Visitors to Duleek in Co Meath are being treated to the uplifting sight of an eight-acre sunflower crop, but no one is happier than the bees and butterflies being attracted in large numbers to the sizeable amounts of pollen and nectar produced by the flowers. The crop was planted by Surf Seeds, which says that this is Ireland’s “first major commercial” sunflower crop. The crop has been grown by farmer Angus McKeen (pictured with his daughter Isabella), and it attracted 600 visitors to open days last Saturday and Sunday.

Unlike in other EU countries, sunflowers have not traditionally been grown in Ireland so that Ireland must import 12,000 hectares worth of sunflower oil annually. Tim Rooney, managing director of Surf Seeds, says that with the huge fluctuation in the current market price of sunflowers, the development of an Irish sunflower crop was an enormous boost: “There is a great comfort in having full control of the Surf Seed food chain and reducing the transport cost of getting sunflower seeds into Ireland. We took a risk in planting the first field of sunflowers in Ireland, but we’ve been blessed with the weather.”

Surf Seeds, a snack-food company, won the RTÉ Dragons’ Den top investment last year, with Dragons Bobby Kerr and Sean Gallagher investing €100,000.