educational institutions are experiencing a surge in interest for horticulture based education at all levels of qualification. Young people have a sincere desire to be involved in the horticulture sector to contribute to that change agenda. For all that, many have a romantic view of what it is to be a ‘horticulturist’, a view that would no doubt be dampened by the reality of cold mornings, wet days and limited financial reward. Over the years, HC has had numerous conversations with people considering a career in horticulture, who ultimately come to a conclusion that the sector cannot offer them the financial security in their career which will provide for their family and give them a path to a rewarding and expansive career.

However, there is a new and renewed

interest in horticulture, gardens, the outdoors and more natural living. People are now more willing than ever before to put more value and invest more in horticultural products and services.

The question for the sector may well be whether this can be harnessed to make the sector a more attractive and equitable career proposition for the existing and new entrants to the amenity and edible horticulture sectors.

In this issue; resilience is a thread which runs through many of the articles.

Patricia Tyrell chronicles the many interesting and illuminating presentations with designing for sustainability and resilience as the key message, at the GLDA seminar, which was held virtually for the first time this year. Barry Lupton interviews a garden maintenance business owner, with a healthy and robust business which can bounce back after the re-opening. Bord Bia’s, Carol Mark’s review of the Value of the Garden Market gives a clear picture of the increased consumer investment in gardening activities and outdoor living in 2020, as we engage with our outdoor spaces as never before. Teagasc’s Eamonn Kehoe provides an overview of the potential for the new strawberry variety “Malling Centenary”, a long season, resilient variety which produces excellent quality and yield of fruit while resulting in less environmental impacts. Féidhlim Harty provokes thought with his article, which calls on us to consider the boundless potential for and benefits of creating river corridors throughout our countryside and increasing the resilience of our biodiversity and waterways. There is, of course, lots more to discover here; fields of sunflowers, why native wildflowers are the only ones to consider, how risk can be managed and recruitment structured.

We thank this edition’s contributors and all our many contributors who continue to share their knowledge, passion and experience with the horticulture community. We always welcome new members and voices so please get in touch at editor@ horticulture.ie. If you are a regular reader and recipient of we also ask you to consider supporting the publication by way of an annual subscription. Details of which can be accessed here. ✽

HC TEAM HorticultureConnected.ie for daily news updates

HORTICULTURE CONNECTED

Spring 2021

News, analysis and trends in landscape, garden retail & edible horticulture

WILDFLOWERS

NOELEEN SMYTH ON HOW HORTICULTURE CAN SUPPORT THE BEES

VALUE OF THE GARDEN MARKET 2020

BORD BIA’S CAROL MARKS OUTLINES RECORD GROWTH IN 2020

MAINTAINING MARGINS THROUGH A CHALLENGING YEAR BARRY LUPTON INTERVIEWS DARRAGH CONNOLLY

SHINING A LIGHT ON SUSTAINABLE DESIGN PATRICIA TYRELL REVIEWS THE GLDA SEMINAR 2021

Volume 8 Issue 1

Fumbally Exchange Argus House, Blackpitts, Dublin 8, D08 Y273, Ireland +353 (0)87 921 2044

Editoral Team editor@horticulture.ie +353 (0)89 255 7526 Joseph Blair Imelda Egan Barry Lupton Creative Director Tanya Gilsenan - tanya@horticulture.ie Layout: Compton Sheldon Subscriptions & Accounts Geraldine O'Neill - +353 (0)87 477 0492 geraldine@horticulture.ie Recruitment & Horticulture.jobs Sam Barrett - +353 (0)89 476 7424 sam@horticulture.ie Print & Digital Sales Paul Moran - +353 (0)89 238 5278 sales@horticulture.ie Cover Photo by Annie Spratt Printers: Azure Communations Print Run: 3,000 copies

HORTICULTURE CONNECTED

AUTUMN/WINTER 2019

News, analysis and trends in landscape, garden retail & edible horticulture

HORTICULTURE CONNECTED

Summer 2019

News, analysis and trends in landscape, garden retail & edible horticulture

HORTICULTURE CONNECTED

Spring 2019

News, analysis and trends in landscape, garden retail & edible horticulture

MAKING THE PHOENIX BLOOM BARRY LUPTON INTERVIEWS GARY GRAHAM

WHY ARE YOU IN BUSINESS?

TERRY O’REGAN REACHES RETIREMENT AND ASKS THAT VITAL QUESTION?

THE THERAPEUTIC USE OF HORTICULTURE IN IRELAND RACHEL FREEMAN REVIEWS THE INAUGURAL SYMPOSIUM ON SOCIAL AND THERAPEUTIC HORTICULTURE

CHANGING THE RETAIL CLIMATE LIAM KELLY EXPLORES A GREENER SHOP FLOOR

WE’RE WINNING THE RACE TO THE BOTTOM COLM KENNY THROWS A SPOTLIGHT ON PROCUREMENT ISSUES

MEADOW MYTHBUSTER

SANDRO CAFOLLA TACKLES MYTHS AROUND MEADOW CREATION AND MAINTENANCE

AVOIDING THE PITFALLS

COLM KENNY DIGS DEEP ON URBAN TREES

GARDENING ON A THE EDGE

PATRICIA TYRELL REVIEWS THE RECENT GLDA SEMINAR

MITTELSTAND LESSONS FROM GERMANY

DÓNALL FLANAGAN SHARES INSIGHTS FROM GERMAN NURSERIES STUDY TOUR

ALCI AWARDS 2019

IRELAND'S LEADING CONTRACTORS ANNOUNCED

Volume 6 Issue 3

Volume 6 Issue 2

Volume 6 Issue 1

Distribution: Readership of 10,000 across Ireland to businesses and professionals in the following sectors: Landscape Architects / Garden Retail / Florists / Nurseries / Greenkeepers / Sports Surfaces / Local Authorities & Parks Departments / Machinery / Education / Edible Horticulture Publishers: Horticulture Connected Ltd www.HorticultureConnected.ie

HORTICULTURE CONNECTED

News, Analysis and Trends In Landscape, Garden Retail & Edible Horticulture

HORTICULTURECONNECTED

1

CONTENTS

CONTENTS NEWS 03

Horticulture News

P20

TEAGASC

LANDSCAPE

40 RIVER CORRIDORS CONNECTING NATURE Féidhlim Harty explores the boundless potential and benefits of creating river corridors throughout our countryside

06 All the latest news from Teagasc

EDIBLES

10 THE NEW CHALLENGES OF THE “MALLING CENTENARY” VARIETY Teagasc’s Dr Eamonn Kehoe discusses his research on “Malling Centenary” Strawberry Variety

BORD BIA 12

All the latest news from Bord Bia

RECRUITMENT

14 SPEND TIME INTERVIEWING TO SAVE TIME Sam Barrett discusses how spending time going through an interview process may actually save you time in the long run

EVENTS / JOBS 16

Horticulture trade events and the Latest Horticulture jobs from Horticulture.jobs

RESEARCH

18 CONSUMER GARDENING SPEND IN 2020 - THE HIGHEST EVER Bord Bia’s Carol Marks reports on Bord Bia’s Value of the Garden Market research

INSIGHT

RETAIL

30 BUILDING PRODUCT RANGES THAT MAKE COMMERCIAL SENSE Andy Campbell discusses the principles for building a good product range

32 PRINT AND DIGITAL MARKETING: CLOSING THE CIRCLE Paul Moran explores the benefits to your business of a considered approach to combining the best of print and digital advertising

43 “WILDFLOWER” OR “WILDFOULER”, HOW THE INDUSTRY CAN SUPPORT THE BEES AND BIODIVERSITY Noeleen Smyth writes on how horticulture can support the bees

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, FOOD AND THE MARINE 47

DAFM outlines the steps required to become an authorised issuer of plant passports

DESIGN

34 THE GARDEN LANDSCAPE DESIGNERS ASSOCIATION SEMINAR 2021 Patricia Tyrell reviews the first virtual GLDA seminar

P18

OPINION

38 IS RISK ON YOUR MENU Terry O’Regan reflects on the importance of risk identification and mitigation in the landscape sector

20 SUNFLOWERS - AN ATTRACTIVE PRODUCT PROPOSITION Teagasc’s Andy Whelton explores why sunflowers may fit your businesscarbon

P34

INTERVIEW

26 MAINTAINING MARGINS Barry Lupton speaks to Darragh Connolly of Darragh Connolly Garden Care about his business model and succeeding through the pandemic

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HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticultureconnected.ie / Spring 2021

P26

02 / NEWS

HORTICULTURE NEWS ICL’S LOCKSTAR FOR WEED CONTROL Alan Abel of Complete Weed Control (South & Central Wales) says that ICL’s residual herbicide, LockStar, has become an essential product in his armoury. Since its launch last year, LockStar has been well received in the turf and landscaping sector. Public green spaces, amenity areas and transportation infrastructure were suffering from weed infestations, a reduction in available chemical solutions and reducing budgets for control. This new herbicide, which controls a broad spectrum of weeds, has been keeping areas such as these weed-free, functional and visually pleasing.

LockStar’s innovative formula contains diflufenican and iodosulfuron-methyl-sodium, which is the first new weed control active ingredient to be released in the UK for many years. Alan has been using LockStar throughout the past season and has reported hugely encouraging results. “I’ve found it to be excellent and the longevity is fantastic,” he said. “It has been effective on all fronts for up to five months with just one application.” When applied before germination, LockStar creates a dual barrier at the soil surface ensuring that soil is kept weed-free for up to five months. To control weeds that are already present, it can be tankmixed with glyphosate or a ‘fatty acid’. Alan went on:“For those weeds that are already present, I have mixed LockStar with both glyphosate and another herbicide, I’ve applied them at half rate and again, the results have been fantastic.”

Alan says that the product has been a huge hit with local authorities and councils especially when it comes to the treatment of areas that need frequent strimming. “We have applied LockStar to many fence lines, wall lines, tree bases – areas that need strimming at least once every three or four weeks,” continued Alan. “With LockStar applied to these

ICL’S LOCKSTAR HAS BECOME AN ESSENTIAL PRODUCT IN ALAN ABEL’S ARMOURY

areas, they don’t require to be strimmed at all, which saves our grounds teams a lot of time.”

ICL recently announced an update to the label of LockStar, which provided users with more effective and flexible weed control, as Colman Warde, country manager for ICl explains: “The label update includes extended use of the product meaning it can now be applied at any time of year instead of the previous limited window between February and June. It was most welcome news to contractors and grounds managers as it gives them the opportunity to adapt their approach and give them greater control over weed growth.” Alan agreed that these new permissions provide a lot more flexibility.

Please contact ICL on 044 1473 237100 or visit www.icl-sf.ie Follow ICL on Twitter @ICL_Turf ✽

ICL NEW APPOINTMENT ICL has appointed Brendan Howell to the new role of ICL Sales Development Manager for Professional Horticulture across Ireland. His appointment is part of a strategic move that sees ICL offer its full range of Professional Horticulture product solutions to professional growers in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Previously Bord na Móna’s national account manager for Professional growing media in the UK and Ireland, Brendan brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the role. Brendan will help growers to transition away from peat with ICL’s new Levington Advance growing media range. Alongside the Levington Advance growing media range, ICL is offering its full portfolio of industry-leading controlled release and soluble fertilizers, wetting agents, plant protection products, and biostimulants. Commenting on his appointment, Brendan said: “I look forward to working directly with growers and distributor partners to help them meet the challenges that lie ahead in the professional grower market”.

Brendan will be assisted by Andrew Wilson (ICL Fertilizers and Plant Protection Products Technical Manager for the UK and Ireland) and Dr Eleni Siasou (ICL Product and Development Manager for Growing Media). Brendan’s contact details are: Tel : +353 (0) 830987436 or Email Brendan.howell@icl-group.com ✽

Spring 2021 / www.horticultureconnected.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED

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NEWS / 02 RESUMPTION OF HORTICULTURAL PEAT HARVESTING RAISED AT WORKING GROUP MEETING The resumption of peat harvesting, by way of derogation of emergency legislation, was the focus of a second meeting of a working group on horticulture peat.

Peat producers and vegetable, mushroom and nursery growers are being forced to import peat from the Baltic states, Canada, Russia and the UK after the High Court ruled that milling peat on bogs over 30ha requires planning permission from An Bord Pleanala and an EPA licence.

A working group was established to examine the issues identified during the Review on the Use of Peat Moss in the Horticultural Industry, comprised of representatives from the Department of Housing, state agencies, industry stakeholders and environmental non-government organisations. The working group has been warned that 17,000 jobs are at risk due to the 2019 High Court ruling.

Calls are now being made for a derogation or legislative amendment to save the 2021 harvest.

John Neenan of Growing Media Ireland (GMI) which represents most of Ireland’s horticultural peat producers has said,“The Department officials appear to definitely rule out a derogation and are not over positive on emergency legislation,” and went onto say “As far as I am aware, there is no legislative proposal available from the members to deal with this at present. However, GMI is working with their legal advisers and hopefully will have proposals available shortly.”

Bord na Móna suspended peat harvesting operations last year following the landmark High Court decision. It then formally ended all peat harvesting on its lands in January of this year. It is understood the closure of BNM’s peat division means CO2 emissions from peatlands in Ireland will reduce by over 97%. Just 0.12% of total Irish bogland has been developed for horticultural peat harvesting. The annual CO2 emissions from this area is 0.15% of total Irish emissions.

Speaking to The Irish Times, Just Transition Commissioner, Kieran Mulvey said: “Importing peat is a nonsense. We’re importing the same product from another European country that doesn’t seem to have the same directives applied to them as are being applied to us on the same bogs.”

Without Bord na Móna, many Irish horticultural peat producers and vegetable, mushroom and nursery growers have had to import peat from across the globe. John Neenan commented, “Collectively, what the industry wants is a return to horticultural peat harvesting in 2021 – whether this is by way of emergency legislation or a temporary derogation (short term) and an amendment in the current legislation to allow peat harvesting continue, subject to an EPA licence, and based on a phased reduction on peat use in line with the development of responsibly sourced peat alternatives. Neenan added: “Harvesting should be carried out in a responsible way and in line with good practice and under an EPA licence.” A third meeting of the horticulture peat working group will take place shortly. ✽

4

OUTDOOR TEACHING RESUMES AT THE TEAGASC COLLEGE The Teagasc College of Horticulture in the National Botanic Gardens has been able to resume outdoor practical delivery of its programmes in April, with the easing of Level 5 restrictions. All outdoor activity had been paused due to the pandemic but thankfully we can now operate outdoor, safe, socially distanced practicals. Students doing the advanced certificate and degree programmes will be joined by certificate students in May to complete programmes for practical instruction and assessment in different modules.

All activities are closely risk-assessed and follow strict HSE protocols to ensure safety procedures are followed at all times.

Students work in specific pods groups for their nominated outdoor activities. Students have been delighted to be back on-site in Botanics Glasnevin and the Ashtown Teagasc.

There is ongoing interest in courses for next year and on the last Friday of each month there is a virtual event called TRY Hort which is an online programme highlighting the coursework and programmes offered. Past TRY Hort events can be viewed on the National Botanics College page of the Teagasc website. This month’s event, on Friday April 30th at 12.30 pm, will showcase the level 7 degree that is offered with partner Waterford Institute of Technology, covering what this programme can offer for learning and work placement and how it can prepare students for a career in horticulture. Register for the event at: https:// tryhorticultureaprilvirtualopenday.eventbrite.ie. Interest in next year courses is strong and there is an online application portal open available for the Certificate Level 5 programme at: https://www.teagasc.ie/education/going-to-college/ apply-online/horticulture-courses.

INTRA ECO SHIELD – ENHANCING CROP GROWTH Intrahorti, in collaboration with Whites Amenity, brings a new product to the Irish market, Intra Eco Shield, which empowers the natural strength of crops. Intra Eco Shield is made up of a high level of orthosilicic acid, the addition of which can benefit plants in many different ways.

Silicon is an element present in nature and its effect on crops is often underestimated. As we understand more, it is apparent that Silicon is one of the trace elements necessary for crop growth. Growers demand high yields from crop planting, and by adding a silicon-based product that is highly available to the plant, Intra Eco Shield helps the plant to thrive.

Intra Eco Shield ensures the formation of strong and healthy crops, creating a shield in the outer cell wall of the plant, protecting the cell against external hazards and improving nutrient uptake, particularly calcium and potash. It also stimulates photosynthesis and increases rooting along with improving pest and disease control.

Intra Eco Shield helps growers to keep crops healthy and increase yields. ✽

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticultureconnected.ie / Spring 2021

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HORTIRECRUIT

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LANDSCAPE FOREMAN

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WEB DESIGNER

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For further information: Email: Kildalton.college@teagasc.ie

Website:www.teagasc.ie/education/teagasc-colleges/ kildalton/horticulture

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Spring 2021 / www.horticultureconnected.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED

5

TEAGASC ezine / 03

AUTOMATED MONITORING OF INSECT PESTS Monitoring for insects and insect damage is time consuming and, while an important part of IPM programmes, it is a task that needs to be simplified and automated. A new EU ERA-NET project, HALY ID, funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Teagasc, and involving Teagasc and the Tyndall Institute in Cork, looks to simplify and automate this process. The project will seek to utilise machine learning to develop artificial intelligence solutions to monitor for pests and to utilise technologies such as unmanned aerial vehicles and static cameras to conduct pest monitoring and to report directly to growers on pest populations and crop damage. Initially, the project will focus on Halyomoropha halys, the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug,

which is an invasive Asiatic shield bug pest of fruit trees, vegetables and amenity trees in Europe. It was recently recorded in the UK. The Irish component of the project will focus on two prominent insect pests, Spotted Wing Drosophila and Carrot Root Fly,

as model pests to test and develop the technology. If successful, it will serve as a model for the development of automated pest monitoring systems.

For further information, please contact Dr Michael Gaffney, Michael.Gaffney@ Teagasc.ie. ✽

GRIPPING MUSHROOM RESEARCH Teagasc has started an exciting research project called SoftGrip. This is a three year, EU-funded project that could revolutionise the harvesting of mushrooms, addressing the severe labour shortage issues facing the sector. The project aims to develop a soft robotic ‘gripper’ designed specifically for harvesting delicate produce. The gripper would be integrated with end-to-end picking automation systems for mushrooms and wider applications to harvesting other delicate produce is envisaged.

The gripper will ‘learn’ how to harvest mushrooms by imitating the harvesting process performed by human harvesters. Novel, ‘intelligent’ materials will be developed for the surfaces of the gripper that are food-safe, selfrepairable and recyclable so they are more environmentally sustainable. Engineers and scientists from five countries are involved and Teagasc’s role is to ensure that all elements of SoftGrip are compatible with current mushroom growing systems. Over 80% of Irish mushrooms are exported to the fresh market in Britain where the demand is for high quality, blemish-free mushrooms. Robot grippers which have been developed to date tend to leave pressure marks on the mushroom which is unacceptable in the demanding

6

British market. In due course, the SoftGrip prototype will be demonstrated on Teagasc’s mushroom research unit.

For more information contact Dr. Helen Grogan - helen. grogan@teagasc.ie. ✽

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticultureconnected.ie / Spring 2021

03 /TEAGASC ezine LETTUCE PRODUCTION Supporting decision making on agricultural input reduction Researcher Dr. Lael Walsh at Teagasc, Ashtown is working with Universities of Warwick and Sussex on a project to support decision making on agricultural input reduction. They are looking for participants from the lettuce growing and research communities in Ireland and the UK for an online workshop on 19th and 20th April 10am-2pm.

Interested participants are invited to register using the link: http://bit.ly/ FoodLossWorkshop Food loss and waste are associated with greenhouse gas emissions and negative impacts to natural resources.

The promotion of responsible food production which limits agricultural inputs, harnesses ecosystem services and reduces crop losses, aligns with the United Nations’ Sustainable

Development Goals (SDGs), particularly goal 12 “Responsible Consumption and Production, as well as circular economy principles and the EU Green Deal objectives to address the challenges of sustainable food systems.

This workshop is part of an STFC (Science and Technology Facilities Council) Food Network+ funded project to develop a databased decision support model for growers seeking strategies to reduce agricultural inputs while minimising food loss. Field-grown head lettuce is being used as the exemplar crop in the development of this proof-of-concept tool.

Participants (experts) will be given training in a structured expert judgement protocol and then asked

to give private, individual estimates of food loss under a variety of scenarios.

The estimates from each of the experts will be anonymised and presented back to the group for a facilitated discussion.

Estimates may be revised through a second round of private, individual estimates. Estimates will then be aggregated and averaged to provide data for the decision support model.

The model will become available as a web-based tool. The project team includes Dr. Lael Walsh at Teagasc, Dr. Martine Barons and Dr. Linda Nichols at University of Warwick and Edward Salakpi at University of Sussex For more information contact Dr. Lael Walsh at Teagasc - Lael. walsh@teagasc.ie or visit www. teagasc.ie/events. ✽

THE INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES 2021

TEAGASC NEW APPOINTMENT

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation has declared 2021 as the International Year of Fruit and Vegetables.

The aim is to raise awareness and share good practices on the contribution of fruit and vegetables to healthy diets and sustainable lifestyles, while drawing attention to the importance of reducing loss and waste of fruit and vegetables. The HSE’s Healthy Eating Guidelines food pyramid now suggests that we should aspire to seven servings of fruit or vegetables per day, highlighting the importance of plant based foods in our diet. Ireland produces a broad range of fruit and vegetables, in the field and under protection of polythene or glass structures. Some of the main vegetables include carrots, parsnips, lettuce, tomatoes and a range of brassicas such as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and swedes. The primary fruits produced include strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and both culinary and eating apples. The farm gate value of the commercial fruit and vegetable sector in Ireland is over €350 million but many people have also taken to their back garden or community allotments to grow their own fruit and vegetables, particularly during the recent Covid-19 lockdowns. The Teagasc publications ‘A Guide to Vegetable Growing’ and ‘Greenhouse Salad Crops – A Guide for Home Gardeners’ are excellent resources for anyone ‘growing their own’.

A Guide to Vegetable Growing, Stephen Alexander – bit.ly/ VegGrowingGuide Greenhouse Salad Crops – A Guide for Home Gardeners, Leo Finn and Michael Gaffney - bit.ly/GreenhouseSaladsit. ✽

Teagasc recently appointed Ester Ferrari as Technician in the Horticulture Development Department in Ashtown Dublin.

She will be working alongside the other technicians in the Horticulture Department, providing technical assistance and supporting field and laboratory based research. Ester completed her MSc in Agricultural Sciences at the University of Turin, Italy in 2010 and since then has been working as a laboratory and field technician, strengthening her experience and skills during her previous roles in Italy, Ireland and Scotland. During her career, Ester has worked on many different research projects focused on agriculture, and has developed a particular interest in studying the application of effective and sustainable pest control methods in tillage and horticultural crops.

Spring 2021 / www.horticultureconnected.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED

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TEAGASC ezine / 03

NEW STRAWBERRY VARIETY TRIAL BEGINS ON SEVERAL SOFT FRUIT FARMS A new strawberry variety trial has begun on several soft fruit farms across Ireland. The trial is run in association with the Italian soft fruit plant propagators Mazzoni and Salvi-Vivai (also known as CIV). The trial will grow a number of ‘June bearing’ varieties in a range of protective structures including glasshouses, walk in tunnels and Spanish tunnels. The main aim is to see how the different strawberry

varieties perform in these structures and in different parts of the country. All of the varieties will be grown in either peat or coco peat (coir) substrates.

With the help of Teagasc the growers will record the fruit weights and the fruit quality from the individual trial.

The trials will include the growth of both early and mid-season varieties; ‘Joly’, ‘Sibilla’, ‘Lycia’ ‘Annely’ and ‘CIV 725’. The industry is always looking

for new strawberry varieties that can complement the existing ones being grown and could potentially fill the existing gaps in production throughout the long season. Jim Kearns of Kearns Soft Fruit Farm near Enniscorthy, in Co.Wexford commented, “I am delighted about taking part in the trial as we are always on the lookout for new strawberry varieties to extend our fruit season”. ✽

SOFT FRUIT PRODUCTION FACTSHEETS TO SUPPORT NEW ENTRANTS Teagasc have recently developed three new factsheets aimed at new entrants to Ireland’s growing soft fruit industry. The industry is growing at a high rate of about 10 per cent per annum. Strawberries are the most important soft fruit crop grown, making up about 85% of the total berries grown in Ireland. There is

8

potential for new entrants into the soft fruit market, particularly for those with an entrepreneurial flair who are willing to develop a market share.

The factsheets cover three soft fruit crops; strawberries, raspberries and blueberries. The factsheets are a short introduction to the modern production of high-quality berries with an emphasis

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticultureconnected.ie / Spring 2021

on sustainable cultivation methods. The use of protective cropping, the markets available and the yields and returns for each crop are outlined. The fact sheets are available at bit.ly/Fruit-Production If you would like more information please feel free to contact our soft fruit adviser Dr Eamonn Kehoe - eamonn. kehoe@teagasc.ie. ✽

03 /TEAGASC ezine HORTICULTURE PEAT STAKEHOLDER WORKING GROUP The cessation of peat harvesting from bogs over 30 hectares in 2020 has left a dwindling supply of Irish peat, specifically growing media. Peat is used extensively as a major component in growing media and mushroom casing owing to a number of significant attributes which, in combination, have provided the basis of modern soil-less plant and food production systems. The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) began a consultation process in late 2019 reviewing the use of peat in horticulture. Teagasc Horticulture Development Department among other interested parties made technical submissions during this consultation process.

In January of this year, the horticulture and growing media sectors made an address to a meeting of the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee. There was broad support across the House to find solutions for the sectors.

Dr Munoo Prasad was recently appointed by the Minister for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan T.D., as chairperson of the working group established to examine the issues identified during the Review on the Use of Peat Moss in the Horticultural Industry. The Chairperson will chair

meetings of the working group and issue recommendations to the Minister arising from its deliberations. Teagasc, represented by Dermot Callaghan on the working group, looks forward to working with the chairperson and stakeholders in developing solutions for all sectors.

THE CHALLENGE While some in-roads have been made on peat alternatives for the retail market, the search for alternatives that have the potential to match peat-based growing media and mushroom casing for the professional horticulture sector has not yielded viable alternatives. If functional peat alternatives are found through research, the factors of the economic cost and the environmental performance of the materials, previously overlooked in the research, will need to be thoroughly investigated in parallel. Equal weight should be given to these media selection criteria in the future. If alternatives are identified, moving to these alternatives should offer more environmentally sustainable options when compared to peat-based growing media and casing.

GROWERS HAVE BEGUN SMALL SCALE TRIALS OF VARIOUS GROWING MEDIA MIXES; HERE LAVENDER IS GROWING IN, LEFT TO RIGHT, 100% PEAT, 20% REDUCED PEAT AND 40% REDUCED PEAT GROWING MEDIA.

KILDALTON COLLEGE EMBRACES BOTANIC GARDEN STUDENTS FOR ONLINE MODULES Last year saw unprecedented changes in education, in the way classes are delivered, how lecturers and students interact and courses assessed. As is frequently the case, challenges can bring opportunities to do things differently. This has been the case for students’ studying the Waterford Institute of Technology Bachelor of Science in Horticulture in the Botanic Gardens Dublin Campus. The move to the virtual classroom for delivery of lectures, has created an opportunity for students’ to study modules delivered by Kildalton College lecturers, as part of their degree which were not available at the Botanic Gardens. This has created an opportunity for students from both colleges to meet, interact and learn from each other. The two cohorts have joined for two modules; Landscape Design Advanced delivered by Laura Cassin and Garden Centre Operations, taught by Fred Townsend, both Kildalton College lecturers.

According to Grainne McMahon, Assistant Principal, Kildalton College ‘We want to produce graduates who are mindful and take a problem solving approach to issues impacting Irish horticultural businesses.’ Students are examining how garden centres can adapt to deal with the changes due to COVID. According to Fred Townsend, Lecturer Kildalton College ‘It has been challenging lecturing students whom we have never met in person, but it has been a very positive experience.’ In the Landscape Design Advanced module, students are engaging in a project with a real estate investment firm in the development of a sustainable park as part of a new urban quarter. According to Laura Cassin, Lecturer, Kildalton College; ‘this has been a fantastic experience for both the students and the company.

Students are getting the opportunity to work on a real life situation project and the company gets to work with a diverse group of students who are bringing new ideas to the project.’

Spring 2021 / www.horticultureconnected.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED

9

EDIBLES / 04

THE NEW CHALLENGES OF THE ‘MALLING

CENTENARY’ STRAWBERRY VARIETY

In the first of two articles, Dr. Eamonn Kehoe, Teagasc Soft Fruit Specialist, discusses some of the research findings from the work carried out on ‘Malling Centenary’ over the last few years. The research was conducted in the state of the art research glasshouse unit in Teagasc Ashtown, Dublin WHY THIS STRAWBERRY VARIETY? ‘Malling Centenary’ is currently the most popular strawberry variety on the Irish market. It has replaced the Dutch strawberry variety ‘Elsanta’ which was the mainstay of Irish strawberry production for over 40 years. The fruit quality of ‘Malling Centenary’ has been described as superb. Whilst the yields of the variety are lower than those of ‘Elsanta’, the variety compensates for this with increased fruit harvesting speeds and better fruit quality.

‘Malling Centenary’ is categorised as a ‘June-bearing’ strawberry, or in scientific parlance, a ‘short day’ (SD) plant; these plants initiate flower buds in short days. The day length needed for such initiation is not fixed, but is modulated by temperature.

The lower the temperature, within limits, the fewer the days needed. These ‘June-bearers’ fruit naturally in June, hence the name, and are the most popular varieties among commercial growers. They are the result of decades of breeding for attributes such as productivity, size, flavour, and disease resistance.

NEW RESEARCH OBJECTIVES Initially, very little was known about this new strawberry variety.

The research described here focused primarily on establishing a growing system for the crop grown in a heated glasshouse unit.

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‘THE YIELD AND QUALITY OF THE ‘MALLING CENTENARY’ CROP WAS EXCELLENT’

The first trial focused on developing the optimal nutrition regime for this new variety.

Although the ‘Centenary’ is a SD plant, its flowering characteristics are quite different from those of a typical SD plant. Some of the plant's genetic makeup includes crosses from the east coast of the United States and these genes may be switched on in certain environmental conditions. In fact, when the variety was first grown here several Irish growers observed an unusual feature of this new variety. When grown over a season in a heated glasshouse it cropped continually, from the spring to the early autumn. This is highly unusual for a ‘June bearing’ (short day) strawberry variety. We observed the same phenomenon in our trial.

SUCCESSFUL CROP PRODUCTION WITH LOWER INPUTS High crop yields and good fruit quality, with as few crop inputs as possible, are the goals of successful production systems, saving money for the grower and simultaneously resulting in considerable environmental benefits.

We grew one crop of ‘Malling Centenary’ over two growing seasons. The plants were planted in early 2018 into a heated glasshouse unit. The crop was fed with a feed a low electrical conductivity (EC) of 1.0dSm-1 or with a standard feed with

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticultureconnected.ie / Spring 2021

04 / EDIBLES production of Class 1 fruit between the two feed levels, with each producing over 80 per cent .

Over the two growing seasons, both the low and high fed crops gave a total fruit yield of 1.13kg and 1.08kg respectively. This was an excellent total yield. The Class 1 fruit production was also excellent at 88 and 89 per cent respectively for both low and high feeds. The fruit yields and percentage of Class I quality fruit produced demonstrate how productivity and fruit quality can be increased on the farm by choosing this variety. It is apparent that a strawberry grower using the ‘Malling Centenary’ variety can reduce fertiliser and water costs and consequently lessen environmental effects by also reducing water and fertiliser runoff from the crop.

The work on ‘Malling Centenary’ demonstrates that you can achieve a satisfactory yield whilst reducing the nutrient input into the crop, without a detrimental effect on crop yield or fruit quality. An upcoming article will describe the effect of planting dates and density on a 60day crop of ‘Malling Centenary’. ✽

an EC of 1.6dSm-1. The strawberry crop was overwintered in the glasshouse. Once growth began in early 2019 all plants were treated with night break lighting using special light emitting diode (LED) lights to break crop dormancy. When night break light treatment is not used, both crop yields and strawberry quality are lower. The LED bulbs use only 11 watts of electricity compared to the standard 100 watt incandescent bulbs predominantly used in the industry. The bulbs used in our glasshouse are Signify’s ‘Greenpower’ bulbs. These lights are specifically designed for night break lighting. The lights give the optimum levels of deep red, white and far red radiation for the strawberry crop.

RESULTS In the first season, fruit harvesting began on the 26th of April and ended on the 29th of July. This long growing season is a phenomenon when growing ‘Malling Centenary’ using heated glass. The variety includes an everbearing (short-day) variety in its breeding line which may contribute to this long season extension. The yields in the first season were 675g per plant and 635g per plant using the low and high feed respectively.

There was no difference in the production of Class 1 fruit quality between the feed levels, with high scores of 88 and 89 per cent respectively.

In the second season of production, fruit harvesting started on the 26th of April and continued until the 29th of July. The crop produced 463g and 454g of fruit per plant from the low and high feed treatments respectively. There was no difference in the

‘‘MALLING CENTENARY’ CROP GROWING IN TEAGASC’S STATE OF THE ART GLASSHOUSE’

DR EAMONN KEHOE is a soft fruit adviser and research scientist with Teagasc. For more information contact: eamonn.kehoe@teagasc.ie

Spring 2021 / www.horticultureconnected.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED

11

BORD BIA ezine / 05

MUSHROOMS CAMPAIGN DELIVERS The €2 million ‘Mushrooms Complement Everything’ campaign ran over the past three years in the UK and Ireland. This campaign which was co-financed by the EU, included recipe videos, digital advertising, and social media, and was aimed at women of 2545 years old. The campaign was designed to tap into flexitarianism, now an established food trend based on eating a blend of plant content and lower meat content foods. The campaign was based on ‘bringing

on the blend’, combining minced meat with chopped up mushrooms to produce tasty meals which are lower in fat and calories. The three year campaign delivered a good return on investment, accumulating impressive results both on campaign reaction and market impact: • • • • •

Sixty six million impressions on the digital campaign Four million video views Over a million website visits Twenty per cent increase in retail mushroom sales in the UK market Fifteen per cent increase in retail mushroom sales in the Irish market. ✽

LET’S GROW – BORD BIA’S 2021 GARDENING CAMPAIGN The successful GroMór campaign ran for 7 years with sponsorship from Bord Bia and other industry partners. This year, Bord Bia will take on the gardening campaign, rebranded as Let’s Grow. Campaign names were tested in an online survey, and Let’s Grow was judged to best fit the campaign objectives of making gardening and growing, easy and accessible to less knowledgeable and new gardeners.

The campaign information will be housed on the Bord Bia website and new assets such as videos and social media content are being developed, to help build a community of gardeners.

There will be a calendar of planned activities, including PR, social media content and targeted digital advertising, all

sending the consumer back to the gardening pages on the Bord Bia website which will be the anchor for content.

The campaign was developed to reflect the interests of the 2.6 million gardeners in Ireland, the new ‘lockdown’ gardeners and younger gardeners, many of whom are renting, and also the increased interest in growing food. The campaign will focus on how gardening can be an enjoyable and successful activity for everyone, when armed with the right information, and also on plants that grow well in Ireland. The current garden centre listing will be improved with a map link, with an ambition to compile a plant finder for Irish grown plants, by searching by seasonal interest, growing conditions, or colour. ✽

SPORTING HEROES ENCOURAGING HEALTHY EATING HABITS In a joint collaboration between the Food Dudes and School Milk Scheme programmes, sporting heroes world champion boxer Kelly Harrington and all Ireland GAA player Philly McMahon will take part in a series of educational videos, targeting DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) schools, which will be available from April 12th.

The videos will empower primary schoolchildren to adopt healthy eating habits while promoting the importance of physical activity.

In addition to perishable and non-perishable provisions provided to DEIS schools under the ‘School Meals Scheme’, children attending DEIS schools also received healthy-

12

eating food packs containing fresh fruit, vegetables and dairy during the recent school closures. The supplementary weekly pack was provided by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

In Ireland, the EU School Fruit and Vegetable and Milk schemes are implemented in primary schools under both the Food Dudes Healthy Eating Programme delivered by Bord Bia and the Moo Crew Programme delivered by the National Dairy Council (NDC). Bord Bia and the NDC have now joined forces to deliver this new initiative. ✽

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticultureconnected.ie / Spring 2021

05 /BORD BIA ezine INCREDIBLE EDIBLES KEEP WELL EVENT On March 25th over 25,000 primary school children from 1,000 schools took part in a recent Incredible Edibles Keep Well Day when they joined two virtual events, featuring well-known fitness trainer, Ray Lally, aka The Happy Fitness Guy, and horticulturist, Brian McCarthy, who runs the unique Cork Rooftop Farm in Cork City. The Happy Fitness Guy, who features on RTE’s Today Show, hosted a funfilled fitness session showcasing the importance of keeping active and looking after your physical and emotional well-being. Brian McCarthy of Cork Rooftop Farm, wowed viewers with an engaging tour of his skyline farm and answered sowing and growing questions. The Incredible Edibles Keep Well event was held in conjunction with Healthy Ireland’s Keep Well Campaign, as part of the Government Plan for Living with Covid-19 – Resilience and Recovery 2020-2021.

Dr Elizabeth Finnegan, Healthy Eating Executive at Bord Bia noted that a record number of schools registered to participate in the Programme this year and underlined Bord Bia’s delight in being able to showcase the important work Incredible Edibles is doing in schools, promoting fun and interactive ways children, schools, families and communities can get active in the garden.

You can watch the Incredible Edibles Keep Well event here https://www. youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLMZH_0CrdoayG18zBmAy40Kf0XtR-Wr- ✽

DEVELOPING RESILIENCE THROUGH ACTIVITY Bord Bia are delighted to partner with Healthy Ireland on the government’s ‘Keep Well’ campaign. Remote working and self-isolating means the home is currently the centre of our world. Eating well and staying active, especially outdoors, is so important to overall health and mental wellbeing. Through this campaign, Bord Bia will encourage people of all ages to stay active in their outdoor spaces by showing how easy and fun it can be.

Bord Bia have worked with Fiann O‘Nualláin to develop videos and content for social media to showcase gardening as an all year round activity and to provide inspiration on looking after your garden space to have a bountiful, colourful display in the Spring. ✽

POTATOES - PREPARE TO BE SURPRISED The EU potato campaign is a three-year multi-country initiative with Belgium and France promoting potatoes to 18-34 year old millennials commenced in 2020.

Europatat, the pan-European potato trade organisation is also a partner in the campaign. The recipe campaign (www. potato.ie), is primarily an online focused, social media campaign on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest channels.

The results of the campaign to date have been very positive; Kantar World Panel measured a c.33% increase in potato value in the target age cohort.

Bord Bia runs the mechanics of the campaign while 20% of the funding in Ireland is contributed by the IFA and the Irish Potato Federation. Planning for this year’s activity is now taking place, with the first of 3 planned activations starting in May. ✽

BREXIT ACTION PLAN A webinar; ‘Bord Bia’s UK Import Controls Webinar’ was held on the 21st March, this is available on the Bord Bia website. Review the latest edition of Bord Bia’s Brexit Action Plan to ensure you are ready for the new Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) and customs controls for food and drink products imported into Great Britain from the 1st of October, 2021. ✽

SPRING TROLLEY FAIR Bord Bia hosted the annual Spring Trolley Fair, supporting the Irish Hardy Nurserystock Association (IHNSA) in conjunction with the IFA on Tuesday March 9th. This annual event marks the start of the nursery season, and this year was hosted on a dedicated platform with 100 attendees at the virtual event. The event was opened by Bord Bia CEO Tara McCarthy, followed by the presentation of two pieces of research, conducted by The Thinking House; the IPSOS ‘Value of the Garden Market Report 2020’ and a qualitative study, ’Preparing for a Post-Covid19 Horticultural World’, measuring behaviours of new and returning gardeners during Covid restrictions and how to retain them as consumers. This was followed by one to one buyer meetings between visitors and the twelve nursery exhibitors. In advance of the event, training and mentoring sessions were offered to the exhibitors, including guidance on using the specialised platform, video production training with Carr Communications and mentoring with James Burke and Associates on presenting and negotiating in a virtual setting. ✽

Spring 2021 / www.horticultureconnected.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED

13

SPEND TIME INTERVIEWING TO SAVE TIME Sam Barrett discusses how spending a little time going through an interview process may actually save you time in the long run

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@AUDTAKORN SUTARMJAM / 123RF.COM

RECRUITMENT / 06

I

n the horticulture sector, we often take job candidates at face value but this can and does blow up in our faces. How many times have you taken on someone for a role for it to “not work out”? This happens often enough with my horticulture clients that I have noticed a pattern. There are often little or no interview structures in place for recruiting new talent into these businesses. Usually, the hiring process involves meeting someone for a chat, over coffee, and if you have a good feeling, you hire them.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of people out there who are extremely skilled at informal interviews, can put up a good front and potentially mislead you.

SO HOW CAN WE IMPROVE? One way to achieve a successful outcome from the hiring procedure is to have a standardised interview process when you are trying to recruit new talent for your business.

However, this needs to be coupled with urgency, you don’t want the process to drag out so much that you will lose the person to your more decisive competitors. I recently undertook a LinkedIn poll that had over 6,500 views, and well over two thirds of respondents thought that an interview process with more than two stages was too much. With this in

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticultureconnected.ie / Spring 2021

06 / RECRUITMENT mind, let’s design an interview process for you and your business that will protect you from unreliable new employees and still make sure that you have speedy access to talent.

INTERVIEW PROCESS Keeping the above in consideration, creating a two stage process may be suitable. The first stage of the process takes place on the phone. This not only reduces the time invested in screening candidates, but you can also tell how someone conducts themselves if approached by a stranger. They will likely not know why you are calling and if they are rude or cold at this point of the interview process, it may be wise to reconsider if you want them as part of your team.

TELEPHONE INTERVIEW The first stage or telephone screening should be general.

You’re not looking to find out anything specific at this point.

You’re trying to discover their story. Why are they looking to move from their job? What are they looking for in their new job? What is their experience? These open questions are excellent starting points for you to begin with. I recommend refraining from talking about salaries or terms at this point.

You may scare away talent that you would pay top money for if you quote a figure lower than the candidate is ideally looking for. If you are pressed for a number, it is a good idea to say something along the lines of, “I am looking for the best candidate for this job and I will pay the appropriate salary for that person. What are you looking for yourself?” This will help you know the salary expectations of your candidates and negotiation can happen thereafter, as appropriate.

FACE TO FACE INTERVIEW You are now at the second and final stage of your interview process. It is important to communicate this to your candidates so that they know where they are in the process, particularly since holding interviews in the sector are not commonplace right now. This will let your candidates know that you are not trying to waste their time. It is at this point that you should consider bringing your candidates onsite.

This can be onto a site on which you are actively working or it could be where your office is located. There are benefits to both. Onsite, your candidates can meet other potential teammates they could be working with, and this can help them become more enthusiastic about the opportunity. An office environment is more controlled and you don’t have to worry about weather. Nothing is more disgruntling than having an interview in the rain. I’ve been there, done that and would not recommend it!

At this point of the interview you will, for sure, need to get into the detail of the candidate's C.V. and experience. You are looking for motivations: “Why did you leave that role?”, “Why was this role only 3 months?”, “How were you managed in that role?”. These kinds of questions are targeted and will give you a better understanding if this person will fit with your business. You will naturally need to focus on specific skills. I find this part of the interview process is easy for horticulture clients. You are now just finding out if this person can actually do the job you need them to do.

OFFER STAGE If the person fits your needs, you are ready to make an offer.

However, this needs to be handled with care. It is important that you make an offer of work “pending references”. This is an oral agreement between you and the candidate with all

Have a standardised interview process when you are trying to recruit new talent for your business.

However, this needs to be coupled with urgency, you don’t want the process to drag out so much that you will lose the person to your more decisive competitors' the terms agreed with respect to salary etc. You will need references from your candidates and it is at this point that you will retrieve them.

REFERENCES I always get at least two references. If they both come back with similar results, then I progress one way or the other. If they are conflicting, then I get a third reference to ensure that I make the right decision. In a reference, I need to find out if this candidate can actually do the job. You are looking to verify their skills with previous employers. A handy question to ask previous employers is “Would you hire this person again?” If they say yes, that speaks for itself. As does the answer no.

ONBOARDING You are now at the stage where you can bring your new employee into your business. If you have approached the above steps correctly, you will have massively mitigated the risk of bringing a new employee onboard. Will it be perfect? No. There will always be some people that will fail to turn up at the final hurdle for one reason or another. However, applying the above interviewing process will make your hiring process much more robust.

HOW WE CAN HELP We are experts in horticulture recruitment and we have specialised services that you may find useful at certain parts of your interview process. We can support you through the process and sit with you through your interviews. We can help you get to the motivations of your candidates. I have thousands of hours of interview skills that can be implemented on your behalf. We can check references on your behalf, which is something that needs to be done with delicacy, while getting the information that’s required. If you have never written an employment contract, it can be a daunting task. Let us help you with that. Tell us the terms and conditions that you have agreed with your candidate and we can quickly prepare a secure contract for you and your candidate to sign. ✽

SAM BARRETT has an honours degree from Trinity College in Natural Science (including botany) and has worked within the pharmaceutical, IT and architecture sectors in the Irish and UK job markets before taking up the role as Digital Editor and Recruiter at Horticulture.jobs.

Contact details: 089 476 7424.

Spring 2021 / www.horticultureconnected.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED

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EVENTS / JOBS

EVENTSDIARY 30 APRIL THE SIGNPOST SERIES WEBINAR

Water quality - national problems, local solutions Event Time: 9:30am teagasc.ie/news--events/national-events/events/spswaterqualityepa.php ✽

02 - 07 MAY INTERNATIONAL PEATLAND CONGRESS 2021 Location: Estonia peatlandcongress2021.com

✽

ONLINE EVENTS 18 - 20 MAY

30 APRIL TRY HORTICULTURE

FRUIT LOGISTICA 2021

This virtual event will focus on the Level 7 BSc in Horticulture.

Event Time: 12:30pm teagasc.ie/news--events/national-events/events/ tryhorticulture-april.php ✽

30 APRIL ASSESSMENT OF COMPETENCY TO ISSUE PLANT PASSPORTS The assessment process should be complete and submitted to DAFM by 5pm on 30th April 2021. gov.ie/en/publication/8e660-plant-passports ✽

International Trade Fair for Fruit and Vegetable Marketing Location: MESSE BERLIN GMBH MESSEDAMM 22 14055 BERLIN GERMANY And online. fruitlogistica.com ✽

15 - 17 JUNE GREENTECH AMSTERDAM greentech@rai.nl

✽

15 - 18 JUNE FLOWERTRIALS flowertrials.com

✽

We create and build functional websites to communicate your brand

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DESIGN

WEBSITES, SOCIAL MEDIA. BRANDING & eCOMMERCE

CURRENTLY

HIRING NOEL DEMPSEY LANDSCAPING t Landscape Gardener NOEL

DEMPSEY

LANDSCAPING

SAP LANDSCAPES t General Operatives t Foreperson HORTIRECRUIT t Landscape Foreperson BELVEDERE HOUSE & GARDENS t Local Training Initiative Assistant Co-ordinator

12YRS DESIGNING GARDEN RETAIL & HORTICULTURE WEBSITES

ICL GROUP t Technical Area Sales Manager

We understand your business! design@boosted.ie

+353 (0)86 856 4445

16

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticultureconnected.ie / Spring 2021

FOR AMENITY

FOR EDIBLE

Call SAM

Call ANNETTE

(089) 476 7424

(089) 255 7543

RECRUITMENT SPECIALISTS IN LANDSCAPE, GARDEN RETAIL & HORTICULTURE

HORTIRECRUIT www.recruited.ie

AMENITY ROLES Landscapers, Pavers & Grounds staff Retail & General Horticulturists Head, Craft & Assistant Gardeners Designers & Architects Nursery Specialists & Operatives Sales, Marketing & Management Maintenance Specialists

EDIBLE HORTICULTURE ROLES Fruit / Vegetable Grower Logistics Manager Machinery Operator / Mechanic Plant Grower Propagation Scientist Prodution Operatives Orchard Manager

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT RECRUITMENT MANAGER SAM BARRETT ON 089 476 7424 sam@recruited.ie

RESEARCH / 07

Bord Bia’s research on the value of the garden market reports sales of €1.2bn after a record year for gardening

CONSUMER GARDENING SPEND IN 2020 -

THE HIGHEST EVER

R

ecent Bord Bia research has shown that consumer spending on gardening reached its highest level ever in 2020, at €1.2bn. This represents an increase of more than half compared with 2018. The sales surge was driven by record levels of spending on garden products of more than 75% against 2018 and on outdoor plants, sales of which grew by more than 51% against 2018. Additionally, all segments measured showed double digit growth and total market spend was 14% higher than the previous record high reported in 2007/08.

The IPSOS Value of the Garden Market 2020 study for Bord Bia has been carried out biannually since 2001 using qualitative and quantitative research methods.

The objective of the research is to measure spend, source of product and

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motivation for purchase of amenity products at a household and individual level. The research findings were presented to industry at Bord Bia’s virtual Spring Plant Fair on the 9th March 2021, which provides a platform for Irish ornamental growers to meet commercial buyers and secure orders for the coming spring season. The study generated strong interest and impressive coverage, with a total of 30 pieces of national and regional placements, including 4 high profile broadcast placements on Morning Ireland and Ray D’Arcy on RTE Radio 1 and Business Breakfast and Lunchtime News on Newstalk, and prominent coverage in the Irish Times.

Carol Marks, Horticulture Sector Manager, Bord Bia, remarked that, “2020 was an extraordinary year for gardening activity due to Covid 19, amplified by a particularly warm and sunny

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticultureconnected.ie / Spring 2021

07 / RESEARCH NIAMH TULLY WITH HER CHILDREN HARVEY AND CAOIMHE SMITH AT TULLY NURSERIES, BALLYBOUGHAL, CO. DUBLIN.

CAROL MARKS, BORD BIA, AND NIAMH TULLY

with an increase of 79% in the purchase of shrubs and an increase of 44% in the purchase of herbaceous perennials against 2018.

Growing your own Spending on herbs, fruit and vegetables, for growing at home, recorded its highest level since measurement began twenty years ago and an increase of 42% against 2018, as consumers became more concerned about sustainability, the environment and health as a result of Covid 19. Many parents found planting food was a positive way to engage young children, in the same way cooking from ‘scratch’ and baking became enjoyable ways to pass the time.

Garden maintenance and makeovers Spend on garden maintenance rose by 57% compared with 2018 as consumers tackled important maintenance jobs which had previously perhaps been put off. Garden makeovers accounted for a third of spend on landscaping services, similar to 2018 levels, but actual spend increased by 10% over this measurement period.

spring. It is a hugely positive story that, in spite of a period of closure last year, the category has managed to achieve record growth”.

2020 GARDENING BEHAVIOURS The research highlighted a number of key consumer gardening behaviours as a result of societal changes brought about by Covid-19.

Re-imagining outdoor spaces The biggest uplift in spend in 2020 (+75% vs 2018) was on garden products such as BBQ equipment, garden structures (such as sheds, trellising, and pergolas), garden accessories and other hard landscaping products as consumers rushed to build and re-develop outdoor spaces.

Investing in the ‘outdoor room’ An increase of 51% was measured in sales of outdoor and flowering plants, as people invested in making their outdoor spaces as attractive as their indoor spaces. Consumers focused on long-life plants to add colour and depth to their gardens,

Shift from cut flowers to indoor plants In 2020, sales of fresh cut flowers, with a market value of €75m, were higher than the previous recorded high of 2007/2008. However, consumers clearly shifted their focus to plants rather than cut flowers in 2020. Sales of indoor potted plants had experienced a resurgence in popularity before 2020 as consumers recognised their role in improving air quality indoors, and again in 2020 purchasing occasions were higher, up 30% compared with 2018.

Commenting on the report Tara McCarthy, CEO of Bord Bia said, "the market for garden products has doubled over the past twenty years and there is a great opportunity now for the sector to continue to harness Irish consumers’ newfound interest in the garden. Our report outlines a number of areas of focus for the industry, including ways to engage the many new gardeners who have developed a keen interest in gardening, but have little knowledge or skills about where to start”.

Bord Bia Gardening Resources Bord Bia also has a range of gardening resources available at BordBia.ie/gardening to support people on their gardening journey, including monthly tips and advice on what to do in the garden throughout the seasons. ✽

Spring 2021 / www.horticultureconnected.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED

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INSIGHT / 08

SUNFLOWERS Andy Whelton from the Teagasc Horticulture Development Unit explores the growth of this popular annual for sale as monobunch, cut flowers or as a farm feature to a horticultural business.

T

he annual sunflower, Helianthus annuus, is native to North America and has a long history as a source of medicine, food, oil and dye. We are familiar with it as a popular cut flower sold in mono-bunches or as an eye-catching centrepiece in mixed bunches. Sunflowers are a summer-grown field crop but also grow well under protection; tunnel-grown flowers offer a longer season due to increased protection from wind and rain damage. Sunflowers can be an attractive product offering in a variety of businesses.

They can be sold alongside a range of other products and if the potentially long flowering season is exploited, the selling season can stretch well into autumn, to coincide with pumpkins in the run up to Halloween. The phenomenon of Instagram ‘moments’ with flower fields as the backdrop can be an additional attraction for open farms and mixed horticultural businesses.

SITE AND SOIL When grown outdoors, a sheltered south

20

AN ATTRACTIV PRODUCT PROPOSITION

facing site is desirable which warms up rapidly in the spring. Sunflowers are deep rooted and have specific water and nutrient needs although they can be grown in a wide range of soil types.

SCHEDULING Sunflower planting can be worked into a variety of schedules to suit different marketing models. Sunflowers planted at the end of April are likely to start flowering from mid-July if conditions are favourable or in early August for larger headed varieties. Successive harvests of flowers can be achieved by new plantings every 7 – 14 days during the spring. Plants sown at the start of April will be ready for harvest in 14-17 weeks depending on cultivar and conditions and will be ready for harvest between mid-August and early September. Crops grown under protection will mature a lot faster.

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticultureconnected.ie / Spring 2021

CULTIVARS A wide range of sunflower cultivars are available, offering different head sizes and growth habits. Cultivars will either produce a single head (grandiflora) or multiple heads on a single plant (multiflora). The colour palette now available for sunflower cultivars is broad and covers the spectrum from cream to bright orange to dark amber. In Ireland, the main seed suppliers for the specialist cut flower species, are Takki seeds (www. takiiseed.com), Evanthia (www. evanthia.nl), and Johnny seeds (www.johnnyseeds.com). Proveg seeds (www.provegseeds.com) have been developing the Galilee series which particularly suit the Irish climate.

08 / INSIGHT CULTIVATION For the outdoor summer crop, most cultivars can be grown in the field between late spring and early winter.

Seed can be sown directly into the soil when temperatures reach at least 6-8 °C. Seed should be sown to a depth of 2-5cm and to a greater depth if the soil is dry. The optimum density is on average approximately 10 seeds/m2. A spacing of 20–30 cm between plants is generally used for standard cultivars but a wider spacing of 50 cm and above can be used for larger multi-head cultivars. Planting at higher densities generally reduces head size.

Good seedbed preparation is essential with a fine firm texture. For large areas, cereal or precision drills can be used (e.g. disk, belt or pneumatic) but accuracy of drilling is essential as the crop will not expand to fill gaps.

For early or late season cut flowers, sunflowers can be grown to maturity in tunnels. Compact cultivars are more suitable for tunnel growing as flowers grown in tunnels will be taller. For earlier production, seed can also be sown in modular trays for germination and transplanting from late March onwards.

The germinating seeds should be kept warm (24°C) and will be ready for transplanting 3–4 weeks after sowing, once the second true leaf has been formed.

Sunflower plants can also be pot grown and the restricted rooting volume can help

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SOME OF THE NEWER VARIETIES BEING DEVELOPED FOR THE CUT FLOWER MARKET

Spring 2021 / www.horticultureconnected.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED

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08 / INSIGHT to reduce cropping times but the plants will require careful feeding and irrigation.

Sunflowers are not normally supported although some growers find a layer of mesh useful when grown under protection.

CROP NUTRITION The deep roots of sunflower plants can access nitrogen deep in the soil so acceptable yields can be achieved from relatively low nitrogen soils without fertilisation. High soil nitrogen can reduce yield by encouraging vegetative growth so caution is advised when using fertiliser.

A low level of phosphorus and a relatively high level of potassium is required to promote flowering. A maintenance application of phosphate and potassium of 40–60 kg/ha is recommended to maintain at required levels.

Growth of sunflowers in highly acidic soils (below pH 5.0) puts the crop at risk of micronutrient deficiencies, especially deficiencies of molybdenum, copper and manganese. Growth in calcareous or sandy soils can also present a significant risk of boron deficiency. It is sensible to undertake a soil analysis prior to sowing or planting sunflowers and Teagasc can then provide tailored recommendations for growing.

While sunflowers are relatively more robust than other cut flowers, care must be taken during the picking and selling processes.’

Stratos Ultra (cycloxydim) has off label approval for grass weeds in the crop prior to stem elongation. Mechanical weed control can also be very effective, given the wide row spacing recommended for sunflower planting.

WEEDS There are few herbicides approved for sunflower planting so weed control after establishment can be difficult. An overwinter fallow period of growing areas, before planting, can be useful in controlling grass and broadleaf weeds using non-selective herbicides. Once the sunflower crop is established the broad canopy and tall height will out compete the majority of weeds. However, the crop is susceptible to weed competition during early establishment; from as early as the fourth week post-emergence. Stomp Aqua (pendimethalin) has off label approval and can be used before emergence .

PESTS & DISEASES Sunflower plants are vulnerable to a range of pests and diseases. During early establishment slugs can be a particular issue. In field crops, larger pests (pigeons & rabbits) can be a problem during establishment and ripening. Some insect pests may cause minor damage (e.g. tortrix larvae, leaf miners and thrips), however there are few control options available and these insect pests are unlikely to be a significant impediment to growth.

The fungus Botrytis can infect sunflower plants and cause head rot.

Infection is common when the crop is grown in damp, cool (15-25 °C) conditions. Botrytis will discolour the back of the head and spread to the petals. Petal spotting can also be an issue, the cause of which remains unclear, however the resulting spots or blemishes can become brown and necrotic and be serious enough to render stems virtually unsaleable.

THE CAUSE OF PETAL SPOTTING REMAINS UNKNOWN

HARVEST While sunflowers are relatively more robust than other cut flowers, care must be taken during the picking and selling processes. Additional storage space, transport space and labour is needed to handle the crop compared with other crops. Cut stems need to be put into water immediately after picking to avoid rapid wilting. On a small scale, irrigation shortly before picking can improve shelf life after harvest. Recommendations on cutting schedules can vary from cutting when the ray florets (long, straplike petals along the outside of the sunflower) are barely visible to cutting when almost completely

open. A useful middle ground is to pick when the ray florets are between half and fully expanded, usually when the petals are perpendicular to the flower head. If picked when the ray florets are too tight and stored cool, the sunflowers may not open properly. Stems with blemishes or spotting on the flower heads are unlikely to be acceptable. Remove all but three to four leaves as additional leaves reduce shelf life significantly. Cut stems can be kept for up to a week in a cold store.

A shelf life of up to two weeks can be achieved by using suitable flower foods such as Chrysal CVBN (sodium dichloros-triazinetrione, hydrated).

Some pictures courtesy of Lyndon Mason Cut Flower Centre, Lincs, UK. ✽

HARVESTING AT THE RIGHT TIME IS CRITICAL, CUTTING WHEN THE FLOWER HEADS ARE TOO TIGHT (BELOW) AND THEY MAY NOT OPEN. THE IDEAL STAGE IS SHOWN ON THE LEFT

ANDY WHELTON, a specialist in ornamental cut foliage crops in the Teagasc Horticultural Development Unit, continues his series of articles on the agronomy and screening work on innovative novel plant material being trialled for use in the floristry trade at Kildalton Agriculture and Horticultural College, Pilltown for use in the floristry trade.

Contact Andy Whelton: andy.whelton@teagasc.ie

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INTERVIEW / 09

MAINTAINING MARGINS Barry Lupton talks to Darragh Connolly of Darragh Connolly Garden Care about finding the path to his business model, succeeding through the pandemic and taking time for family

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DARRAGH CONNOLLY OF DARRAGH CONNOLLY GARDEN CARE

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andscape and garden maintenance can be a tough job and a tough market in which to make a healthy margin. To be successful these days, you either need to scale up, box clever or stand out. One operator who reckons he’s found the right pitch is Darragh Connolly of Darragh Connolly

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticultureconnected.ie / Spring 2021

ALL PHOTOS ARE BY DARRAGH CONNOLLY

Garden Care. With an experienced team, a solid service offering and returning customer base, he’s making a name for himself as the man to go to for bespoke maintenance solutions. Despite hectic work commitments, he found time to share thoughts on his business journey.

B. What inspired you to pursue a career in horticulture?

D. For as long as I can remember, I

09 / INTERVIEW was into nature and the outdoors and my parents were florists and owned a floristry business, so I was always around plants, flowers, and horticulture. When filling out the CAO form during 6th year, nothing appealed to me until I came across a horticulture course in Ringsend, so I started my studies there, which led to going to Writtle College in the UK.

GARDEN CARED FOR BY DARRAGH’S TEAM

B. Looking back, how do the initial ideals of horticulture compare with the realities of setting up and running a business?

D. Maybe the ideal of working in horticulture is working in shorts on a hot summer's day, in a nice garden and living the dream, but setting up a business and implementing your business plan is a different thing altogether, it is rewarding but it's hard work. You must be driven, focused, and determined to face daily challenges and overcome them. You must have a huge element of flexibility as plans change, but you will get there in the end. Having a plan is the key to business success.

Starting out, I’m not sure I had an ideal of what a horticultural business should be, but if I look back from 20 years ago to what I am doing now, I would say that I’m doing exactly what I wanted to do.

B. You achieved your horticultural qualifications through Writtle College in the UK? Why choose the UK over Ireland?

D. I was introduced to Writtle College while undertaking a PLC Horticulture course in Ringsend. We were invited to go and have a look at the college and its facilities and once there, I thought the college was amazing and nowhere else in Ireland was offering the same.

B. How did you go about setting up a business when you returned to Ireland?

D. I came home after college and worked for various landscapers for a couple of years, learning on the job. I then set by myself, as jobs came in. At that time, I didn’t really specialize in anything. I bought a van from my dad, saved up for a mower, a strimmer, a blower, added a few tools such as a hoe and a spade and off I went. I have never had a day without work from that day, even through the last recession. I believe if you are willing to work, are open to learning, if you are driven and can take some knockbacks, you can succeed in

anything. I believe in living life to the fullest without any regrets.

B. What would you say were the key lessons in those early years of operating?

D. Work hard, show up when you are meant to show up and do what you said you would do.

B. You changed your business focus around a decade ago, why?

D. I used to do design, build and maintenance like a lot of others, but struggled doing all of them well. I knew if I were to succeed, I would have to focus on one area and decided on care and maintenance for designed, high-end

gardens. I thought garden maintenance was more scalable than trying to do everything and I prefer the maintenance sector of the industry. My background in horticulture has trained my eye for the level of detail required in a high-end, designed garden.

B. One of the challenges of running any modern business is having a USP (Unique Selling Point). What’s yours?

D. I was talking to a business consultant friend a long time ago and she suggested offering different design and build packages. I thought about this and figured that there were too many variables involved but I was sitting on the sofa on a rainy afternoon in January (we all know these days!), when I had

Spring 2021 / www.horticultureconnected.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED

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INTERVIEW / 09 used are high maintenance such as box, bays, yews and so on. We have developed a garden health programme to feed plants, fertilise lawns and condition soil, as a service to our maintenance customers and for other customers, as a three times per year service. We also have a team called ‘The Garden Concierge’, who do the jobs that the care teams can't get to; replanting pots in a garden, planting bulbs in the Autumn etc. A great thing about The Garden Concierge is that if a client is having a party or a get-together, they can call us for an extra visit or to plant that dash of colour.

B. How has the pandemic impacted your business?

my ‘Eureka’ moment, which was to package garden care and maintenance plans to suit the client’s garden requirements. So we package our services by using time and man hours to create the package, ranging from bronze, silver and gold to diamond and platinum and starting from 1.5hrs x 2men to 1day x 3men. My job is to assess the needs of the client and build the package. We let designers design, landscapers build, and we care for and maintain. We’re experts at what we do, and we focus on that.

B. How do you promote your business?

D. Our clients do most of our promotion.

Our mission statement, which is on our vans, is Building Business Through Client Referral and Satisfaction. We also do a lot of online activity via several websites and all the usual social media platforms.

28

I believe branding is important, so all vans are branded with our logo, and all staff wear black branded jackets, hoodies and T-shirts. This is great for brand building and presents a nice company identity. We cluster deliver flyers around where we are working, ten up ten down type of thing.

B. Where do you see the key opportunities for your business over the next five years?

D. My five-year goal is to get recognised as the go-to company for the care and maintenance of high-end gardens and to evolve each garden into a great space which the client can enjoy and that we are proud to call one of our gardens.

Another focus is to become known for our garden health programme, a lot of people ask designers for low maintenance gardens but the plants

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticultureconnected.ie / Spring 2021

D. The pandemic has been tough for every business. There has been a great degree of uncertainty and not knowing where it ends has been difficult.

Gardening seems to be the new thing, so it has been a thoroughly busy time, especially with inquiries. I try to get back to every inquiry that comes in and sometimes this has been a struggle.

The person has taken time to reach out to us so the least I can do is get back to them. The pandemic has brought Health and Safety issues also and our safety statement had to be edited due to Covid-19.

Every year as a business we set turnover and profitability targets to meet. This year it's a case of getting through the period and being ready to drive on when it ends. The closure of business has been tough, but it does focus the mind and you get time to do stuff that you normally wouldn't have.

I think this pandemic has hopefully thought us a lesson to slow down a touch and focus on the important things in life.

B. What measures did you have to put in place to keep your business afloat?

D. I have used cash reserves to keep the business afloat, it’s a case of ‘suck it up’, I think. The positive is that it makes you realise that you have a sustainable business and can crack on when it’s over. It's all about communication with clients. We kept everyone informed about our plans for after the pandemic by sending emails on a regular basis.

Along with updates, I gave lots of gardening jobs to clients to carry out and received lots of gardening questions from clients. It was nice to sit down and

09 / INTERVIEW answer them.

We have tried our best to keep employees in bubbles, so that if one member of staff contracted Covid it wouldn't shut the whole business, just that bubble. We have two staff members per van to reduce risk and each vehicle has PPE; masks, wipes, disinfectant sprays, and sanitizer. The pandemic has been hard, trying to keep business going and staff happy with their working environment. We have kept in touch with the ALCI over the pandemic and have taken their advice on board.

B. What, if any, positives have you noted during the pandemic?

D. I used the lockdowns as a positive.

The first lockdown I did some things that you wouldn’t normally get a chance to do, such as setting up a YouTube channel, Darragh Connolly Garden Care, and re-doing our website and writing blogs. I also took the time to go through the hoops with the bank to set up direct debits facilities for customers. It's handy for the client but it took time to get it done. I also set up an online store for garden tools as I was getting asked about the hand tools we use. So I took the opportunity to create sets of garden hampers which are now for sale on dcgardencare.ie. I am really excited by this project.

During the second lockdown, I was also the head homeschooler. I am happy to announce that my talents lie in horticulture!

B. What is the most rewarding aspect of your work?

D. I like stepping into a garden that hasn’t been cared for and bringing it up to what it should be. I also really enjoy building relationships with clients. We get to know each other and that builds trust. We are often around for family milestones such as communions, confirmations, weddings etc so that's nice. In addition, seeing customers using their gardens excites me, gardens should be used.

A very rewarding part of my work is meeting a designer during a garden build. We have developed a service called Garden Plus, we get to know the garden, the designer, and the client during the build so we can step in and care for it upon completion. It’s a seamless process that is going well.

B. Have you experienced issues with recruitment over the last 12 months?

D. It seems to be throughout all businesses but any time we are looking for new staff, we seem to be successful with good candidates, but it takes work to get the right people. We do this by advertising on recruitment websites for specific jobs with rates of pay, hours of work etc. As we are a maintenance company, we are looking for gardeners with experience and a great attitude.

We retain our staff by creating solid, year-round jobs for them in gardens where you want to work. I try to create an environment where staff are proud of the job and garden. Staffing is a challenging aspect of business and keeping everything flowing can be difficult. I try to be proactive in dealing with matters as they arise, effectively and efficiently.

B. As an active ALCI (Association of Landscape Contractors of Ireland) member, what is your view on the future role and function of such professional bodies?

D. I have always enjoyed being an ALCI member and it’s like everything, you get out what you put in. The future, I guess, lies in a healthy active membership to achieve and maintain high standards in the horticultural industry. Being a member of ALCI offers opportunities for peer support and networking.

I think more young professionals should join the ALCI as it’s an invaluable resource. I like that you can be sitting beside people who run the biggest landscape companies in Ireland and they are so open to chat. I recently had this experience and appreciated it so much.

It focused my mind on where I am going with the business. Plus, being a member ensures that you carry out work to the highest standards.

B. It seems to be increasingly challenging to achieve a healthy, worklife balance. How do you manage?

D. It’s an important area of life and I try hard to find this balance and hopefully do. I’m married to Nicole with three kids, Sam 15, Freddie 13, and Rose 11. I bring the kids mountain biking every week and yes, they are better than me! I like to windsurf too. Hobbies are important as it gives you time out. It's essential to book in your down time. I guess I work hard and play hard.

As a self-employed business owner though, you are always on call. But it's important to remember you can let calls go to messages, book a time in the day to listen to them and call back where necessary. For years I worked on Saturdays, but since the start of the pandemic I no longer do. It took me a long time but it has made a huge difference to my work-life balance. As I said, horticultural life is a busy one but also brings great joy so it doesn't feel like work to me, which is the key to life.

B. If one of your kids expressed an interest in pursuing a career in horticulture, what advice would you give them?

D. One of the main reasons for building my business was to give the kids the opportunity to take over, if they showed an interest. I think a career in horticulture is a good choice in life as the work is very rewarding and creative.

Too many people these days clock in and out without any enjoyment. Yes, we deal with bad weather and so on, but if I was to give advice, I would recommend a career in horticulture to my kids. ✽

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© THOMAS REIMER/123RF.COM

RETAIL / 10

BUILDING PRODUCT RANGES THAT MAKE COMMERCIAL SENSE Andy Campbell discusses the principles for building a good product range

It is crucial that you understand how important range choice is as a driver of the overall category performance” 30

P

roduct range architecture is a critical retail discipline. In the unusual circumstances of the past year, the rules on constructing ranges may have temporarily been abandoned. However, it is good to remind ourselves of the fundamental principles as we plan for the future.

For the retailer, it is important that a range is built to generate sales and maximise profit. For the consumer, it is important that a range makes sense when browsing and shopping. Novice gardeners can find the process of finding what they are looking for, in a garden retail space, both challenging and frustrating. Therefore, anything that can be done to demystify and simplify the experience is surely a good thing.

CONSIDER THE DRIVERS In the garden centre sector, product range decisions need to have a reasonable

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticultureconnected.ie / Spring 2021

degree of longevity, typically at least one year. Before deciding what product ranges you stock, you should undertake an information gathering exercise and an assessment of the opportunity. The assessment should include information on the market, the consumer in general, your customers in particular, past performance, the supply base and the competitive landscape.

The five key factors which drive category sales are price, quality, service, promotion and of course range choice.

The sales performance of most categories tends to be driven predominantly by one of these factors. It is crucial, therefore, that you understand how important range choice is as a driver of the overall category performance. For example, packet seed is largely driven by range choice; whereas quality is the key driver for most house and garden plants; before and after sales service is critical to the success of petcare

10 / RETAIL

RANGE WIDTH AND DEPTH A product range is a group of products within the product mix that are closely related in form or function, similarly priced or marketed. Accordingly, when building a product range it is important to consider the range width and the range depth.

The range width refers to the number of related products in the range offering, whereas the range depth generally refers to additional sizings and formulations of the products. For example a garden pest control range may include both physical deterrent products with chemical and natural pesticide products. The depth of the range will depend on the number of options for each product type. When deciding on range width and depth you should consider if you want to be authoritative in the category or simply want to concentrate on the best-selling lines.

A good starting point when deciding the correct number of price and quality levels to have in your product range is to use the model of three levels, often referred to as Good/Better/Best or Basic/Standard/ Premium. Keep in mind the space available to you and remember to make it easy for your customer to differentiate between options; offering too much choice can be confusing. Your decisions should be driven by your understanding of your customer base with respect to socio-demographic profile (age, gender, disposable income) but also the interest level of your customer which may range from ‘disinterested amateur’ to ‘enthusiastic professional’.

Most manufacturers seek to differentiate themselves from their competitors through their brand. Therefore, brand positioning is important in range development. The questions you need to consider include: What are the dominant brands within the sector? How important are they? What is the level of brand awareness? When you can answer these questions you should be able to decide if the brand should feature in your product range and the profile the brand should have within the range.

RANGE PRICING AND VALUE The design of a product range is inextricably linked with price. The majority of consumers evaluate a retailer’s offer based on a combination of the quality of the product and the price they have to pay for that product. The other key factors of range, service and promotion all contribute

©NUNATAKI/123RF.COM

and aquatic categories; growing media and garden power tools are price driven categories; whilst high value groups such as garden buildings tend to be promotionally driven.

to the overall perception of value that a consumer gains, but inevitably quality and price dominate.

Setting the right price for a product is both a science and an art but having a defined pricing policy certainly helps.

Setting the right retail price by considering market conditions, competitor activity, price sensitivity and margin expectations is more likely to deliver profit than by simply applying a standard mark-up, eg. double the cost price plus VAT. This is the scientific approach; there is also an art in using one’s judgment to find the price point that maximises sales and profit.

When you have identified your competitors and determined where you wish to position yourself in the market, you can start to develop a pricing policy. One of the first steps is to decide what pricing strategy to apply, i.e. a constant pricing level or a high/low promotional approach.

This decision will be largely dependent on the type of products in your range and what prompts your customer to buy. Some products respond better to price-based promotion than others.

The relationship between how customer demand responds to a change in price is called price elasticity. There are some products that have high price elasticity, a small change in price has a large impact on demand or volumes sold (elastic) and conversely products where the impact on total volume tends to be low (inelastic).

Setting the right price for products is hard, and may sometimes mean lowering prices for high elasticity products and increasing prices on less sensitive lines - the overall objective is to maximise profit achieved.

The price awareness of the consumer for a particular product should be kept in mind at all times. If price awareness is high it is inadvisable to apply a price point significantly different from your competitors.

It is important to achieve the right rela-

tivities between products within a range.

All products in a range should represent good value and at the same time trading up to the next quality level should make sense to the consumer, thereby increasing potential revenue and profit. If we take digging spades as an example, a well built price range of €17.99, €23.99 and €29.99 should appeal to a wide customer base, with a competitive entry price point while encouraging trading up, if clear benefits for additional spend are apparent to the consumer.

A GOOD RANGE IS GOOD BUSINESS Most garden centres seek to maximise the customer service they provide, however most would also admit that on a busy bank holiday weekend, it is simply not possible to serve every customer personally. It is also true that some people prefer independent browsing and buying.

As a result, elements of self-service are necessary within most garden centre outlets. Ultimately, well structured product ranges can support your business and the consumer by enabling your customers to make purchase decisions easily and with clarity on what they are buying. That, for certain, is good customer service and good business. ✽ ANDY CAMPBELL is an independent business development consultant specialising in the garden centre industry with 40 years’ retail experience. Contact details: 0044 (0)7788 567011 / www.andy@ andycampbellconsulting.co.uk / www.andycampbellconsulting.co.uk

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RETAIL / 10

PRINT AND DIGITAL MARKETING: CLOSING THE CIRCLE Paul Moran explores the benefits to your business of a considered approach to combining the best of print and digital advertising

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n a world where businesses are continuously searching for the next digital marketing trend or jumping on the latest social media tool, it is easy to overlook the proven traditional means of print marketing and advertising. Certainly, digital marketing has changed the marketing game, offering many ways for businesses to reach their audience. However, a more nuanced approach focusing on combining the best of both print and digital formats could yield the greatest results for businesses today. I will discuss how print campaigns can fill the gaps and how combining both can complete the circle in your marketing strategy.

BUILDING CREDIBILITY When we read print we assume that the material we are reading was researched, drafted, examined and cross-checked before publication. Generally, this assumption is correct, publications normally have technical writing and subject knowledge expertise built up over years. This brings credibility to advertisers who can leverage this knowledge and associate their brand with the relevant expertise. Print offers a different and complementary means to simply promoting adverts or supporting newspieces without research or reference across digital platforms. When a digital source is linked to a print publication, this credibility and technical expertise can resonate with the product and service you are offering and can build a bond between you and your customers.

TANGIBLE CONNECTIONS The experience of consuming print and consuming digital content is quite different. The consumption of material in printed form

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leads to a tangible connection between the material and the reader through touch. Publications, journals or newspapers can be put down, picked back up again, shared and read several times. They are focal points at tradeshows, checkouts and shops. The consumer interaction with digital advertising lacks this sensory and tangible connection because the consumer is clicking and scrolling through content quickly. The advertiser’s message can become blurred into the background and consumers tend to take more time with print adverts, rather than pop-ups that interrupt their reading on a screen. The next time you read a book or newspaper, feel how your experience of that information is different to what you read or consume online. I’m sure you’ll be surprised just how different the experiences are. Perhaps, the complementary use of print and digital advertising delivering quality formats to support the brand and the deepest audience reach can be most appropriate.

NICHE AUDIENCE Print media continues to have strong and engaged audiences built up over many years. A business seeking connection with this audience, is advised to consider print media as a means to engage and promote. It can simply be more effective than

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10 / RETAIL when consumers engage with print concentration levels remain higher and people become actively engaged in the content they are reading. Not only is this a better experience for the reader, it also allows advertisers to deliver their message to their audience without the worry of audience distraction and advert saturation.

BENEFITS OF DIGITAL MARKETING OVER PRINT Having highlighted the benefits of print campaigns it is, of course, useful to consider some areas where digital marketing has advantages over print. Digital advertising shares several benefits with print based advertising, however, digital advertising offers most in the areas of measurement, cost and speed.

MEASUREMENT The area of measurement is perhaps the most significant advantage of digital advertising; digital campaigns allow advertisers to monitor and track performance and implement changes quickly, if necessary. Measurement gives businesses a clear picture of what is working and what is not. Businesses use key performance indicators (KPIs) such as click-through rate (how many times somebody has clicked into the ad), impression count (how many times somebody has seen the ad) and segmentation (who exactly is looking at your ad) to track campaigns.

Furthermore, detailed data and reports can be generated to assess if marketing objects are being met.

COST EFFECTIVENESS AND SPEED Digital marketing campaigns can be particularly cost effective.

In other words, advertisers can get good ‘bang for their buck’.

Speedy decisions on increasing or reducing spend can be based on near, real-time data on campaign performance, market conditions and feedback. Thus, budgets can be scaled for busier periods of the day or week when your audience are online and scaled back for when they are offline. For instance, spend can be diverted to an advert which is performing particularly well at a certain time to a certain audience.

A more nuanced approach focusing on combining the best of both print and digital formats could yield the greatest results for businesses today.’

social marketing. For example, it is common for marketers to continue to drain budgets targeting audiences who liked Facebook pages a year or two ago but whose interests have now changed. All at once, a business could be targeting an out of date segment. However, a print journal, with a committed audience built over years, is distributed and read only by those people who are genuinely interested in that industry. This assures marketers and businesses that their budget is well targeted and spent on reaching the intended audience and also attracting new readers who are developing their interests and starting their commitment to a publication.

MULTITASKING - A DIGITAL DISTRACTION Computers, tablets and phones can be distracting devices and we can all probably attest to times when reading material on social and digital media we are led away on a different track and to something completely different to our original intention. People tend to consume material and pursue searches while also checking emails, watching videos or listening to podcasts or music. Multitasking habits are embedded in our digital worlds. Unfortunately for advertisers, this can mean a missed opportunity to really engage with and influence your target audience. Conversely, we know that

THE BEST OF BOTH The key to successful marketing campaigns is to use the correct mix of print with quantitative digital media to deliver your marketing objectives. It is necessary to understand your audience and connect with them in a meaningful way.

Ultimately, the goal is to make your advert and content visible and engaging to people in your industry. Using a credible platform which is well connected and respected in the industry, with clear audience information, readership figures, strong reporting tools and distribution channels is critical. A platform which combines print media with a digital offering can deliver on all objectives and guarantee your advertising campaigns are successful and deliver value. ✽

Paul Moran is a Business Development Executive for Horticulture Connected.

Paul has worked in Digital Sales & Marketing with high profile tech companies across Ireland previously and holds a Msc in Strategic Management & Planning from UCD Michael Smurfit Business School. When he is not buried in marketing, he loves to garden and grow his own food. He can be contacted at; paul@horticulture.ie

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DESIGN / 11

The Garden and Landscape Designers Association Seminar 2021. Shining a light on sustainable design

DESIGNING IN CHALLENGING TIMES –

A SHIFT IN PERSPECTIVE

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e recently watched as the Ever Given, a 400metre long container ship, went aground and blocked a main artery of the world, stuck fast and cutting off the lifeblood of world trade in consumer goods. At such moments, we are struck by the interconnectivity of the world and are amazed that a small, momentary error of judgement could have such farreaching consequences. A year ago, the Garden and Landscape Designers Association (GLDA) held its last ‘live’ seminar just on the cusp of the virus, well, ‘going viral’. The reality of our interconnectivity and the fragility of the world is now something we are truly coming to understand.

The changes we have experienced could not have been countenanced a year ago. The pandemic has had both positive and negative consequences for the environment. Could we make similar sacrifices for the future of all the species on the planet?

This year’s GLDA seminar, Designing in Challenging Times – A Shift in Perspective, examined if our views are changing on how we design and what that change might look like. Many of the participants of this year’s GLDA seminar challenged us, as designers and landscape constructors, to engage with the concepts of designing for sustainability and biodiversity and questioned the role of the consumer in this engagement.

India observed that ‘If you work with an understanding of nature it will not fail you.’ Mumbai is the most densely populated city in one of the most densely populated countries in the world. The environmental challenges are many. Water is a scarce resource as climate change has shortened the monsoon season and has led to a decrease in rainfall. Over time, as in most parts of the world, the population is becoming more urbanised. Central to

DESIGNING BETTER SPACES IN NEGLECTED CITIES The first speaker, Aniket Bhagwat of Landscapeindia in Mumbai,

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09 11//INSIGHT DESIGN allows for layers of improvement to the city parks on limited budgets.

The next speaker, Marti Franch, continued the theme of designing better spaces; presenting projects from Barcelona, where more than 53,000 people inhabit a single square kilometer.

Cars dominate, and there is little green infrastructure. Barcelona was laid out in 1859 in a grid, with the aim of creating equal conditions for all, and over time areas of green have become prime real estate with increasing densification as a result. Over 1000 people die from pollution related illness every year. The greening of the city and the reduction of car traffic is more about health than biodiversity and a systemic approach is being taken.

The proposal is to reduce access for cars so that blocks within a ‘Superblock’ are only accessible to local traffic at 10km per hour, pedestrians, bicycles and scooters. Successful pilot projects to make ‘livable’ streets, have been implemented, with painted streetscapes and street furniture. This is a new perspective and approach in a city where cars rule. Another example of Marti’s work in Barcelona demonstrated design through the lenses of pollution control, soil quality, interconnectivity, noise and temperature reduction, and tree pollution capacity.

Marti also shared a unique, self-initiated project in his hometown of Gironna, where the outskirts of the city are ignored and treated like a backyard. Through a series of studies and, in conjunction with the municipality, they initiated a ‘design by management’ project; creating accessible spaces of beauty and value, while also creating models of ecological succession within the wild prairie vegetation. This approach has been a huge success, exploring a ‘design by management’ approach. A new perspective.

EXAMPLES OF CARRIE PRESTON'S WORK IN THE NETHERLANDS

Landscapeindia’s design ethos are the ideas of ecology, space use, and sustainability; an embedded connection with nature.

The current circumstances have added new layers to their design approach, which has evolved into a process that looks beyond the obvious or the minimum, to be a fluid response to the land, focused on ecology, art and society, encompassing ideas of time and culture, past,present and future.

Aniket shared the design process behind one of his projects; Kharawala House. The process involved multiple imaginings and drawings of the site – water flowing, vegetation, textures, smells, mapping trees, sky, and sounds (birds, leaves, insects) to get to the spirit of the place until the designers’ minds were suffused by the site. Ideas fell into place like ‘active meditation’, a sort of subconscious stimulation. The first presentations to the client set the scene and context. Site analysis is often perfunctory, but this approach allows the space to be explored holistically, with an appreciation of what is there and how we respond to that as designers.

Aniket also described the development (with echoes later from Marti Franch) of a replicable toolkit for design. In the city of Mumbai, there are many dilapidated parks which Landscapeindia set out to improve and make more resilient by creating a flexible design template including elements such as water harvesting, recharge and conservation, street furniture design, planting for biodiversity, waste collection and composting. This results in a variety of design typologies with a common foundation. This

CONCRETE IDEAS Dermot Foley’s talk, as part of Dublin City Councils sponsorship of the seminar, focused on the work on Bridgefoot Street Park in Dublin city. Springing from Dermot’s PhD on concrete reuse, construction waste is used to create the hard landscape of the park. Dermot has come up with new design approaches, creating an experimental area to try out and demonstrate how his approach might work and constantly revising the set of drawings to optimise and illustrate the on-site design. The concept of concrete reuse is both interesting and challenging and highlights the volume of demolition waste created and sent to landfill. How much thought do we give to designing for sustainability or to the materials we use? It is easy to design concrete walls and patios, quite another thing to think about the source of these materials and their future destination to landfill. Concrete is the most consumed man-made material in the world. Cement production is said to be the third largest producer of CO2, accounts for a 10th of the world’s industrial water use, and contributes to dust and air pollution.

Dermot’s design process also incorporated the sustainable design principle of involving the local community and allowing their voices to be heard, so that a sense of community ownership develops and the park is embraced by the community, with less vandalism and more care.

SUSTAINABILITY VERSUS RESILIENCE A word often linked with sustainability is resilience, but what is the difference? The definition of sustainability is “the ability to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. Resilience is the capacity to deal with change, to adapt or bounce back. Resilience and sustainability are inextricably entwined. If a garden or a landscape is not resilient, it is likely to be demolished and rebuilt eventually.

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DESIGN / 11

DARINA ALLEN'S DEMONSTRATION URBAN GARDEN

One of Aniket’s projects illustrated resilience in design, fusing ideas not necessarily demanded by the specification, creating multifunctional spaces; not just an office, but also a gallery, a place where people could gather and an elegant car park which could serve other community purposes.

Garden use over the past year demonstrates why resilience is important. Our gardens and outside spaces have become focal points of activity, growing food, tending flowers or just enjoying the space as plants grow and change. If the weather is good, it’s where we eat, where the children play and where we can immerse ourselves in a little bit of nature at home.

Our next speaker was Carrie Preston, an American who has worked for 20 years in the Netherlands, one of the most densely populated countries in Europe. The gardens are small, averaging 6m x 10m. Most owners are not gardeners and see this space as extra living space. Carrie designs resilient and flexible gardens for family life. Utilities (bins, storage, laundry) are addressed at the early design stage. Childrens’ play is incorporated by designing multi-functional structures with alternative uses as children get older. A pergola could accommodate a swing and climbing equipment, at another stage it will be a shady place to sit in the evening. Seats double as storage or incorporate an insect hotel. Structures and paving are ordered but her planting has a wildness to it which, used in combination with vertical poles, creates translucent curtains, subtle screens and enclosures, making intimate spaces within the garden. This allows residents to be together in the garden or to have space to themselves. The garden allows them to be who they want to be.

Sarah Eberle has built many Chelsea gardens. Her last garden was The Resilience Garden, sponsored by the Forestry Commission, in 2019. An idea born in a world damaged by climate change and threats from pests and diseases. Britain has 35 native species of trees and 50% of these are in danger, resulting in a change of character in the landscape. Sarah’s current project was inspired by the learnings from that garden. She will be developing a resilience garden around a 500 year old farmhouse in Normandy. An experiment with unknown outcomes, but an adventure in resilience and sustainability. As work progresses, Sarah hopes that the project will become a hub for groups and students to come and work and learn.

Darina Allen of Ballymaloe Cookery School, Cork spoke passionately about the importance of the most fundamental and overlooked material beneath our feet – the soil. The health of the soil, plants and people are all connected and indivisible. If nutrients aren’t in the soil they can’t be in our food. She quoted Hippocrates, ‘Let food be thy medicine, medicine thy food’. Ballymaloe Cookery School epitomises sustainability. More than just a cookery school, students are taught about the interconnected nature of their

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chosen career. The organic farm has a fruit and vegetable garden, an edible garden, a heritage orchard and wildflower meadows. As a resource for the school there is a herd of Jersey cows, heritage pigs, 600 free range hens, a micro-dairy for making cheese, yogurt and butter, a fermentation room, an artisan bakery and a farm shop and café.

Echoing Sarah Eberle’s thoughts, Darina also feels a passion and an obligation to pass on the knowledge and skills she has gained.

Darina’s demonstration, urban garden of 12.5metres x 7metres, with a small greenhouse and cold frame, shows it is possible to feed a family of four, by ditching the lawn and planting fruit, vegetables and herbs.

CONCLUSION It is clear there is potential at every stage of the design and building of an outdoor space for improvements in sustainability.

Client expectation is a cornerstone for nature friendly gardens, so how do we persuade our clients to be more sustainable? We must use our skills as designers to articulate clients’ desire for change, that they themselves cannot voice. To do this, we must be committed to real change and educate ourselves about the choices we make and their impact on the environment. Is there a lack of sustainability in our very design approach? Do we need to be more flexible about our processes, to create something more sustainable, which allows more depth and elasticity? For example, planting plans make little provision for and do not, perhaps even seek to understand, how plants can be layered to contribute to sustainability and maintenance.

To keep what is natural and beautiful in a site involves creating a narrative, in words or images, of the environmental value of what is there, or could potentially be created, and the rewards of protecting it. Aniket described this approach; before a design is carried out, he shows to the client, not a design, but images representing man’s place in the world, setting the scene for a design which optimises the natural elements of the site and changes the client’s perspective.

A detailed and well thought out process for construction is something that can be overlooked in the design process, particularly when it comes to the soil. Soil holds more than double the terrestrial organic carbon that’s stored in vegetation.

It mitigates climate change through carbon sequestration and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Uncompacted soil will retain and filter water. A quarter of the planet’s biological diversity exists in soil. The soil is often in good condition when the contractors arrive, but deteriorates due to compaction and contamination, and often a veneer of imported soil is added.

Protection of the soil on site should be a priority. This can be done by carefully planning the construction process, using

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HERB GARDEN AT BALLYMALOE

protective fencing and the right equipment in sensitive areas and communication with the contractors.

Above the soil, keeping valuable, biodiverse planting should be a priority. Small trees and thickets are often overlooked in surveys, but this type of natural regeneration could be valuable on a site. In the past, gardens were made from local materials and would often, if untended, disappear back into the earth from which it came. If local stone was used, it could be re-used by another generation. Evidence of man’s activities, interestingly, mainly express themselves in stone and in earthworks, which remain and leave a lasting but subtle mark on the landscape. The current ‘fashion’ is for hard surfaces and paving. Perhaps this is an expression of our current relationship with the world and environment. But what if, as in the past year, our garden was the sole area we could occupy? Is this what we really want from a garden? Will we go out each day and admire the unchanging paving and concrete walls, or will we walk around our garden to see what is new, the flowers, the fragrance, the birds and insect life. A gentler and more natural approach to the genius loci is needed.

Education is key to a future healthy planet, as Darina Allen remarked, during discussions about the importance of skills and trades. We are losing our horticultural skills and a true understanding of plant and soil science. Interest in nature and science should be nurtured and valued from early schooldays.

Horticulture, a subject embodying much of science and nature should be part of the school curriculum. This has implications for future career choices and future skills. Looking after gardens

or landscapes post construction requires knowledge and these skill sets are being lost. Resources go into growing and tending plants for planting and, losses due to lack of knowledge, at the design stage or the maintenance stage, are unacceptable for the environment.

This seminar succeeded in shining a light on often overlooked corners, giving a new perspective. It is clear that we need to examine every aspect of landscape and garden design to create spaces that are resilient and truly sustainable, from process to design, and from construction to maintenance. This will involve new approaches to how we work and the materials we use.

It will require campaigning for better education in crafts and trades to expand the fundamental skills for the construction and maintenance of gardens. Successful sustainability is achieved by examining the layers of our environment and how they are connected. By immersing ourselves in our projects and exploring all the layers, new perspectives on sustainability will emerge into view. ✽

PATRICIA TYRRELL is an awardwinning garden designer with two Gold Medals and Best in Category from Bloom. She holds an honours degree in Landscape Horticulture from UCD and is also a Masters Graduate of the School of Landscape Architecture at UCD.

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©BENCE BALLA SCHOTTNER

OPINION / 12

IS RISK ON YOUR MENU?

At a time when risk is at the top of the agenda, retired landscape horticulturist, Terry O’Regan, reflects on the importance of risk identification and mitigation in the landscape sector

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hen financial advisors ask “What is your appetite for risk?” it's tempting to ask to see the menu first, most will hesitate before answering and few will reply ‘insatiable’, apart perhaps from Formula One racing drivers, steeplechase jockeys or rugby players, who might well argue that their real appetite is for exhilaration rather than risk.

In terms of learning curves, Covid 19

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has been a very different rainbow; the pot at the other side glitters with vaccine rather than gold! This particular curve has created risk awareness more akin to a wartime experience, even if the risks may masquerade as pantomime – sometimes he really is behind you! The approach of a panting, staggering, red-faced jogger is viewed with the same trepidation as a charging trooper with extended rifle and bayonet. Someone coughing in your vicinity resonates like an exploding hand-grenade and sneezers are no longer

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blessed. Street conversations are socially distanced dances reminiscent of priest supervised school hops of the early sixties.

All creatures are born with risk recognition and avoidance skills; small birds feeding at bird-tables are constantly alert and all birds in the garden occasionally spontaneously fly up, responding to alarms beyond our human ken – avian ‘fire drill’?. Humans have also been into the risk-avoidance business for millennia. Unlike birds we can enjoy our meals oblivious of risk, or

12 / OPINION at least we could before the arrival of the ‘Covid Coughers’!

Modern societies are largely built on providing us with evolving risk reduction frameworks, sharply illustrated by current mask-wearing, social-distancing and quarantining rules. Those opposing such limitations on personal freedoms fail to understand that these rules are akin to obeying traffic lights; intended to avoid communal Covid 19 crashes of horrific dimensions.

Parents try to minimise risks for their children. My own urged me to become a bank official for the security promised (they did not live long enough to see the joke in that aspiration!). They were shocked when, armed with my B. Ag. (Hort) degree, I abandoned plans to become a horticultural advisor and opted instead for a career in commercial landscaping and subsequently became self-employed. We learn risk avoidance strategies early, from parents, teachers and other mentors and working for an employer is usually a valuable learning experience, especially ahead of selfemployment. But in truth, it is in life’s mishaps and blunders where we learn the real lessons of risk recognition and avoidance.

In the late 1960s, a poker school thrived in the Albert College common room. An unskilled card player, I played to pass the time at lunch, when a streak of foolishness led me to bet £5 on a ‘winning hand’. Not much you might say, but in 1968 the loss of £5 meant a week of going without.

There is no fool like a young fool, so the following day I joined the table again, this time lady luck was kinder and I won back my precious £5. From that day, a little risk-wiser, I spent my lunch breaks walking in the college grounds.

Genesis, the 1970s rock group had an early hit with ‘I Like what I Like’, a song in which a teacher, Miss Mort advises, “Gambling only pays when you’re winning”. Where were Miss Mort and indeed Peter Gabriel when I needed them? The verse ends with the sage horticultural advice “Keep those mower blades sharp”. The song was apparently written about a tragic Genesis roadie, whose chequered career included grass mowing! Landscapers will know that the sector is distinguished by colourful characters with chequered careers!

The song came from the 1973 Genesis album ‘Selling England by the Pound’, The cover of the album was a Betty Swanwick painting of an English garden scene, to which Peter Gabriel insisted on adding an image of a green push

Health and safety and financial risk are risk categories that business owners are familiar with, however human instinct alone cannot be relied on when it comes to quantifying and reducing risk.” mower, a subtle salute to his roadie.

My father enjoyed backing horses all his life, a hobby gambler betting small sums in doubles, trebles and accumulators across many UK race meetings (he didn’t trust the Irish meetings!). He maintained that he always had a few bob coming back because he spread his risk. He explained to me that the bookies always made money, even when the favourite romped home by ‘laying off’ the bets; in others words by spreading the risk. Life is about accepting that risk exists and applying different strategies to minimise it.

Health and safety and financial risk are risk categories that business owners are familiar with, however human instinct alone cannot be relied on when it comes to quantifying and reducing risk. Over time the state has legislated for such risks, placing obligations and constraints not only on enterprises but on employees also. As a business owner, you should interrogate the risk profile of your business all the time. The skill lies in learning what questions to ask and in building a dossier of the right answers.

“Ask yourself, is it safe?” is a cautionary long running advert campaign run by the Electricity Network. The structured discipline of safety statements, site specific risk assessment and production of method statements essentially asks the same question but requires answers to be documented and applied. In my experience, however, box-ticking risks becoming counter-productive when it replaces ‘cop-on’ and ‘horse sense’.

The late Dermot Morgan might have sermonised that it’s more about headup bird-alertness than head-down pen-pushing! Government officials and agents, who develop H&S procedures and training, should engage with ‘coalface’ workers to improve the effectiveness of measures, reduce unnecessary cost and ‘message overkill’.

Business risks are not confined to finance and safety and whilst there are risks common to all enterprises, some are more relevant to specific sectors. For smaller enterprises in the landscaping and nursery stock sector the complexity of the

risks faced can be challenging. We usually have specific landscaping and plant production skills, but may not be skilled in business practice or management. In poker parlance, you have a hand of cards but it may not be good enough to gamble with! It is vital to pick the right cards when you are buying advice, whether it is for finance management, insurance, safety training, information technology or even ‘reliable’ weather forecasts!

For our sector, ‘The Weather’ figures high on our list of risk priorities. I suffer from a lifelong weather forecast addiction, checking 10 forecasts a day, seeking the common denominator, discounting the Dublin 4 ‘bias’ for weather inside the ‘Pale’ adding hours to predicted rainfall arrival in the southwest. Stepping outside, I often waved a wet finger and sniffed the wind, looked up at the sky and gazed west back the Lee Valley towards Bantry, adjusted my ‘weather forecast’ and re-arranged work schedules. As a risk reduction strategy, it worked most days, though the Weather Gods could prove unkind; when our teams were on site in Whitegate, Limerick or West Cork, it rained ‘cats and dogs’, while the sun baked in Waterfall!

Risk recognition and mitigation requires a systematic approach, like it or not we are gamblers and it pays to confront that reality. I will return to this topic with more specific examples in the future! In the meantime listen carefully to the late Kenny Rogers’ advice in his 1978 hit ‘The Gambler’.” ✽

TERRY O’REGAN pursued a career in the Irish landscape sector for some 50 years as contractor and consultant before retiring recently. For much of that time, he was also an active advocate for the bigger picture perspective and thinking outside the landscape box. He can be contacted at 087 240 7618 and terryjoregan@gmail.com.

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LANDSCAPE / 13

RIVER CORRIDORS CONNECTING NATURE Féidhlim Harty explores the boundless potential of and benefits from creating river corridors throughout our countryside PERFECT STORM Globally we are in a perfect storm; and I'm not referring to the Covid pandemic. On many different levels, Earth’s health indices are at critical levels. Climate breakdown is extensively publicised, but is compounded with multiple other issues. Biodiversity losses are so great that it is claimed that we have entered the sixth mass extinction event on our planet. Our current trajectory feels akin to sawing off the branch we are sitting on.

Soil erosion from farming causes both a reduction in farmable soils, and a deterioration of water quality due to silt and nutrient inputs. Our species seems to excel at creating deserts; from the Sahara to the American Dust Bowl.

Some estimates suggest that there are 30-60 harvests left in our soils, such is

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the rate at which we wash our soils into rivers and seas. Combined pressures on our waters are such that, in Ireland, the number of pristine rivers and streams has plummeted since the 1980s, from 13% to 1% of total watercourses assessed.

Flooding and drought events have become more frequent, causing damage to urban and rural areas and impacting on wildlife and farmland.

NATURE BASED SOLUTIONS Given the scale and the urgency of these crises what can be done? Ecologist E.O. Wilson proposes a Half Earth policy; devote half of the earth to wild nature and half to supporting ourselves, including crops and livestock. For this, rewilding is needed on a grand scale, with core protected spaces, corridors between those spaces to prevent genetic isolation, and

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re-introduction of keystone species so that natural processes can unfold appropriately.

To minimise the impacts and severity of climate breakdown we need to step up to The Paris Agreement commitments.

Alongside ceasing emissions of stored carbon from oil, coal, gas and peat, we also need to urgently step up a carbon sequestration programme. Fortunately we are surrounded by solutions. Tree planting on a massive scale is one such solution; with native trees, which give resilience and biodiversity benefits. Re-wetting of peatlands is a growing carbon capture measure in Ireland. Carbon farming via permanent pasture, agroforestry, silvopasture and farm scale composting all help store carbon in the soil.

It is not sufficient to simply do less harm to our waters. We need to actively regenerate and repair the damage done over the past half century and more. When we consider that only 1% of our rivers are in pristine condition, it is clear that there is much to remedy. Fortunately, as with biodiversity and climate, solutions

13 / LANDSCAPE It is not sufficient to simply do less harm to our waters. We need to actively regenerate and repair the damage done over the past half century and more.” form of compost, no-till methods or covercropping, to name just three methods. Soil organic matter can hold 20 times its own weight in water, providing great benefit for on-farm drought resilience as well as regulating water flows off land.

A MARRIAGE MADE IN NATURE

WILD WALKWAY ALONGSIDE WATERCOURSE IN CLARE. PHOTO BY KATE HARTY

abound. Particularly nature-based solutions which are often self-maintaining and work for free. These may include wooded buffer zones between farmland and watercourses, to filter soil and nutrients from field runoff. Farm ponds can be used to hold clean yard runoff, settle residues, and use nutrients to feed edge plants before flowing to receiving watercourses.

In-channel silt traps can be used in farm drains, dammed at intervals and planted to filter the inflow. Away from watercourses, measures such as contour hedgerow planting help to soak heavy rain into the soil and prevent runoff.

Buffer zones, ponds, wetlands, woodlands and hedgerows offer another benefit for hydrological balancing within any catchment. They store water in the landscape, reducing the impact of heavy rainfall on downstream urban areas and providing reliable water supplies during prolonged periods of dry weather. Within our soils there is an enormous potential for water storage (and carbon capture) if organic matter content is increased, in the

Measures for biodiversity, climate, soil and water are all interdependent and lend themselves to holistic solutions. One such synergistic approach is the marriage of wide riparian buffer zones with wildlife corridors. A buffer zone of just 5-10m on either side of streams, with lower or larger widths beside farm drains or rivers respectively, can offer multiple benefits.

They can provide wildlife passage between core habitat areas and are habitats for pollinators and songbirds. Soil capture and water protection are two sides of the same coin, protecting both the viability of cropland and the health of streams. Where there is life there is potential for carbon capture. By planting buffer zones with native trees, grasses or wetland vegetation, carbon is stored in both plants and roots and in the myriad of ecological interactions that occur in nature. Creation of “wild walkways” through these areas, sensitive to the needs of both landowners and nature,

can potentially also offer amenity benefits if planned and implemented carefully.

Creating wildlife corridors isn't simply about leaving space between farmland and waterways. It requires careful removal of obstacles to permit movement along the corridor between land holdings or at interfaces with roads and bridges. Within stream and river channels there are often obstacles to fish passage. Old dams, weirs and sluices may still be in place but long redundant.

These can block the passage of migratory fish such as lamprey, eel and salmon.

Careful removal can greatly enhance the habitat value of many of our waterways.

Paradoxically, waterways can also be improved with in-stream measures such as leaky log dams or brash dams (offered for free by animals such as beavers. These offer water storage within the landscape, with slow release into the wider catchment, providing both filtration and hydrological buffering, helping to reduce flooding and increase drought resilience.

STEPPING FORWARD Adoption of generous riparian buffer zones as filters and corridors, on all our rivers, streams and farm drains, could deliver multiple benefits; for Irish wildlife, water

CREATING AMENITY VALUE IS AN ATTRACTIVE CO-BENEFIT OF BUFFER ZONES

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LANDSCAPE / 13 quality protection, carbon sequestration and flood control. Yet how do we move forward in a way that meets the needs of landowners and maximises the mutual benefits? Firstly, putting a financial value on the benefits of adopting riparian planning could enable a reward structure for farmers for the many hidden services provided by the landscape under their care. Currently, our agricultural payments system rewards open farmland at the expense of other measures. Thus ponds, wide hedgerows, wooded stream edges and damp boggy field corners are more profitably turned into ploughed land, often at direct cost to water quality, flood prevention, carbon storage and wildlife. Happily, many of the best areas for riparian wildlife and water filtration are those with the heaviest soils; the most difficult to farm productively.

By valuing such land for the multiple other benefits it can offer, we could create an extensive interconnected network of land throughout the country with modest losses in overall food production. By inviting voluntary sign-up to a preferential payments scheme, we can help to encourage landowners who are enthusiastic, without posing a threat to those who wish to retain existing field boundaries at riparian edges. As our appreciation for pollination by wildlife,

COMMON REED (PHRAGMITES AUSTRALIS) ARE ONE OF THE PLANTS USED IN IN-CHANNEL SILT TRAPS. PHOTO BY FÉIDHLIM HARTY

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RIVER NETWORKS NEAR ENNIS, CO. CLARE, SHOWING THE POTENTIAL FOR EXTENSIVE CORRIDORS FOR NATURE. SOURCE: WWW.CATCHMENTS.IE

landscape-based flood control and carbon capture grow, a financial mechanism to support the enhancement of water quality and wildlife habitat makes increasing economic common sense.

The Burren Programme in Clare has shown that careful grazing patterns can be actively beneficial for wildflowers and wildlife on productive farmland.

Planned summer grazing can combine the benefits of buffer zones with meat production, while ensuring stocking times and densities are designed for maximum wildlife benefit. Large herbivorous animals have always been a part of the Irish landscape, but in the absence of large predators other than people, farming methods need to do the work of the wolf or bear by keeping livestock on the move, encouraging swift grazing habits and protecting pinch points such as river edges where erosion can occur.

What is proposed here is a departure from the conventional approach of maximising cropland productivity and as such, education and training will be vital strands, requiring inputs from diverse fields including ecology, environmental sciences, permaculture, agroforestry, carbon capture methodology and nature based solutions.

A holistic design approach is vital to ensure that the multiple benefits, including the requirements of the landowners, are delivered from design to implementation.

Alongside the benefits for nature, carbon capture and water quality, we can also deliver recreational and tourism benefits. Long distance, off-road routes are already very popular and there is an opportunity for greatly increasing the network of these “wild walkways” and

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticultureconnected.ie / Spring 2021

developing other supporting activities such as “wild food” markets and food foraging.

Mushrooms, wild herbs and wild fruit can all be grown and encouraged within such spaces, and offer landowners alternative revenue sources. Sensitive management of native trees within buffer zone areas; for firewood, coppice poles for fencing products, or other traditional woodland products also offer possible products.

So how about it? Within a short time, a new network of wildlife corridors along farm drains, streams and rivers could exist. This network could protect water, prevent flooding, conserve soils, capture carbon, provide a new network of off-road footpaths and diversify farm incomes. The expertise to deliver this change is already available. It will take a shift in policy to prioritise the multiple benefits described; however now, more than ever before, there is a hunger for change, an appreciation for nature, and a desire to build back better.

Stimulus funding at European and national levels offers an opportunity to achieve something truly constructive and exciting; for landowners, for water, for climate, for nature, for all of us. ✽

FÉIDHLIM HARTY Féidhlim Harty is director of FH Wetland Systems, writer and waterway rewilding advocate. His most recent books are Permaculture Guide to Reed Beds and Towards Zero Waste. www.wetlandsystems.ie.

13 / LANDSCAPE

“WILDFLOWER” OR “WILDFOULER”,

HOW THE INDUSTRY CAN SUPPORT THE BEES AND BIODIVERSITY Noeleen Smyth, National Botanic Gardens in conjunction with Maria Long, Grassland Ecologist National Parks & Wildlife Service; Jane Stout, Professor of Botany, Trinity College Dublin & All Ireland Pollinator Plan & Una Fitzpatrick, All Ireland Pollinator Plan & National Biodiversity Data Centre BIODIVERSITY IN TROUBLE The most recent global assessment on biodiversity in 2019 highlighted that the rate of decline in nature during the past 50 years is unprecedented. Biodiversity or biological diversity, is defined as the diversity of all living things, and it is under severe threat. The number of plants, insects, animals and birds that are threatened or in danger of extinction grows every year. In Ireland, our President Michael D. Higgins highlighted to the first National Biodiversity Conference in 2019 that, “if we were miners, we would be up to our necks in dead canaries”.

Our health and well-being are reliant on nature and its services, which we receive in the form of air, food, water, medicines, as well as landscapes for recreation, and protection against natural hazards.

Our very existence depends on this natural capital provided for us from the natural world - our natural assets, which include geology, soil, air, water and all our biodiversity (World Forum on Natural Capital 2020), but we have not invested sufficiently in them. The global biodiversity assessment report of 2019 listed the top five drivers of the negative change in biodiversity: land and sea use change; direct exploitation of organisms; climate change; pollution; and invasion of alien species. Ireland responded to this and declared a Climate and Biodiversity Emergency in 2019.

The plight of our native species is forlorn, with one in five species estimated to be at risk of extinction. Extinction risk is higher in some groups, including our pollinators, with 33% of all Irish bees and 18% of Irish butterflies currently at risk of extinction. This could have direct impacts on humanity, 75% of the world’s human food crops are animal pollinated, a service that is worth millions to the Irish economy each year ( Bullock et al. 2008 The Economic and Social Aspects of Biodiversity – Benefits and Costs of Biodiversity in Ireland) One of the most successful national biodiversity programmes to date is helping to raise awareness and promote positive action to reverse pollinator decline. This programme is known as the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan (https://pollinators.ie/). The aim of this plan is to engage farmers, local authorities, schools, gardeners and businesses to come together to create and support an Ireland where pollinators can survive and thrive. The public and consumers have heard this message loud and clear, everyone wants to ‘do their bit for

the bees’ so that the demand for “Wildflowers” to support the bees has increased dramatically and the demand for products has resulted in lifestyle stores, which didn’t stock seeds or plants in the past, now

Top ten “Wildflowers” whose presence in seed packets can indicate that the mix does not contain any native Irish seed

1 COMMON NAME Cornlcockle LATIN NAME Agrostemma githago INFORMATION A European species, once a weed of wheat fields. Not a native Irish species.

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LANDSCAPE / 13

2 COMMON NAME Cornflower

3 COMMON NAME Corn Marigold

LATIN NAME Centaurea cyanus INFORMATION Some very few suspected native populations of this species exist in Ireland. Just one or two fields are known in the west.

Questionable if they are Irish sources. Pink colours are definitely not native.

4

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LATIN NAME Chrysanthemum segetum INFORMATION Corn Marigold - very few native populations exist in Ireland. Questionable if they are Irish sources.

5 COMMON NAME Feverfew

COMMON NAME Dame’s Violet

LATIN NAME Tanacetum parthenium

LATIN NAME Hesperis matronalis

INFORMATION Cottage garden plant. European native, but not Irish.

INFORMATION Cottage garden plant. European native, but not Irish.

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6

7 COMMON NAME Greater Celandine

COMMON NAME Borage

LATIN NAME Chelidonium majus

LATIN NAME Borago officinalis

INFORMATION Cottage garden plant. European native, but not Irish.

INFORMATION Native to the Mediterranean.

filled with enticing, colourful packets of “Wildflower” seed.

Most people buying these ‘Wildflower’ seed packets assume they are buying Irish wildflowers, however the majority of wildflower seed for sale in Ireland today is not native seed . Most of the packets we have investigated, which declare themselves as good for the bees, and selling as traditional meadow flowers, field flowers, with names such as “biodiversity mix”, are filled with species which could impact and pollute the last remaining bits of our native biodiversity and seminatural grasslands. These generally, summer-flowering species will do little to support the bees, who really just need more of our humble spring flowers, such as dandelion, when they are most in need of a good feed to start them off for the year.

Some well-meaning groups are busy clearing natural areas and road verges and planting seeds of unknown origins, and mixes which have never existed “in the wild” here, and which will do little to support our bees or biodiversity. One of our big-earner industries in Ireland is overseas tourism, estimated to be worth €6 billion to our economy, which hopefully will return post-pandemic. Our unspoilt environment was cited by 86 % of visitors as a reason for visiting (Bullock et al. 2008 The Economic and Social Aspects of Biodiversity – Benefits and Costs of Biodiversity in Ireland) https://www.cbd. int/doc/case-studies/inc/cs-inc-ireland-en.pdf). We risk much by planting these unknown mixes into our natural and semi-natural places, and it is unfortunate that well-meaning groups and individuals are being misled by claims on the packaging of these seeds.

8 COMMON NAME Scarlet flax LATIN NAME Linum grandiflorum INFORMATION Native to Algeria and Southern Europe.

SO HOW CAN THE HORTICULTURAL INDUSTRY PLAY ITS PART IN SUPPORTING BEES, WILDFLOWERS AND BIODIVERSITY? There is a lot of demand for wildflower seeds from local authorities, school gardens, local community groups and landscapers who are asked to or who want to plant wildflower meadows. The seeds however need to be sourced from genuine Irish wildflower, field and

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LANDSCAPE / 13

Cosmos bipinnatus

9

Cosmus sulphureus

COMMON NAME Cosmos LATIN NAME Cosmos bipinnatus & Cosmus sulphureus INFORMATION Mexican & American species.

10 COMMON NAME Calendula LATIN NAME Calendula officinalis INFORMATION Originated in Southern Europe, no true wild populations are currently known.

All images sourced from Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License Information Sources https://www.rte.ie/news/environment/2019/0509/1048525-climateemergency/ https://www.biodiversityireland.ie/biodiversity-irelands-top-10/10species-risk-losing/ https://www.cbd.int/doc/case-studies/inc/cs-inc-ireland-en.pdf

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meadow seed. This presents a difficulty as currently there are just one or two suppliers on the whole Island of Ireland! More suppliers of genuine native Irish seed are needed, preferably at the regional level, supplying seed mixes to suit different local environmental conditions. There are potential opportunities to support farmers regionally who have meadows rich in native wildflowers to set up and sell the ‘real deal’ to the industry, with both quality and amenity fulfilling species mixes.

There is an easier way to naturally encourage a more diverse meadow, with minimal seed application. Yellow rattle (Rhinanthus minor) is a hemiparasite that taps into grass roots for nourishment and is also known as ‘nature’s lawnmower’, this is an invaluable species to have in meadows. If seeds of yellow rattle are sown, the plants will suppress growth of vigorous grasses, giving other wildflowers a chance to establish. With the help of yellow rattle, native wildflower meadows can form naturally in 5-7 years. Check out some of the very useful and informative videos available on https://pollinators.ie/videos/. There is a need for more suppliers of genuinely native yellow rattle seed. There is also a need to explore regional donor sites, where seed could be harvested from remaining species-rich natural meadows and made available for local larger-scale restoration projects.

Nurseries and garden centres dealing with the public need to highlight that the packets of “Wildflowers” they sell are sourced from the larger seed supply companies. These seeds should only be planted in gardens, as they are annual half hardy and hardy “flowers'' and not Irish Wildflowers or wildflowers in reality. The images on the mixed packets do not exist anywhere in the wild and do not contain any native Irish wildflowers, nor are they sourced in Ireland. Planting these anywhere outside a garden setting has the potential to impact negatively on local biodiversity through pollution of the seed bank and the introduction of possible future invasive alien species. Thus, we may be unwittingly selling and introducing “Wildfoulers” into the Irish landscape instead of “Wildflowers”.

If you are a garden centre owner, landscaper or gardener, look at the species mixes you are selling, sowing or being sold in these “Wildflower” packets and mixes. A quick check through the species list on the packet is a good way to make an informed decision. Some of the key exotic species are highlighted as either not native or occur so infrequently in Ireland that they could not be sourced here commercially - the top 10 to watch out for as exotics are highlighted here. If you want to sell, buy or sow native and Irish wildflowers don’t sell, buy or sow packets with these species and specifically do not sow or plant them in natural and semi-natural habitats.

Irish wildflower meadows have decreased by 97% and some of the remnants are found on our roadside verges. Let’s protect what we have left, and build support for an Irish wildflower industry which will help to save and restore our true biodiversity. If properly done, this would sustainably reintroduce the beautiful native Irish grassland meadows and verges that have been decimated over the last decades. This will help, not only our beleaguered pollinators, but all biodiversity. ✽ NOELEEN SMYTH is a botanist and horticulturist. She holds a PhD and Hons Degree in Botany from Trinity College Dublin and Diplomas in horticulture from Teagasc and the RHS. She is currently a Biodiversity and Conservation specialist working at the National Botanic Gardens (OPW). As part of her current role, she acts as the CITES Scientific Authority for Ireland advising the government on rare plant imports.

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticultureconnected.ie / Spring 2021

14 / DAFM

The Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine outlines the steps required to become an authorised issuer of plant passports

A

s a professional operator you play a key role in protectinag Ireland’s plant health status and biodiversity. The detection of harmful plant pests protects your own business and protects the wider agriculture and horticulture sectors.

As you are aware, all plants for planting require a plant passport when moved from one professional operator to another professional operator. Additionally, protected zone host plants require plant passports to the end user and all plants sold online require plant passports to the final/end user. A protected zone is a zone in the Community in which one or more quarantine organisms are present in the Union territory but are absent from specific parts of the territory despite favourable conditions for them to establish themselves there.

A plant passport is an important record as it attests to the plant health condition and verifies traceability of the plants. Plant passports can only be issued by professional operators who are authorised to do so by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM). To that end, a new authorisation

ASSESSMENT OF COMPETENCY TO ISSUE PLANT PASSPORTS process has been introduced which includes an online training course and assessment followed by an on-site inspection by DAFM. The process is quite simple to complete and will run as follows: 1. You are invited to view the training modules via the link to our website available at https://www.gov.ie/en/ publication/8e660-plant-passports 2. You are then asked to answer multiple choice questions on the content of the training modules. The assessment is available on the EU Survey website at https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/ auth_professional_assessment. The pass mark is 80% and the result will be generated automatically. There is no limit on the number of attempts to complete the assessment so if you miss something the first time you can complete again.

3. Upon successful completion of the course, confirmation of the result will be issued by email. Full name, full email address and the Plant Health Registration number

of the Professional Operator will be required to complete the training.

4. You then need to complete an application form to be authorised to issue plant passports and return to DAFM together with a copy of the confirmation email referred to at point 3.

5. A DAFM inspector will conduct an on-site assessment to confirm that the operator has the necessary equipment and facilities to perform examinations and the capacity to carry out the measures necessary to prevent the presence and spread of harmful pests.

6. If the inspection stage is successful, a certificate of authorisation to issue plant passports will be provided.

The assessment process should be complete and submitted to DAFM by 5pm on 30th April 2021.

If you have any queries in relation to the above, please contact us by email at plantandpests@agriculture.gov.ie or phone at (01) 5058885. ✽

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