BORD BIA / 02 THE PLANS FOR GROMÓR 2019 Building on the success of the 2018 campaign, in 2019 GroMór will continue to grow the market for gardening in Ireland. The main target audience is mature gardeners, but the aim is also to engage with 25-35 year olds, and 35-50 year olds to help the long term growth of the market. The GroMór ambassador for 2019 will be Bord Bia’s Gary Graham, well known to the public through Bloom and Supergarden. What’s new for 2019? There will be a big emphasis on video, with ‘how to’ tips generated by garden centres, nurseries and partners, to distribute to the nearly 20,000 likes on Facebook, with a focus on getting people into garden centres and buying Irish plants. There will be opportunities for pop up nursery stands in garden centres in the two main months of activity, April and June. The focus is on local – PR tips for garden centres and nurseries, and engaging with local press and radio
INCREDIBLE EDIBLES 2019 The Incredibles Edibles Healthy Eating Programme 2019 was launched recently by the Minister of State for Health Promotion, Catherine Byrne TD, in St Louise de Marillac National School in Ballyfermot. This initiative by Agri Aware who coordinate and manage the programme is supported by Bord Bia, the Department
FRESH PRODUCE RETAIL MARKET GREW IN VALUE IN 2018 The fresh produce category is a key element of the total grocery market which is valued at €10.7bn with fresh produce contributing close to 15% of this value in 2018. The retail market for fresh produce was valued at €1.53bn in 2018 which was a slight increase of 0.2% on 2017. This was driven by a higher average shelf price across the whole category with overall volumes marginally back by 0.1% year on year. It is likely that last summer’s severe drought which had a major impact on the growing season had some influence on this outcome. This category subdivides into fruit, which was valued at €762m, vegetables valued at €565m and potatoes, which were valued at €207m last year. The vegetable category was the one fresh produce category that recorded a reduction in its overall value in 2018 and was back 2.6% on the previous year, with a lower volume purchased per buyer being a key contributor. The value of the fruit category was up by 0.7% with a higher average unit price on shelf of 1.9% across the category driving this trend and resulting in a lower volume purchased of 1.2%. The value of the potato category in 2018 was up significantly by 6.3% while the volume purchased was only marginally back compared with 2017 by 0.5%. The average unit price on shelf was up by 6.9% last year. The summer drought reduced the volume of potatoes harvested last year and available to the market. ✽
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stations to get a good buzz going around the campaign. There will also be an initiative to create a link between the high traffic Bloom website and the GroMór website. There will be simple GroMór gardening advice, and links back to the GroMór site for more advice and details about the campaign. Participation by nurseries in this year’s campaign has the additional benefit of supporting the other gardening promotions that Bord Bia is running. Bord Bia has substantially increased the funding for plants in the new season of Supergarden, ensuring that plants will be the focus of the gardens, as well as drawing attention to the Quality Mark on plants. There is also further investment in the plant village at Bloom, which has been re-christened the Quality Mark Plant Village, and will also be promoting GroMór. Don’t be left out, get in touch and get involved. ✽
of Education and Skills and the Department of Health and Children, through the Healthy Ireland framework, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and the horticulture industry. The project now in its 11th year will see over 1,500 primary schools across Ireland learn to sow, grow and cook a whole host of seasonal Irish fruit, vegetables and herbs. For further information visit www.incredibleedibles.ie ✽
THE RARE & SPECIAL PLANT FAIR Coming up on 12 May, The Rare & Special Plant Fair was established in 2001 with the assistance of Bord Bia, to ensure that the gardening public has an opportunity to purchase rare, unusual and special plants, and to ensure that small specialist nurseries and breeders of these plants in Ireland have an opportunity to present them for sale. At the same time, the fair aims to provide an opportunity for visitors to visit a private garden that they might not otherwise visit. The fair is an annual event, always held on the second Sunday in May. Over the years the event has grown in stature and reputation with the fair being hosted in some of Ireland’s most notable and beautiful private gardens, and more recently in public and state gardens of note. This year, Glin Castle (pictured), the ancestral home of the FitzGerald family, Knights of Glin, will play host to this special event on Sunday 12th May. www.rareandspecialplantfair.ie ✽
HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticultureconnected.ie / Spring 2019
