Real Christmas tree is the natural choice
MINISTER of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine, Andrew Doyle is urging people to buy a real Irish Christmas tree this year as he visited Wicklow Way Christmas Tree Farm run by the Kinlan family.
Around 650,000 Irish Christmas trees are harvested each year with 450,000 sold at home and about 200,000 exported abroad, mainly to the UK, France and Germany. The industry contributes €25 million to the Irish economy.
The Kinlan family of Roundwood have been running the Wicklow Way Christmas Tree Farm for over 30 years.
Former sheep farmer Seamus Kinlan created the business by planting marginal land with Christmas trees as a way to diversify his farming enterprise. They are growing 40,000 noble fir and Nordmann fir trees on their 12 hectare Christmas tree farm.
Most of these trees are sold through retail sites to the Dublin market, but they also export trees to France, Germany and the Netherlands.
They also offer the public the opportunity to visit the farm and select their own perfect Christmas tree
With seven to ten years of work going into producing a good quality Christmas tree, Minister of State Doyle outlined that the quality of Christmas trees produced in Ireland has increased significantly in recent years.
‘ This improvement is due to increased expertise being employed to manage and prepare trees for more discerning customers. The improvement has also been facilitated by my Department’s Scheme of Investment Aid for the Development of the Commercial Horticulture Sector and I encourage Christmas tree growers to consider applying for the 2020 Scheme,’ said Minister of State Doyle.
The scheme assists growers who wish to make capital investments in specialised equipment to manage and harvest the crop.
Popular investments under the scheme include specialised tree pruners, tree netters and palletisers which protect quality and allow for efficient transport. The closing date for receipt of applications for the 2020 scheme is January 17 2020.
‘A real tree provides a better Christmas experience in the home, is more environmentally friendly, has a lower carbon footprint than an artificial tree and people who buy an Irish tree are supporting jobs in rural Ireland. A real tree is the natural choice for everyone,’ added Minister of State Doyle.