Turkey
More than one million turkeys will be eaten in Ireland this Christmas, of which around 850,000 will be Irish and some 240,000 imported. Irish farmers receive between €7 and €20 for each bird, depending whether they are sold direct to the customer ex-farm or in bulk to butchers.
Whole turkey sales at Christmas account for an additional €10m in the annual grocery trade.
Turkey imports are mainly through the butcher and wholesale channels so if you want to buy Irish, you must specify what you want from the butcher.
Ham
Some 3,500t of ham and bacon are sold in December to create the traditional meat duo. The sales amount to a total of €15m.
Large quantities of Danish and Dutch pigmeat are imported into Ireland and the IFA has urged everyone buying ham and turkey this Christmas to look for the Bord Bia Quality Assured label to ensure that what they are buying is top-quality Irish meat.
“Ask the question at the butcher, in the restaurant, in the canteen – where did this turkey and ham come from?,” advised Tom Hogan, the newly elected IFA pig chair.
Brussels sprouts
Up to 1,500t of Brussels sprouts worth €1.35m will be served up this festive season. There are just four farmers growing most of Ireland’s Brussels sprout annual crop of 4,000t. The country is about 75% self-sufficient in sprouts, with imports coming from Holland and Belgium when supermarkets impose severe price discounting.
Carrots
Some 3,000t of Irish carrots will be sold for Christmas, yielding some €900,000 to farmers. In all, 1,500 acres of carrots are grown in Ireland, producing a total of 40,000t annually. Ireland is fully self-sufficient in carrots.
Parsnips
Approximately 1,000t of parsnips will make their way to the dining table during the festive season, giving farmers a Christmas pay cheque of €800,000. Irish farmers grow around 500ac of parsnips, producing 6,000t every year. The growing season for both carrots and parsnips has been favourable this year, the dry November helping to boost crop yields.
Potatoes
Around 15,000t of the humble spud will be eaten in the national Christmas dinner this year, with shoppers mainly opting for the tasty Golden Wonder and Kerr’s Pink varieties. Yuletide spud sales are worth €3.45m to farmers.
However, this return is under threat from severe price discounting applied by Aldi this week. The supermarket is selling a 10kg bag of potatoes for the price of 7.5kg, effectively giving away 33% extra potatoes free.
IFA potato chair Eddie Doyle said it was very disappointing that Aldi was cutting prices at a time when potatoes are in demand.
“You wouldn’t reduce the price of ice cream when the temperature is over 30°C, why cut prices on potatoes when there is no need for it?,” he asked. “I would urge all supermarkets not to engage in low-cost selling that only undermines a very vulnerable sector.”
IFA president Joe Healy said the discounting “illustrates the scant disregard which some retailers have for the primary producer of quality assured Irish grown product”.
Read more
Listen: average yield and quality from NI harvest
Turkey
More than one million turkeys will be eaten in Ireland this Christmas, of which around 850,000 will be Irish and some 240,000 imported. Irish farmers receive between €7 and €20 for each bird, depending whether they are sold direct to the customer ex-farm or in bulk to butchers.
Whole turkey sales at Christmas account for an additional €10m in the annual grocery trade.
Turkey imports are mainly through the butcher and wholesale channels so if you want to buy Irish, you must specify what you want from the butcher.
Ham
Some 3,500t of ham and bacon are sold in December to create the traditional meat duo. The sales amount to a total of €15m.
Large quantities of Danish and Dutch pigmeat are imported into Ireland and the IFA has urged everyone buying ham and turkey this Christmas to look for the Bord Bia Quality Assured label to ensure that what they are buying is top-quality Irish meat.
“Ask the question at the butcher, in the restaurant, in the canteen – where did this turkey and ham come from?,” advised Tom Hogan, the newly elected IFA pig chair.
Brussels sprouts
Up to 1,500t of Brussels sprouts worth €1.35m will be served up this festive season. There are just four farmers growing most of Ireland’s Brussels sprout annual crop of 4,000t. The country is about 75% self-sufficient in sprouts, with imports coming from Holland and Belgium when supermarkets impose severe price discounting.
Carrots
Some 3,000t of Irish carrots will be sold for Christmas, yielding some €900,000 to farmers. In all, 1,500 acres of carrots are grown in Ireland, producing a total of 40,000t annually. Ireland is fully self-sufficient in carrots.
Parsnips
Approximately 1,000t of parsnips will make their way to the dining table during the festive season, giving farmers a Christmas pay cheque of €800,000. Irish farmers grow around 500ac of parsnips, producing 6,000t every year. The growing season for both carrots and parsnips has been favourable this year, the dry November helping to boost crop yields.
Potatoes
Around 15,000t of the humble spud will be eaten in the national Christmas dinner this year, with shoppers mainly opting for the tasty Golden Wonder and Kerr’s Pink varieties. Yuletide spud sales are worth €3.45m to farmers.
However, this return is under threat from severe price discounting applied by Aldi this week. The supermarket is selling a 10kg bag of potatoes for the price of 7.5kg, effectively giving away 33% extra potatoes free.
IFA potato chair Eddie Doyle said it was very disappointing that Aldi was cutting prices at a time when potatoes are in demand.
“You wouldn’t reduce the price of ice cream when the temperature is over 30°C, why cut prices on potatoes when there is no need for it?,” he asked. “I would urge all supermarkets not to engage in low-cost selling that only undermines a very vulnerable sector.”
IFA president Joe Healy said the discounting “illustrates the scant disregard which some retailers have for the primary producer of quality assured Irish grown product”.
Read more
Listen: average yield and quality from NI harvest
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