Operation Biodiversity aims to plant over 450,000 native trees and hedgerows by 2025

Tirlán FarmLife and its family farm suppliers have set an ambitious new target of delivering 450,000 native trees and hedgerow plants to enhance the Irish countryside through the Operation Biodiversity programme.

Last year, the Operation Biodiversity initiative reached its original 100,000 tree and hedgerow target 12 months ahead of schedule. To celebrate, Tirlán donated 10,000 native Irish trees to its farm family suppliers, customers and community groups.

At the recent launch of Tirlán’s latest iteration of the programme, Tirlán Chairman John Murphy attributed the success of Operation Biodiversity to the enthusiasm and willingness of farm families working to enhance and protect the land for themselves and the generations to come.

“Operation Biodiversity has helped enrich our landscape and provide much-needed food and shelter for our native wildlife since its launch in 2020. Every native Irish tree and hedgerow planted builds on the ongoing biodiversity work that farm families are already doing as custodians of the land,” he said.

Seán Molloy, Chief Ingredients & Agri Officer at Tirlán, said: “We reached our original 100,000 target in record time. This shows the clear and unequivocal momentum behind our Living Proof sustainability strategy and the appetite for biodiversity and climate action on family farms and in the community.

“We’re proud of what we have achieved to date and look forward to working with our suppliers and in our communities to reach these new targets, which also align with the increased environmental ambitions of the next CAP from 2023 onwards.”

Specially selected planting packages

As the tree and hedgerow planting season opens, horticulturists and employees across Tirlán’s 52 local stores, including our 14 CountryLife Garden Centres, are helping farm families pick the right hedging plants and trees for their individual farms, providing shelter and food for wildlife while also boosting their sustainability credentials.

To help drive this initiative Tirlán FarmLife has committed to delivering excellent value, including low-cost bundles, along with providing horticultural expertise to help guide on selection of trees and hedging and planting.

Through Operation Biodiversity, the excellent value bundles include a hedging mix of native Irish hedgerow plants specially selected by Tirlán FarmLife horticulturalists. Each bundle includes Blackthorn, Whitethorn, Hazel and Alder and covers approximate 12 metres of hedging.

The specially selected, rich species tree bundle includes a mix of Birch, Alder, Oak and Mountain Ash trees. Both packages are available through the Tirlán FarmLife network of branches and Tirlán CountryLife garden centres.

“There’s space for nature on every farm and I’d encourage farmers to talk to our team of experienced horticulturalists and discuss the best tree and hedgerow options to boost biodiversity on their farms. Every tree planted makes a difference,” said Chairman John Murphy.

With Christmas just around the corner we’re officially in the festive season, with lots to look forward to over the coming weeks

December 14th

Making 2023 the Best Year Ever with Owen Fitzpatrick

As we find ourselves nearing the end of 2022, we prepare for another year full of opportunities, challenges and surprises. Many of us make New Year resolutions, but inevitably find ourselves reverting back to the same old habits. In an upcoming webinar on Wednesday, December 14th, you will learn why resolutions and best laid plans often go to waste and what you need to do instead to take advantage of the fresh new start of 2023.

You’ll discover how to prioritise what matters most and learn a brand new framework to organise your year, so you achieve what you want. You will become aware of the most important elements of taking care of yourself, maintaining high performance while achieving more work life balance and what science tells us about wellbeing.

December 15^th

Cookery demo with Catherine Fulvio, live from Abbey Quarter

Are you looking for the perfect festive meal that will impress friends and family without spending hours slaving away in the kitchen this Christmas?

Well look no further! As part of Tirlán’s employee activities this winter, we are delighted to announce that Avonmore ambassador and celebrity chef Catherine Fulvio will host a Live Cookery Demo exclusively for Tirlán employees from Abbey Quarter on Thursday December 15th!

What’s Cooking?

During the fun and entertaining cooking demo, you’ll learn how to prepare three scrumptious dishes for all the family to enjoy over the festive season.

Festive Maple Duck with Orange Cherry Sauce

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Creamy Braised Butternut Squash

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Christmas Delight – White Chocolate Ginger Mousse Tart

December 22^nd

Christmas Jumper Day and End of Year Message from Jim Bergin

Tirlán is happy once again to be supporting homeless charity Focus Ireland and their Christmas appeal. You can help raise money for those experiencing homelessness in Ireland by wearing your favourite Christmas jumper on Thursday, December 22^nd.

An iDonate fundraising page has been set up and Tirlán will match all donations from colleagues.  You can begin donating by clicking here today, or by wearing your jumper on the 22^nd and donating then!

Also on December 22^nd, Tirlán CEO Jim Bergin will host a MS Teams call for his end of year message. It’s been a momentous year for our organisation and we hope everyone from across the business will be able to join the call.

Each month, we put the spotlight on a Tirlán employee and for our December newsletter, we’re talking to Gerry Fogarty

Production Planner in Consumer, Gerry Fogarty, is preparing for a marathon few weeks ahead. On top of his role which involves planning the production of UHT at the Lough Egish site in Monaghan, he’s preparing to step in and help with the pre-Christmas Avonmore Cream rush.

“I also provide cover with the milk and cream team. We normally do about 100 tonnes of cream a week. That increases ninefold over the December period. Whipped Cream has been a huge success story and ensuring we have supply to meet demand takes a massive team effort. The team in Ballitore will start packing Christmas cream around the 9^th or 10^th of December. That shift will run 24 hours, right up until December 24^th. The 250ml and 500ml cream will be packed into cartons in the TT3 filling line in Drogheda for the first time. Normally we would have three shifts a week on this line. That increases to three shifts a day in the run-up to Christmas.

“It’s an exceptionally busy time and you really don’t get time to get bored. But like all departments in Tirlán, people come together in a massive team effort. While it’s very busy, it’s also great to be involved. You really do play to your strengths and enjoy the buzz of it all.

“Everyone plays their part. In the 10 days up to Christmas we do a huge volume of our annual sales, so it’s all shoulders to the wheel. Everyone in sales, marketing, even some of the most senior people in the cooperative, take two to three shops and they work around the clock to ensure the cream is on the shelf, not in the back store. Margins on cream are significant, so it’s a time of year that we all pull together to meet our targets and ensure the revenue comes in.”

Gerry, who lives in Navan, started out with Tirlán on a college placement in 1984. He studied Agricultural Science in WIT, which is now the South East Technological University. Like so many more, he never left the company.

“When I started here, it was Drogheda Dairies. It became Avonmore, then we merged with Waterford to become AWG. We then became Glanbia and now Tirlán. There has been lots of comings and goings since then, but it’s a fabulous place to work and you really can’t beat the team effort, particularly at this time of year.”

While Gerry has been with the company for 38 years, he has enjoyed several different roles, including working in the process area, moving on to become a shift manager, part of the central planning team in 2009 and now part of Fran Ryan’s team in Consumer Foods.

Asked if he still enjoys Avonmore Cream on Christmas day, Gerry quipped: “Absolutely. I don’t get too emotional about the Christmas build-up. Teamwork gets us through it and we make sure our customers have their Avonmore Cream – with a cherry on top if they want.”