Wilson’s Country, Northern Ireland’s leading potato business, has lined up with a primary school in Newtownards to show pupils how to grow potatoes, from planting through to final harvest.

Pupils in P5 at Loughries Integrated Primary School in Newtownards recently visited the farm in Holywood of Derek Erwin for a briefing by Angus Wilson, chairman of Portadown-based Wilson’s Country, a Food NI member company.

The visit enabled the children to view a selection of the machinery used by Derek in planting and managing his crop. They also got the opportunity to inspect the seed he uses. And, of course the children also got a ‘close up’ view of the actual planting process.

“We will bring the children back to the same field to see the crop harvested. This should take place during September,” said Angus Wilson. “That we are aware of, a project of this nature has never been undertaken in Northern Ireland before.

“There is a growing disconnect between the general public and their sense of how the food they eat is actually produced.

“In our own small way, we are hoping to play a role in bridging this gap.  We also wanted to make the project as enjoyable as possible for the children involved.”

While Angus was with the Loughries’ pupils in their classroom, they undertook a very initial survey to gauge the children’s actual knowledge of how potatoes were grown.

Mr Wilson added: “It was all pretty informal stuff. But we were able to discern some interesting trends. First off, all the children knew that potatoes grow in soil. Approximately 90 percent of them eat potatoes. We were delighted to find this out. Not surprisingly, almost everyone in the class eats chips.

“Significantly, just short of 70 percent of the children knew that it takes around five months to grow a crop of potatoes with around half of the pupils in the class having some sense of just how much a crop of potatoes can yield at harvest.”

He continued: “But before even getting out into the field they have learnt, at first hand, that farmers have no option but to work with nature.

“And the reason they are fully aware of this is because we had to postpone the initial farm visit for a week because of bad weather.”

Glenn Stewart, P5  teacher at Loughries Primary School, added: “We are delighted to be joining-up with Wilson’s Country in this way. It gives the children a real sense of the food they enjoy is actually produced.

“It’s also lots of fun for everyone involved.”

 

Enjoying their day out were from left: Daisy Forbes, P5/P6 group; Robyn

Graham, P5/P6 group; Stuart Meredith, agronomist Wilson’s Country; host

farmer Derek Erwin, Glenn Stewart, teacher Loughries Integrated Primary

School, Ellie Palmer,  P5/P6 group and Amy Edgar,  P5/P6 group.

 

Food NI member Castlescreen Farm in Downpatrick has launched a new Dexter beef salami product.

The new salami, the latest product diversification by grass-fed Dexter farmer Damian Tumelty and partner Jackie Gibson, has been crafted from the farm’s award winning Dexter beef blended with garlic and black pepper.

The farm business, recent winners in Northern Ireland of The Prince’s Countryside Fund Marks & Spencer Farm Resilience Award 2019, has a successful track record in producing a range of Dexter meat products as well gammon and bacon for customers in Northern Ireland.

Damian, commenting on the latest Dexter product, says: “We’ve been expanding our range steadily and the development of a unique Dexter salami is another important stage in our drive to increase awareness of the rich beefy flavour from our grass-fed herd.

“We’ve been helped by Alastair Crown at Corndale Free Range Charcuterie in Limavady to create an alternative salami using beef rather than the traditional pork. It’s a salami with a distinctively rich meaty flavour,” he adds.

Damian and Jackie are also now well-known at markets across Northern Ireland especially the immensely popular Inns at Saintfield Road and events in Downpatrick, Portaferry and Newcastle. “These markets,” continues Damian, “are a great way to talk to shoppers about the distinctive characteristics and delicious taste of Dexter beef,” he adds. The company also enjoyed another very successful four-days at last week’s Balmoral Show.

Castlescreen Farm is also now a supplier of beef to high-end restaurants such Ox in Belfast and the popular Avoca store in the city. Oakley Fayre Café and Deli in Downpatrick is a more recent customer.

Damian is among a small group of Dexter breeders in Northern Ireland and has won a cluster of prestigious awards for the cattle especially ‘Charlie’ a breed champion at Balmoral.

He opted to rear Dexter cattle because they are much smaller than traditional beef cows. “They may be small cows but the meat they produce is naturally marbled with fat, giving it a distinct succulence and a much fuller flavour,” he explains.

“Research also shows that Dexter meat is one the best you can eat as it is naturally marbled which comes from grass feeding.” This is why he describes the business as specialising in “wee cows, big beef’.

Dexters are also gaining in popularity due to their size and quality of meat. “Since they’re smaller and live more lightly on the land, you can keep two and a half per acre compared to one per acre of the bigger and heavier breeds,” he continues.

The animals are small and very robust, able to survive outdoors in conditions in winter that would be impossible for bigger breeds of cows, he adds.

The flavour is strongly influenced by the diet the cattle enjoy. “It’s a very healthy diet of exclusively grass or silage. Our beef is then dry-aged for up to 35 days for an intense, real beefy flavour,” Damian says. “The beef is then prepared on-site by us.”

He currently rears a herd of around 100 beef and breeding cattle on the sprawling farm which has been in the Tumelty family for over 40 years.

A native breed, Dexter’s origins are in the south-western counties of Ireland and date back to 1845. Their name comes from a ‘Mister Dexter’ who came to Ireland in the mid-1700s and settled in Tipperary. He then developed the breed through careful selection. As an old mountain breed, Dexters are well-adapted to the harsh landscape of Ireland’s rocky fields.

Food NI member Dale Farm, the Northern Ireland cooperative, has secured a major three-year contract to supply cheese to Greggs, the UK’s largest bakery chain.

Dale Farm’s award-winning cheddar cheese, which is made in Northern Ireland, will be used in Greggs’ range of sandwiches, stocked in their 1,969 shops every day. It will also supply cheeses for the food-on-the-go retailer’s pizza range.

Dale Farm’s group commercial director Stephen Cameron said they are delighted to secure the new deal. “The contract is proof of the excellence of our product and a significant development for our cheese business,” he said.

“Having the trust of a major food-on-the-go retailer such as Greggs is also testament to the high quality of milk used to make our cheese, which comes into Dale Farm through our network of 1,300 hard-working dairy farmers across the UK.”

Alan Honeyman, head of procurement at Greggs added:“We are looking forward to working with Dale Farm, whose excellent reputation for product quality, provenance and sustainability make this a strategic choice for Greggs, as we remain committed to offering good, honest food that our customers can trust, at affordable prices.”

Dale Farm’s cheese business has been driving substantial growth for the company in recent years. The Greggs contract represents the latest of several major cheese supply partnerships secured by the dairy company in its core markets.

The announcement of the new contract comes less than two weeks after Dale Farm confirmed it is to move its Fivemiletown cheese production to its facility at Dromona, Cullybackey.

Dale Farm has taken the decision not to renew its lease on the Fivemiletown Creamery site, secured in 2014, with production in Co Tyrone due to end early next month.

The dairy cooperative is supporting the 18 staff currently employed at the Fivemiletown site by offering transfers to other Dale Farm production locations or, where this is not feasible, securing suitable redundancy packages.

A unique visitors centre has officially opened at Lough Neagh Eel Fishery in Toome.

The creation of the Lough Neagh Fisheries Visitor Centre at the largest eel fishery in Europe has been made possible by funding from Lough Neagh Partnership through their Landscape Partnership scheme, funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. The project celebrates Lough Neagh Fish which have been awarded a range of accolades including PGI status for Lough Neagh Eel and PDO status for Lough Neagh Pollan.

The exhibition is a multifaceted showcase of the heritage of eel and scale fish fishing on Lough Neagh, the legendary status of the lough and the folklore surrounding it. It unfolds the mystique of the fish indigenous to Lough Neagh including eel, pollan and dollaghan (brown trout) and turns fishery folklore into fishery fact in a visually captivating, fun and informative manner with something for visitors of every age and generation.

Dr William Burke of Lough Neagh Partnership said: “This unique exhibition provides a fascinating opportunity for visitors to learn at first hand about the renowned Lough Neagh eel and scale fish which are native to the lough. Those interested in the history, tradition and folklore of the region can learn about adopted fishing practices which date back to Mesolithic times. We are proud that Lough Neagh Partnership has been instrumental in taking the vision for the Lough Neagh Fisheries Visitor Centre and making it a reality.

“Visitors can opt for guided tours of the exhibition which depict the different fishing methods with actual examples of fishing tackle on display. They can take a seat at the demonstration longline to get a feel for the fisherman’s preparation before heading out on the lough and they can immerse themselves in the words of Seamus Heaney contained in extracts from ‘The Lough Neagh Sequence’ describing fishing practices on the lough.”

Pat Close, chairman of the Lough Neagh Fishermen’s Co-operative Society (LNFCS), said: “The opening of the Lough Neagh Fisheries Visitor Centre is the perfect way to share its historic development with the general public.  In addition to celebrating the cultural heritage of the industry, the new centre offers visitors a tremendous insight into the fascinating life cycle of the species to be found in Lough Neagh including their unique origins (particularly the pollan species) and in the case of eels their spectacular migratory characteristics. 

“There has always been a great deal of interest in the workings of the fishing industry on Lough Neagh and development of this Visitors Centre within the centrally located and spacious site at Toome provides the perfect means to bring that story to a wider audience. We are extremely grateful for the support provided by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Lough Neagh Partnership and Mid Ulster District Council in helping to bring this project to fruition.”

Councillor Sean McPeake, chair of Mid Ulster District Council, said: “Lough Neagh enjoys a global reputation for the quality of its fish and is, of course, synonymous with eels which are exported to restaurants across the world.

“Now, with the development of this new visitor centre and exhibition, visitors can get a real taste of the history of the fishing industry on these waters, how it has evolved over millennia, and its significance for this part of the country and its people.

“Mid Ulster District Council is pleased to have contributed to the project. We see this centre playing an important part in the drive to grow tourism in the area, and it perfectly complements other attractions, including Seamus Heaney HomePlace, which itself pays tribute to the Lough via the work of one of our most celebrated writers.

“I am delighted to see the new facility open and look forward to its success”.