They’ve already surpassed 100,000.

And now Tirlán FarmLife and its family farm suppliers in North Cork have set an ambitious new target of delivering 450,000 native trees and hedgerow plants to enhance the Irish countryside by 2025.

Just last year, the Operation Biodiversity initiative from Tirlán, the farmer-owned co-operative formerly known as Glanbia Ireland, reached its original 100,000 tree and hedgerow target 12 months ahead of schedule.

To celebrate, it donated 10,000 native Irish trees to its farm family suppliers, customers and community groups. Similar free tree donations are now planned as each annual target is met, with specially selected, low-cost tree and hedgerow bundles available through Tirlán stores in Castlelyons and Glenville.

As the tree and hedgerow planting season opens, horticulturists and employees in their 52 local Tirlán stores 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.

Each hedgerow bundle includes Blackthorn, Whitethorn, Hazel and Alder and covers approximately 12 metres of hedging. The tree bundles include a mix of Birch, Alder, Oak, and Mountain Ash trees.

“Operation Biodiversity has helped enrich our landscape and provide much-needed food and shelter for our native wildlife since its launch in 2020,” said John Murphy, Chairman of Tirlán.

“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.