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Members of the Northern Ireland Fruit Growers’ Association (NIFGA) recently enjoyed a very informative meeting which was held in association with CAFRE at Richmount Rural Community Association near Portadown.

Producing consistently high yielding crops of quality Bramley apples, year after year, is an ongoing challenge for growers, requiring close attention to soil nutrition, disease control, agronomy and fruit storage. Aspects of orchard nutrition and the influence of the environment on apple production were addressed by David Corbett from Grassland Agro Ltd, while Graham Moore, an agronomist with Fruit Advisory Services Team (FAST), gave a webinar presentation on the range of agrochemicals which are licenced for use in orchards in 2023.

Since Brexit, the Northern Ireland Protocol has imposed some restrictions on the availability of agrochemicals and the importation of new apple trees from nurseries in Great Britain has been prohibited. Subsequently Alexander Kinnear, the Ulster Farmers’ Union parliamentary officer, outlined how some of these issues should be resolved by the new Windsor Framework.

Every year growers are encouraged to enter their best orchards into a competition organised by NIFGA. Awards are keenly contested as the judges look at every aspect of growing Bramley crops including yield, freedom from pest and disease, orchard weed control etc. Perfect weather conditions in spring and summer 2022 resulted in heavy crops of high-quality fruit, ensuring adequate supplies for the retail, processing and juice manufacturers.

John and Ben McAlister who won the Murphy Challenge Trophy and the Gibson Cup.

Orchard awards for harvest 2022 were as follows:

Aberdeen Challenge Cup

Best orchard, five acres or more

1st Stewart Glass, 2nd John Beggs

Stewart Glass who won the Aberdeen Cup and the Plant Protection Cup along with his daughter Isla.

Gibson Challenge Cup

Best orchard between three and five acres

1st John and Ben McAlister, 2nd Stewart Glass

Mc Caig & Webb Challenge Cup

Herbie Sullivan who won the Raymond Price and RH McClelland trophies.

Best orchard between one and three acres

1st David Jackson, 2nd John Beggs

Murphy Challenge Cup

Best orchard between one and three acres which has not won a cup in the last four years

David Jackson and his son Wesley, who won the McCaig and Webb Cup, along with David Corbett from Grassland Agro Ltd.

1st John and Ben McAlister, 2nd Drew Lavery

Raymond Price Memorial Trophy

Best intensive orchard between one and three acres

1st Herbie Sullivan, 2nd Hamilton Loney

RH McClelland Cup

Best intensive orchard of three acres or more

1st Herbie Sullivan, 2nd Hamilton Loney

Syngenta Plant Protection Cup

Orchard with the highest state of crop husbandry, especially freedom from diseases and pests

1st Stewart Glass

NIFGA are very appreciative of the time taken by the judges, Kieran Lavelle (CAFRE) and Malcolm Dawson (formerly of AFBI), to judge the 2022 orchard entries and congratulate all the winners. They encourage all their members to enter orchards into the 2023 competitions.

NIFGA hosts successful apple meeting