Local carrot producer features in new series presented by Laois woman

A local carrot producer is to feature on a new series which is airing on RTE One next Week and which is helmed by a Laois woman. 

Emmett Dunne, from Durrow, who grows both conventional and organic crops, will appear in the first episode of Home Grown, a brand new 7-part series which celebrates the Irish Horticulture industry.

The series is presented by two of the sector's dedicated advocates, Vicarstown native Kitty Scully and Colm O’Driscoll from Kildare.

Kitty, who grew up on a mixed organic farm in Vicarstown, is an Irish organic gardener and local food advocate. She holds an MSc in Organic Horticulture but her practical ability goes far beyond academic achievement.

Her career in organic horticulture has been diverse, from managing a market garden for nuns, leading the organic conversion of Airfield Estate's food gardens in Dublin, creating an edible landscape for a Tech company in Cork city and writing for national papers.

Kitty frequently features on Irish radio and is no stranger to the screen having previously co-presented RTE's 'How to Create a Garden' and 'Corrigan Cooks Naturally'. She gives talks, lectures and teaches workshops on food growing using organic methods and her enthusiasm for all that is soil based is endless.

''It was such an amazing experience travelling the length and breadth of the country discovering so many diverse horticultural projects and meeting the passionate personalities behind them", says Kitty. From compost manufacturing to Rare and Special Plant Fairs, we saw it all.

''Although I've been immersed in horticulture in Ireland for over 15 years, I was blown away by the amount I learnt on Home Grown, simply by visiting farms and gardens and gleaning the knowledge handed down by generations of growers.

“A career in horticulture is not for the faint-hearted as it embodies so many challenges. It was fascinating to hear stories on the ground and refreshing to meet so many resilient, hard-working, charismatic characters dedicated to keeping this often overlooked industry alive and embracing old and new innovative technologies in the process''.

Kitty and Colm travel all over Ireland in search of stories that celebrate Irish Horticulture and growing in all its variety.
As well as stories about the different growers and producers, there are visits to inspirational gardens which are open to the public.

This recognises the fact that, partly as a result of Covid, there has been a surge of interest in gardening.

Horticulture is the science and technology of plant cultivation. The horticulture industry in Ireland encompasses both food production and the production of ornamental plants and trees.

The horticulture industry is an important economic sector in Ireland, with an estimated 6,600 people employed full time in primary production activity, and a further 11,000 employed in value added and downstream businesses such as wholesale, retail, distribution, landscape and garden design; and construction as well as local authority and county councils and parks and landscaping services.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine's provisional estimates put the Horticulture industry’s farmgate value in 2021 at €521m.

This places the industry as the 4th largest sector in terms of gross agriculture commodity output value.
Of the €521m total output, Edible Horticulture production represented €423m and Ornamental Horticulture €98m.

The first programme of Home Grown, featuring Emmett Dunne, airs on RTE One on Monday, November 7 at 8pm.