McCormack Family Farms' 40th growing season didn't start with the best conditions after months of rain planting had to be delayed again and again, but as often happens in farming the weather turned and the crop were planted.
"The last 4-5 weeks have been pretty good," said Stephen McCormack, Managing Director at McCormack's. "It has been reasonably dry with just a bit of rain and the land is getting to where it should be at this time of year. The crops which we have planted have done very well and are only about seven days behind."
Stephen said that they were lucky to have fresh land on which to plant, as the fields which were used last year were still too wet. These are now drying out enough to be ploughed only now,
"We started to harvest the first crops of baby leaf and rocket last week, and all other crops are coming on well. The temperatures are still a bit low at 15 -16 degrees, and we are having to irrigate certain crops due to lack of rain!"
All in all, Stephen is pretty happy with the way things are right now. "As growers I think we are a bit impatient, we want to sow crops as early as we can each year, but we were a month later this season and the crops are only about 7-10 days behind and are looking great. We haven't had to worry about frost or hail or any of the normal concerns due to the earlier plantings. We were able to plant each week, which is now giving us a consistent supply, so maybe there is no harm in going a little later.
"Our lettuce is a bit slower than expected, but our outdoor Pakchoi is ready for harvest next week and we're hoping that within the next two weeks we will be in supply of all baby leaf; herbs and lettuce will be at least another 4 weeks. We still have a long way to go, we might get more rain or more likely a period of hot weather bringing on a drought, but at the moment I'm happy with our result so far."
For more information:
Stephen McCormack
McCormack Family Farms
Tel.: +353 46 902 56 95
Email: [email protected]
www.mccormackfarms.ie