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Great Response to ‘Get Growing’ Graphic Design Competition

Published 8 May, 2009 Community , Grow Your Own Food Closed
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8 May 2009

Minister Sargent looking forward to seeing inspired entries

A competition for young graphic designers aimed at promoting the Green Party’s ‘Get Ireland Growing’ campaign closes today (8th May) and has already attracted huge interest.

The Irish heat of the Young Creatives Competition, which is part of the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, asks talented young designers to devise a print campaign targeted at the general public that will urge them to start growing their own vegetables. Over 30 teams have so far entered the competition.

As well as raising their domestic profile, the winning team will earn a trip to the international advertising festival to represent Ireland in the final of the Young Creatives Print competition on 21st June.

Commenting on the competition Minister for Food and Horticulture Trevor Sargent said, ‘I am delighted that this great competition has already attracted so much attention. I hope that the entries will provide plenty of inspiration and encouragement to get people out onto allotments and into their back garden to start growing their own food.’

He continued, ‘We have had a great reaction to our ‘Get Ireland Growing’ campaign with thousands of people logging onto the campaign website (www.getgrowing.ie) to find ideas and information. I look forward to many more people getting involved as a result of this competition.’

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Minister Sargent re-appointed Minister of State

Published 22 April, 2009 Community , Food safety , Food security , Grow Your Own Food , Ireland , Uncategorized Closed

22 April 2009

SARGENT GLAD OF RE-APPOINTMENT TO DEPTARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES & FOOD WITH EXTRA RESPONSIBIILITIES IN DEPT OF HEALTH & CHILDREN.

Local TD and Minister of State, Trevor Sargent has been given additional responsibilities by the Taoiseach to cover not just Food and Horticulture but now also Food Safety issues which means working with the Minister for Health and Children as well as with the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

“The work to produce sufficient and varied healthy food is a challenge I am enthusiastic to meet head on. Full-time farmers need fair prices to cover the costs of good food production. Good value can be achieved for farmer and consumer with more diversity in the market. For example, Ireland has a shortage of farm shops and farmers markets. We also have a shortage of young farmers. My strategy is to bring about food security for Ireland by addressing all of these issues as well as helping more people to grow more of their own food in schools, at home, in allotments and in community gardens. My strategy will improve peoples’ health, community development and the country’s wealth, creating sustainable jobs and improving Ireland’s balance of payments at the same time“, said Minister Sargent.

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- Sargent reveals “SOUL” to Full House for Food Growing Meeting

Published 1 April, 2009 Allotments , Farmers markets , Food security , Grow Your Own Food , Horticulture , Organics Closed
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1 April 2009

Get Ireland Growing event a huge success.

Speaking to a capacity crowd of over 200 in the Cultuivate Centre in Temple Bar, Minister Sargent gave an interesting insight into his views on food production. He even included a short video overview of his own garden in Balbriggan, where he grows much of his own food. See it here.

Below is the full text of his opening address.

“When I was appointed Minister for Food and Horticulture in June 2007,

I undertook to put more ‘soul‘ in our food.

This means

S       -        seasonality

O       -        organic production

U       -        availability of unprocessed fresh food

L       -        locally grown food

The “Get Ireland Growing” campaign is a critical part of that mission.

Even economists admit they could not have known the severity of the fiscal credit crunch.  We can take bets now that the ecological credit crunch with less oil will also be more shocking than expected unless we

  • produce much more food locally
  • prepare for climate change
  • develop new skills

Thankfully, there is hope. From the White House to the Botanic Gardens in Dublin, people are signing up to learn about growing.  The Director of the Botanic Gardens, Dr Peter Wyse-Jackson, tells us 3 people applied there to do the established course on rose pruning recently while 200 wanted to do the organic vegetable growing course.

Minister Sargent speaking at Get Ireland Growing

Minister Sargent speaking at Get Ireland Growing (Photo C.Finn)

Home growing is also a reaction against the needless importation of fruit and vegetables which could be grown in Ireland more naturally.  Gardeners can easily grow onions from sets.  At present Ireland grows enough onions to meet public demand for just 53 days.  For most of the year, Ireland imports onions from Spain to Holland to South Africa.  For 72 days Ireland supplies locally grown apples with just a 68 day supply of Irish tomatoes.  Apart from mushrooms, meat and dairy produce which we export far and wide, our production of fruit and vegetables leaves us short.

So let us fill the hungry gap with home grown healthy food.  Tests show that a naturally ripened tomato for example has higher levels of anti-oxidants than imported tomatoes which are often picked green and ripened artificially.

For the second year I have 2 out of every 3 primary schools growing food thanks to Agriaware, Bord Bia and a host of great sponsors.  Even children who claim to dislike fresh produce tend to eat fruit or vegetables they have grown themselves.

This ‘Get Ireland Growing’ campaign makes financial sense too.  Obesity is costing this country an estimated €5 billion a year according to the Department of Health and Children.  Our 14 year olds are now nearly 4 stone heavier than their counterparts were 60 years ago.

Research shows that people struggling financially opt more for take-aways with hidden oils, fats, salt and sugars – unless they are in tune with the Earth – growing some of their own fresh food in season and appreciating what farmers nearby are growing for the community also.

Meanwhile, Green Party / Comhaontas Glas representatives around Ireland are growing and also showing how people can find an allotment, set up a community garden or even cultivate a window box.

Before I introduce the main speakers, allow me one minute to show you a glimpse of my own back garden where yesterday I was planting strawberry plants, sowing beetroot and radish and planting out lettuce  in window boxes. Take a look at getgrowing.ie with a link to Trevor’s Kitchen Garden if you want to see what Miriam Lord in the Irish Times finds so interesting!”

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- Sargent launches campaign to “Get Ireland Growing”

Published 29 March, 2009 Community , Environment , Fingal news , food , Grow Your Own Food Closed
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29 March 2009

Get Ireland Growing: Food Minister launches campaign to encourage food production at home

-More home grown food is one recipe that can take Ireland forward

Green Party Food Minister Trevor Sargent today launched a campaign to encourage home grown food and told those interested in community gardens and allotments to ‘take advantage of the long evenings and get gardening’.

Speaking at the launch of Get Ireland Growing in the National Botanic Gardens Minister Sargent said: “Over the last number of years Irish people have got increasingly interested in good food, cooking, and in living green lifestyles and we have witnessed a similar growth in people wanting to grow their own food. Our Councillors and candidates have been getting hundreds of enquiries about allotments and community gardens and we have launched this campaign to help encourage those interested in domestic food production.”

Minister Sargent, who has his own organic garden at home in Balbriggan said: “Our aim is to get as many people as possible to start growing food and vegetables in allotments, community gardens, window boxes and their own back gardens. Growing your own food saves money, gets people out and about, can improve public health and cuts carbon emissions and food miles. It can also enhance community spirit.

“Currently, some local authorities provide allotments, but in other places demand is high and there are long waiting lists. The Green Party will be working with communities to help them find suitable public or private land that can be rented at low costs and turned into allotments.

“Nowadays more people are living in apartments and other urban accommodation, and may feel like they have lost touch with nature. Getting flat dwellers interested in gardening can help them to reconnect with the world around them.

“Allotments are incredibly popular around the world and have very good potential in Ireland. In the UK River Cottage Chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has been very successfully promoting a campaign to bring disused or derelict land back into productive use for growing fresh fruit and vegetables by householders. I hope something similar can be done here and I know that TV Chef Richard Corrigan is very interested in promoting home grown food.

“I am working with the Office of Public works to see what can be done with existing public land, and I know that my party colleague Environment Minister John Gormley will be writing to local authorities urging them to consider the provision of allotments, which falls under the Local Government Act,” Minister Sargent concluded.

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More information:

  • The Green Party is holding a public meeting on growing food locally at 8pm on Tuesday 31 March 2009 at Cultivate Centre, Temple Bar. Minister Trevor Sargent will address the meeting alongside guest speakers Seamus Sheridan from Sheridans’ Cheesemongers, Suzie Cahn from the Wicklow Community Garden, Bruce Darrel from Dublin Food Growing and Michael Fox from the South Dublin Allotments Association.
  • The website www.getgrowing.ie went live today. As well as featuring gardening advice, allotment success stories, and links to community facilities and gardening supplies centres, Minister Sargent will be providing regular YouTube clips with growing tips.
  • Green representatives have begun to distribute leaflets, posters and postcards to promote the campaign and will be writing to City and County Managers to request that land be made available for allotments or community gardens where demand exists.
  • Energy Minister Eamon Ryan grows vegetables in an allotment patch in Mount Anville in South Dublin.
  • Green Councillors including Malcolm Noonan in Kilkenny and David Healy in Fingal, Dublin, have already helped their constituents to find allotment patches in their own areas.

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