Features
From Hot Hungarian Summers to Roscommon Rain
If you look at a vegetable map of Ireland - one that shows the main vegetable growing areas- you won't see many growers in Roscommon. But hidden away in Knockvicar, not far from the Dublin-Sligo road between Carrick and Boyle, there are four acres of intensive organic vegetables production managed by the local community. On peaty land that is far from ideal, not least because it is frequently wet, Laszio Kendersi and six willing colleagues are busy planting, sowing and harvesting organic vegetables for the local market.
Tata
You can guess from his name that Laszio was born some distance from Knockvicar where he now works. He comes from Tata in the Northwest of Hungary. Tata is a town about the size of Sligo on banks of the Danube. There Laszio taught agriculture in an agricultural boarding school. He came to Ireland in 1999 and after spending two years working on organic farms he was recently appointed manager of the Knockvicar horticultural unit.
The fact that the climate in the west of Ireland is very different to that of Hungary hasn't escaped Laszio's attention . 'In Hungary the summers are much hotter and drier and the winters are much colder', he says. ' Temperatures are much higher in summer but water is the big problem. You can't grow anything in Hungary without irrigation - in summer the fields turn brown.'
Communism
But while water is scarce in Hungary, good fertile land is not. The mainly limestone land is highly productive and there are very few acid soils like we have here. Most of the agricultural production is carried out on big estates. 'During the period under communism the big estates were called collective farms and were run by the state', says Laszio. 'After the fall of communism the farms became companies and the workers continued to be employed on them.' According to Laszio life for the workers is much the same now as it was under communism. 'It wasn't a bad life under communism', he says. 'Everyone had a house and a car. And you could travel, though not of course to the West. There was poverty but it was hidden in the same way as it is here.' Many of us in Ireland grew up with the notion that everyone in the communist bloc was imprisoned. That might have been true for some countries but not Hungary, says Laszio. 'You were free to do whatever you liked provided you didn't go against the rulers. However land ownership was very different in Hungary as indeed it still is today. Those who work the land don't own it in the way they do here.'
Hungarian tastes
Wheat, barley and maize are the main cereal crops with maize being the staple diet of livestock. The vegetables they grow are much the same as here. Potatoes, cabbage, turnips and carrots are the main vegetables on the Hungarian shopping list. Of course the higher temperatures means that they can grow crops like tomatoes and watermelons without the need for polytunnels. They do have some heated polytunnel production but only for growing in winter. Most production in Hungary is carried out on a large scale and there is very little organic growing.
Difficult conditions
The conditions facing Laszio at Knockvicar are a challenge to anyone used to good fertile land and warm dry summers. 'I have to get used to working on a peaty soil', he says. 'It gets very wet and then it can dry out completely in a day. It's what we call in Hungary a minute soil - you have to do everything at the right minute when the weather gives you a chance.' Another challenge facing the team at Knockvicar is the fact that because the site is in a wooded area it is probably too sheltered. Laszio is worried that there might not be enough movement of air in summer to flow through the polytunnels. This means they will have to be extra vigilant against the pests and diseases that might be encouraged by the lack of ventilation. Despite these drawbacks Laszio believes that polytunnel production is important on any Irish horticultural holding. There are four tunnels there already and there are plans for at least three more. 'You have to have polytunnels to grow things out of season', he says. 'Otherwise you have no way of replacing all the imported vegetables.'
Expensive imports
Laszio is surprised at the huge amount of organic vegetables that are imported into Ireland. He doesn't think there is anything green about transporting organic vegetables for four thousand miles. 'You have people supporting the environment by buying organic food', he says. 'Yet they buy vegetables that have to be transported over long distances. Think of all the fuel that is used to bring them here and all the pollution caused by the trucks that transport them. If at least they were carried by train it wouldn't be so bad. But most of the transport here is in big trucks on congested roads.' Another source of surprise to Laszio is the high cost of food in Ireland. He's amazed that he can get a euro for a lettuce. 'I don't mind as I'm growing them but I think Ireland must be the most expensive country in the EU.' Like everyone who comes to Ireland Laszio likes all the greenery of the rural countryside. In Hungary there isn't so much grassland as more cereals are grown. He finds it strange that there is so little tillage in this country and that most of our agricultural production is in cattle and sheep, the bulk of which is exported. Yet we have to import cereals. Reading the history of his adopted country Laszio discovered that before the famine Ireland used to be a net exporter of wheat. Whether that has to do with changing agricultural policy or a changing climate is open to debate.
State support
But like all organic horticultural producers Laszio sees little support coming from the state compared to that given to livestock production. 'In a way you are supported by the market', he says. 'You can get good prices for vegetables. But there doesn't seem to be much encouragement to increase the acreage under horticultural production and substitute home grown produce for exports.' The aim of the social employment scheme at Knockvicar is to become self sufficient in three years. It's a major task that will require professional standards of growing and sound marketing initiatives. Laszio hopes to extend and expand the box scheme that is already in operation and to provide a greater range of high value crops by increasing the area under protected cropping.
Laid back Irish
Many people say that life in Ireland is becoming more stressful and that as a people we are becoming less friendly. This is not Laszio's experience. 'We say in Hungary that the further north you go the colder are the people', he explains. 'But the Irish must be the exception to this rule. I find them laid back and warm hearted. I think the hard life they had in the past has made them easygoing.' There will be many challenges facing Laszio and his colleagues as they work to turn the Knockvicar garden into a profitable enterprise. But the Roscommon unit are fortunate to have found themselves a manager as knowledgeable and as committed and determined as him. But perhaps even more important for us laid back Irish is the fact that Laszio Kendersi is an extremely friendly and likeable individual who suits our way of life just as much as our lifestyle suits him.
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