Good opportunities are open to farmers in the apple-growing industry, where only €3 million worth of home-produced crop is being supplied into a market worth €80 million annually.
Farmers attending an "apple open day" at Kildalton, Co Kilkenny, were yesterday told by Teagasc fruit specialist Harry O'Brien that technologies and skills were available to those who wished to get into the industry. There where currently only 40 commercial growers with 600 hectares of orchard.
Mr O'Brien warned, however, that global warming was one of the main obstacles to growing apples here because Irish trees needed to have 1,000 hours at temperatures of -7 degrees every winter, and in recent years this had not happened.
"In the last 20 years the winters have grown warmer, and this is a serious disadvantage to growing. While it's good to have warmer summers, it's imperative to have some cold winter weather so the trees fruit properly."
He warned farmers that supermarkets were unlikely to be interested in their produce, and there were generations of Irish people who had never tasted an Irish-grown eating apple because of the huge volume of imported fruit.
"If they could taste them, they would want them, and that is being demonstrated by those involved in farm-gate sales and through the farmers' markets which provide a great outlet now.
"Selling at farm gates and in markets is labour intensive, and those wanting an alternative enterprise should be aware they will need the time to not only grow but market their produce."
Some of the latest technologies involved in apple-growing were on show yesterday at the Kildalton agricultural college where four main crops and 20 new varieties are on trial.
David Foster, from biological systems company Koppert Ltd, displayed Dutch-reared bumble bees which are being used to pollinate the Kildalton orchards.
"They can work in temperatures much lower than the honey bee, and they visit four times more sites than the honey bee so they are ideal for Irish conditions."
On the economics of apple- growing, Bernard Flood of Teagasc said it could be possible to generate €8,000 an acre on farm-gate sales. However, this was the best-case scenario, and there were no grants to establish orchards, which did not produce for at least three years.