The support of everybody, from government to retailers and customers, has "never been more important" for horticultural growers to continue in business. This is according to David Currid of Grantstown Nurseries, based in Ballygunner, on the outskirts of Waterford city.
This family business has been supplying tomatoes to the Irish market since 1978. But Currid is now one of only a handful of tomato growers left in Ireland. He produces around 230t of tomatoes annually, with a hectare of modern glasshouses. At full production, it would have around 48,000 tomato plants for the season, according to Currid.
© Kathleen O'Sullivan
January is a busy month for tomato growers. Currid's new season plants arrived from the Netherlands in recent weeks, grown from seeds are sown around mid-November by a specialist Dutch plant propagator.
"We get into serious production from early April, and then that production continues until mid-November. Essentially our crop finishes then mid-November. We have to take out the old crop, the new seed is being sown in Holland at the same time and then the plants arrive again in the first week of January. It's a continuous rotation," Currid explained.
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