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Cornelius Traas, owner of The Apple Farm in Cahir, Co Tipperary, and chairman of the Irish Apple Growers Association, has been studying this aspect of apple production for a while alongside Dr Ken Byrne from the Life Science Department of the University of Limerick.
Both men are firmly of the belief that apple orchards can act as a carbon sink, thereby mitigating Ireland’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
In February 2015, Trass and Byrne published a study on this potential based on figures from Traas’s own apple orchard in Tipperary.
The results of the study found that the 14ha orchard absorbs the equivalent of 11.4t CO2/ha/year.
Forestry, seen as the gold standard in terms of carbon absorption, has been credited with absorbing 17m tonnes of CO2 over the 2008 to 2012 period, according to figures from the Department of Agriculture. This is equivalent to 14.2t/ha/year.
As the authors of the apple study note, the figure for Traas’s orchard, at 11.4t/ha/year, compares well with this.
It is the only study of its kind in Ireland
“Allowing for carbon inputs such as fuel and fertiliser in the growing cycle, this apple orchard had a net annual sequestration [absorption] equivalent to 11.4t CO2/ha/year,” the authors write.
“In comparison with international research, this is less than reported in some countries, and more than in others,” they continue. “Because many factors contribute to net sequestration, figures will vary internationally and even within a particular country”.
Apple orchards in Ireland cover roughly 600ha. Compared to the 730,000ha of Ireland dedicated to forestry, apples account for a very small amount of national land use. However, the authors have hypothesised that if Ireland was to become self-sufficient in the production of all apples required for cider, about an extra 1,000ha would have to be converted to orchard. “This would reduce Ireland’s annual CO2 emissions by 20,000t, or a further 0.2%,” they write.
Although the 2015 study is not peer-reviewed, it is the only study of its kind in Ireland, and the two men intend to carry out some more analysis with different types of apple orchards in Ireland to get a more comprehensive picture.
Mini forests
When the Irish Farmers Journal visited Traas’s apple farm earlier this year, the apple trees were still bare.
They’re like mini forests really,” said Traas. “They’re taking in more CO2 than they’re releasing – and also producing fruit as an output”.
The first leaves will start to appear around St Patrick’s Day and the flowers come in May.
All the apples are handpicked on the farm. Employees wear a basket that they fill with apples and once the basket is full it goes into the apple bin. Each basket holds around 100 apples and it takes 20 to 25 of those baskets to fill a bin.
Traas said a quick picker could fill four bins a day, which equates to about a tonne and a third of apples.
Traas has a very effective pest management system in the orchard, and as a consequence the routine use of insecticides was phased out quite a few years ago. But he is not organic.
“Because of the type of climate we have here and the varieties of apples we have here, we operate something like a monoculture, which would be completely wrong for organics,” he said.
In an ideal world, organic farmers grow an apple tree beside a cherry tree, beside a plum tree, etc: “That is more complex to operate than what we are doing at the moment.”
He added that where organic farmers also operate monocultures in their orchards, they may spray a lot of copper or other organically-permitted chemicals, and these can have negative consequences that make growing unsustainable.
Dirty list
Non-organic apples frequently appear at the top of the so-called “dirty foods” list – foods which contain the highest pesticide residues.
Traas said much of the data upon which those lists are compiled is based on figures from a long time ago. “We are now 25 years at integrated food production – that means we are able to control our pests without insecticides,” he said, adding that most Irish growers would have adopted the pest trapping system now. “It is possible to grow apples in a way that you will have no residues at all by the time of harvest – that’s our aim,” he said.
Traas, one of the 45 apples growers in Ireland, sells his apples through retailers. He also sells them in his farm shop. He said while selling to a packer would make him about 60 to 70c/kg, selling them from his farm shop means an extra 20c/kg or so for his business. “There is also a benefit for the consumer buying from the farm shop, as they get the fruit cheaper than they would from a supermarket,” he said.
Whatever apples don’t make the grade as eating apples, they go in for juicing (see video below).
Traas’s advice to someone considering joining the apple growing brigade in Ireland is to spend a few years abroad working in the apple production sector, which, he said, is often different from regular farming.
“Ideally, they might also do a degree in horticultural science beforehand so they get the best benefit from the training.
“Apple growing has the potential to be profitable, but it also has the potential for very expensive losses if the person entering the sector does not have the necessary education and skillset.”
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