Putting Irish-grown eating apples onto supermarket shelves and thereby reducing the need for imports is the priority of McCanns, a family-run farm business with Oliver McCann and his sons, Kevin and Oliver jnr at the helm.

The Irish Apple Growers' Association estimates that the Irish retail eating apple market is currently 90-95% supplied by imported apples, across a small number of key varieties.

A third generation family farm, McCanns has been associated with the Irish apple industry since 1968.

In 2021, the family who are originally from Co. Armagh, bought a 130ac farm on two sites, one in Slane and the other in Tullyallen, both within the Boyne Valley.

Irish-grown apples

The two orchards were planted with Gala, Golden Delicious, and Bramley apples, along with Conference and Qtee pears.

A total of 100ac of Gala eating apples was planted in 2021, making it the main apple variety/volume crop they produce, now coming into the fourth season as fully mature trees for the first time.

McCanns Orchards produce almost 3,000 hand-picked tonnes of Irish apples and pears per year. Harvest picking starts in late August and finishes up towards the end of October.

The new orchards were planted during the Covid lockdown in 2021.

This brought its own challenges as 130,000 trees had to be planted within a six-week period in the spring of that year, but the McCann's team rose to the challenge, planting a modern and serviced orchard.

Kevin McCann said: "Beyond this, the fluctuation in weather presents an ongoing challenge.

"Wind, frost and hail can also affect apple production, so site selection for this orchard was important.

"Each individual tree has its own drip feed irrigation to make sure water is always available, which is monitored continuously."

While they are not currently seeking export market opportunities for fresh eating apples at present, in the future McCanns' plan to explore links to the US market and further afield with their own branded apple juice, made from Irish grown apples.

By converting out-of-grade apples into juice, they can make use of the entire harvest.

Working closely with state and government agencies such as Bord Bia, Teagasc, and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and having reviewed market research carried out within the Irish marketplace by Bord Bia, it was clear to the McCanns that there was potentially a great opportunity for Irish-grown eating apples.

Consumer preferences

Consumer preferences in eating apples have changed over time, with sweet varieties preferred and Gala apples having gained a lot of popularity, according to Kevin.

"There were not many acres of Irish-grown Gala apples available to the retail market, with few Irish orchards growing them," he said.

The set-up at McCann’s two orchard sites is ultra-modern, with the planting of 1,300 trees per acre in comparison to older style orchards consisting of 400/500 trees per acre.

This more intensive planting system means there is more work involved per acre, but potential yields are much higher, Kevin said.

"Our retail customers welcome the fact that Irish grown apples are now in ample supply for them to buy, offering firmer sustainability credentials of purchasing apples locally in Ireland, rather than apples that have travelled large distances around the world," he added.

With strong demand for Irish-grown apples, McCann Orchards' aim is to increase their production area and improve yields per tree.

According to Kevin: "We believe this orchard project has great potential to push even further, putting more Irish eating apples on supermarket shelves, and expanding the demand for apple juice using Irish apples.

"We are now in the home stretch of the harvest. We lost four or five days due to Storm Amy. We started early and we will finish early."