Is the market for herbs expanding in Ireland?

Recent data shows the value of fresh herb buying is increasing by 3% in value and 13% in volume per year, with the potted herbs market in general growing faster than packets

What is driving this growth?

Health is a factor as fresh herbs are a natural flavouring sometimes used to help reduce or eliminate salt intake. Celebrity chefs and food bloggers are also big influencers in changing dietary behaviour. Consumers like supporting local and the Love Irish Food campaign has been great at promoting indigenous companies.

Have more consumers started cooking from scratch?

It would seem that consumers are re-embracing cooking at home, experimenting with ingredients and open to new cuisines. This trend in scratch cooking has helped where herbs are seen as fundamental with other fresh ingredients such as onions, garlic and tomatoes.

What are the most popular herb varieties with Irish consumers?

The most popular herb in Ireland is coriander, which isn’t at all native to traditional Irish food. It is more associated with international food such as Asian, Mexican or Middle Eastern. It’s amazing how Irish consumers have embraced different food experiences since we began herb production. It may be down to foreign travel and recipes in print and online.

Is growing herbs a seasonal business in Ireland?

Locally grown cut herbs are available with the seasons, so June to September is the peak harvest period. However, this is extended by protected growing in glasshouses or tunnels in spring and autumn. In the colder months, only very hardy cut herbs are locally available. For potted herbs, production is year-round in glasshouses.

Have you competitors exporting herbs into Ireland?

Herbs are fragile and perishable so they are best grown and packed locally. We have good support from Irish retailers who see benefit in having a supplier in Ireland packaging and growing daily to order.

How competitive is the retail market at present?

Herbs are analysed as part of the overall grocery basket and therefore you have to be competitive on price. However, consumers are quite discerning when it comes to herbs and there is a willingness to pay for quality and local product. So there is a certain amount of elasticity tolerance on price.

How big a challenge has it been scaling your business over the years?

The biggest leap of faith was made in 2008 when we went from fairly basic growing methods that were largely seasonal to a more sophisticated unit which gave us the wherewithal to grow potted herbs on a year-round basis.

We have fine-tuned the model in the last 10 years by automating functions like seed sowing.

This has made our product relatively uniform.

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