The average farmgate price for apples harvested in 2016 was €342/t, an increase from €276/t on 2011 figures, the Bord Bia national apple orchard census for 2017 shows.

The census looks at farmgate prices for apples, using the latest figures available, which are for 2016 and 2017.

At €342/t, this gives an average sales value of €8,328/ha, an increase from €7,936/ha in 2011.

Total production area

The total apple production area in 2017 stood at 713ha, a 16% increase from the previous census (615ha in 2012) and 40% of the total apple production area is accounted for by the culinary variety Bramley’s Seedling.

Culinary varieties account for 42% of total production area, followed by dessert varieties at 30% and cider varieties at 28%.

The total average yield for the 2016 harvest was 24.t/ha, down from 28.7t/ha for the 2011 harvest.

The census shows that the value of Irish apples harvested in 2016 was €5.94m - a 22% increase in farmgate value since the last census (€4.88m for apples harvested in 2011).

Growers' comments on factors affecting competitiveness and limiting expansion were dominated by profitability, opportunity and cost issues.

The top three factors were profitability (58% of growers), market opportunities (54% of growers) and establishment costs (46% of growers).

Orchard size

Growers with larger orchards dominate apple production and of the 50 orchards in 2017, the top 10 (in terms of orchard area) accounted for 65% of the total apple production area.

Following on from this, the next 15 orchards account for 24% of total production area, while the smallest 25 orchards account for 11%.

Supports

The report found that the Department of Agriculture’s Commercial Horticulture Grant Aid Scheme provides vital support towards the development of the apple sector.

From 2013 to 2016, the latest figures available, the apple sector received over €740,000 in grant aid support.

This supported new plantings, investments into growing equipment, harvesting equipment and storage facilities.