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Chip, chip hooray for Bridgend
brothers
02.04.08
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BRIDGEND potato growers
Kevin and Desmond Harkin have scooped Bord Bia’s
‘Potato Grower of the Year’ title.
The awards are the Irish food producer equivalent of
the Oscars and the top award fittingly comes to
Inishowen during the International Year of the
Potato.
The Harkins, one of Donegal’s biggest potato
growers, are no stranger to recognition having won a
regional award in 2005. However, 2008 is the first
time that the awards have departed from a regional
format in favour of a straightforward national
category. Up against the Harkins in the final four
was neighbour John Rankin from Newtowncunningham,
who also was a regional winner last year. The other
two entrants were from Dublin.
For the Harkins, the fact that their produce won
this prestigious award is gratifying. They had 381
acres in potato last year, predominantly Rooster’s
and Kerr’s Pinks. |
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“A lot of work goes in
to ensure that the produce is of an exceptionally
high quality and it is good to get something
tangible back," they said.
Presenting the awards, Trevor Sargent, Minister of
State at the Department of Agriculture and Food
said: “Consumers and retailers alike now demand
produce that has been grown, |
handled, packaged and
transported to the highest standards of quality and
hygiene, in a clean and environmentally friendly
manner. All the awards are presented to those
enterprises that have shown that they are ‘best in
class’ in their particular area. It is important
that we recognise achievement, and celebrate it.”
Potatoes are grown worldwide, not just in Bridgend!
The crop is harvested on an estimated 75,000 square
miles of farmland all around the globe, from China’s
Yunnan plateau and the subtropical lowlands of
India, to Java’s equatorial highlands and the
steppes of Ukraine. In all, more than 320 million
tones were harvested in 2007.
In 2006, Ireland’s 830 potato farmers produced an
estimated 400,000 tonnes of potatoes, 85% of which
were for consumption with the rest seed potato for
replanting. |
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