Irish grower McCormack Family Farms finished this year's basil season last week. This year sees five years since they sowed the first basil in a glasshouse in County Meath.
"This year we harvested 26 tonnes of Irish basil," said Managing Director Stephen McCormack. "Our volume has been increasing by around 25% year on year. The first two years, we were really just doing trials; the first commercial volumes came in 2023. We have increased planting each year by about half a hectare. This year we had 2 ½ planted."
© Mccormack Farms Ltd
"The most important thing was to find the right variety. We use one of the Genovase varieties, which is one of the more expensive ones, but it is resistant to a lot of diseases. We also use yellow traps against greenfly, and we have been lucky to have had no problems with pests so far."
All of McCormack's basil is grown in unheated glasshouses; the season runs from mid-June through to mid-September. Stephen said that they could possibly grow it for longer, but when the temperatures drop, there are fewer light hours, and the shelf life is just not there.
The basil goes mainly to retail customers in Ireland and a few food service companies.
"We have the area to increase production and will continue to do so; there is always the chance that you will have a bad year, so we will continue to build slowly."
Stephen said he would like to think the consumer chooses Irish basil over imported and recognises the McCormack brand on the shelves. "The shelf life of our product is almost double that of imported products, and it has no air miles."
For more information:
Stephen McCormack
McCormack Farms
Tel: +353 46 902 56 95
[email protected]
mccormackfarms.ie