MORE than 70% of the organic, fresh vegetables consumed in Ireland are imported.

BY KATHRYN M CROWLEY

Organic Republic delivers fresh produce, most of which is grown locally, to grateful customers in West Cork and beyond.

Caitríona Daunt of Organic Republic.

“I have friends who are in the trade of market stalls and 23 years ago I came back from teaching English in Spain, and took a course in horticulture,” revealed Caitríona Daunt about her early days in business. “I saw that there was a lot of pesticides being used.

“Friends said that they knew someone who was growing his own and importing. I had a tiny Nissan Micra and would arrive back to Cork from Wicklow with all these vegetables piled up in it.”

Organic food is grown without synthetic fertilisers and pesticides or genetically modified particles. It tastes better and is easier to digest. Caitríona’s produce was first sold via a market stall in Bantry, Midleton, Macroom and Kenmare before a box scheme evolved. Today, Caitríona works with her partner William and a team to deliver food countywide.

“Now we have three vans on the road,” she said. “It’s not a big business. I believe in small businesses. Smaller business is more manageable and it’s more about the personal touch.

“I suppose supermarkets have their place, but I’ve always believed that the world might be a better place if there were loads of small businesses.”

A seasonal selection of organic fruit and vegetables are dropped to customers’ doorstep for cash on delivery. Some people opt to pay online. Demand for the service is high.

“We have been delivering veg boxes to homes in Cork for 25 years and have never had so many enquiries. Jonathan Doig in Rosscarbery has been supplying us for 22 years. We sell lots of salad things and tomatoes. We’ve a grower in Dripsey and Kenmare too, a father and son team,” said Caitríona.

Home is near Macroom where she has one polytunnel for personal use. It provides tomatoes, figs, and grapes. “This year we had a really good crop of peaches. We get apples from Waterford as it’s really good apple country but it’s not great this year. Rain damaged the flowers.

“There was way too much rain earlier on in the year and not enough in the summer. They are the challenges,” she explained.

What about the impact of fuel costs?

“We introduced a new delivery charge of €3 per order,” Caitríona concedes. “We used not to charge for delivery at all but I brought the charge in after COVID. Customers used to come to our stall, then switched to home delivery. I felt bad, but fuel went crazy so we charged then. It’s one of the big things.

“You don’t feel so secure. It’s also about the cost of importing. We bring in a lot of fruit. There’s five markets with two to three palattes a week of oranges, lemons, and bananas. It makes you wonder where we’ll be in ten years’ time.”

On the subject of imports she adds: “There’s food snobbery and a shame element around importing. I feel guilty, but I’m also employing people. And I love lemon cake! The flour, who knows where it comes from.”

Some people have purist notions, but we are an island of tea and coffee drinkers so imports will always be welcome.

We chat about food labels, deceit around the origin of produce, and fruit imports. On the topic of sweetness, Caitríona adds: “If everybody dropped imported sugar and honey there would not be enough for people. We need more bees. There’s not enough beekeepers.”

She would like to cut her energy bills in the future. “We availed of a greener energy grant, and we a have a big fridge now. We updated the engine and made it into two sections, changed to LED lights, got a new composting tumbler from Quick crop in Galway.”

Making compost from waste is something she would like to see more companies doing. “Next year we’d love to get solar panels for the business too. It’s small steps. The hardest thing was to get an electrician as they are in demand. The people from the grant scheme were helpful. They gave us a big window to complete everything.”