The difficulty in finding Irish products such as apples on supermarket shelves was highlighted by the Irish Food Writers’ Guild at its annual awards today.
Chef and food writer Myrtle Allen said Irish farmers and growers produced some of the highest quality food in the world and yet it was often a challenge to find something as simple as an Irish apple in our shops.
"If we don't support and buy Irish, we will ultimately witness the demise of the small to medium-sized local producer, to the benefit of imported, and sometimes sub-standard, substitutes," she said.
"We cannot let this happen and I am appealing to all stakeholders, including retailers, to recognise their responsibilities in supporting home grown industry."
Among the five winners at today's awards was an apple grower, Con Traas from The Apple Farm in Cahir. He said there had been a decline in the number of apple growers when it became difficult to compete with countries such as China, where labour was much cheaper.
But he said there were signs that apple production was on the increase again, and the Department of Agriculture was planning to grant aid growers who wanted to plant apples.
The Irish Food Writers' Guild also presented awards to McCarthy butchers in Kanturk; Castlemine Farm Free Range Pork in Roscommon; Glebe Brethan Cheese and Derrycamma Farm Rapeseed Oil, both in Louth.
This was the 18th year of the awards which were set up to promote producers of the highest quality food. Producers cannot nominate themselves for the awards. They can only be nominated by the food writers.
Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney said he believed this was the start of "a very exciting time" in the food industry.
Demand for high quality Irish food was increasing abroad and the target of increasing the value of food exports by nearly 50 per cent to more than €12 billion by 2020 was "highly achievable" , he said.
There were almost 50 farmhouse cheeses being produced here and cheese worth almost €12 million was being sold every year, with €5 million of that coming from exported cheese.
Mr Coveney also highlighted a 27 per cent increase in the number of school leavers wanting to do agriculture and food science courses last year - an increase in almost one third on the previous year.
"So there is something happening in our industry. It needs to be spoken about and encouraged," Mr Coveney said.
Award winners
The Tiernan family from Dunleer, Co Louth won an award for their handmade Glebe Brethan Cheese. It takes its name from a local monastic settlement and is a Gruyere-type cheese. It is made in 45-kilo wheels, which are matured on spruce timbers for 6-18 months. It comes from the milk of Montbeliarde cows which David Tiernan began breeding 20 years ago. Half the milk supply is used for cheese while the remainder is sold as liquid milk and for Bailey's Cream liqueur.
www.glebebrethan.com
Butchers Jack McCarthy and his son Tim won an award for their contribution to Irish food through their shop in Kanturk, Co Cork.
The McCarthys have been in the trade since 1892 and have won numerous awards for their products. They were recently visited by 23 members of the French Brotherhood of the Knights of the Black Pudding, who presented Jack with a gold medal for his fresh blood pudding. They also worked with chef Ross Lewis to create a bespoke pudding to serve at the state banquet celebrating Queen Elizabeth's visit to Ireland.
www.jackmccarthy.ie
Derrycamma Farm Foods, Castlebellingham, Co Louth won an award- for their rapeseed oil.
Patrick and Carol Rooney are tillage farmers who decided to diversify by producing rapeseed oil from their rape crop. All their crops are grown using eco-till techniques, which avoid ploughing in order to build up the natural nutrients in the ground and reduce the need for artificial fertilisers. Their rapeseed oil has half the saturated fat and ten times the Omega 3 level of olive oil.
Any oil leaked during the process goes to a local engineering firm to oil the machinery.
www.rapeseed-oil.ie
Castlemine Farm, a family enterprise in Fourmilehouse, Co Roscommon was recognised for its free range pork. Brendan and Derek Allen are the fifth generation to farm on the land and are keen on tradition. Their pigs range free in the fields, with open-all-hours shelters. They root and graze on beet and in harvested wheat and barley fields.
From the on-farm processing and chilling unit, trained butchers make a range of traditional pork products for sale in the Castlemine farm shop, in Roscommon town and at farmer's markets.
www.castleminefarm.ie
Fruit grower Con Traas of The Apple Farm in Cahir, Co Tipperary received a lifetime achievement award for his commitment to the sector. His parents Willem and Ali Traas moved to Ireland from the Netherlands 40 years ago to set up an orchard. Today Con grows 40 acres of fruit, including 60 varieties of apple, soft fruits, plums, cherries and pears.
The fruits are made into a variety of juices, jelly, cider vinegar, jams and sparkling apple juice. Con is also chairman of the Irish Apple Growers Association and has campaigned for improved production methods and advances in the sector.
www.theapplefarm.com
