The Menu: Wouldn't it be wonderful to buy fresh fruit and veg grown by your neighbour?

Since the 90s, we have lost over 90% of horticultural producers and on what Bord Bia once marketed as the Food Island, we import 83% of our fresh fruit and vegetables, including apples and potatoes, both easily grown in Ireland

Nigel Martin of Waterfall Farm. Picture: Eddie O'Hare.

Back in the 70s, Cork farmer Declan Martin called into his local branch of the supermarket chains that were beginning to spring up around the country. 

He and wife Rosemary, growing vegetables since 1967 on their Waterfall Farm, just west of the city, were seeking more outlets and the branch manager was more than happy to stock their produce, to be delivered to the store each week.