AN IRISH VEGETABLE grower who warned that he might have to compost the majority of his latest harvest as people have stopped cooking due to the hot weather has said he has been “bowled over by the support” since his social media post.

On Friday 10 July, Kenneth Keavey, from Green Earth Organics in Co Galway, said the hot weather means his farm is “overflowing with produce”, but nobody is buying it.

In a post on social media, Keavey said the organic farm has seen a “drastic decline” in order this summer as schools close, people go on holidays and the weather disrupts cooking routines.

“Nobody wants to be in a hot kitchen cooking in the heat,” he added.

Keavey said he would harvest over half a tonne of courgettes the following week but feared that the majority would end up on the compost heap.

“This is deeply demoralising, we have worked hard for at least six months to get the land and the food ready and now it is and not to be able to sell it, is an impossible situation,” he said. 

He said that many other small scale organic farms across the country are in the same “desperate situation” this summer.

However, in a post today, Keavey said he has been “bowled over by the level of support”.

He also revealed than rather than ending up in a compost heap, most of the courgettes harvested have “all gone to good homes”.

Keavey added that he wanted to highlight one response to his social media post in particular.

One of his customers in Dublin has offered to buy most of the excess courgettes to donate them to charity.

“I couldn’t begin to express my appreciation, it was an emotional conversation, and the fact that I was able to decline his generous offer as a result of all the other support was quite frankly amazing.”

Keavey said he also had many orders for charity boxes and that he will be distributing the boxes in the coming weeks so “people who would not normally ever have access to fresh organic food will receive deliveries to their doors”.

He added that there are many farms up and down the country who are also in need of support and encouraged people to shop from small, independent businesses.

Meanwhile, Keavey acknowledged that the coming weeks will present the same challenges.

“So if you can remember us and think about putting in an order, it will help our farm and the other farmers we source from enormously.”

Elsewhere, Keavey remarked that sustainable food production is “under pressure more than ever” due to wildfires and heat waves and record-breaking temperatures.

“We have spent 20 years in our little 25-acre patch of land here in the West of Ireland developing a sustainable food system,” said Keavey.

“It has not been easy and there have more than our fair share of road bumps.

“Last week, we received from you a resounding and overwhelming endorsement that our planet and our land deserve our care.”