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Royal visit highlights flax farming in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Diversification

fibre production

fibres

The Prince and Princess of Wales visited Cookstown Farm to celebrate sustainable flax farming.

An NFFN farmer in Northern Ireland received a royal honour when the Prince and Princess of Wales paid them a visit to learn more about sustainable fibres.

The royal couple, making their first joint visit to Northern Ireland in three years, included a stop at Mallon Farm in Cookstown, where NFFN farmers Helen Keys and Charlie Mallon have transformed a former dairy farm into a successful flax enterprise.

Prince William and Princess Catherine learned about the sustainable methods employed on the farm to cultivate flax, and the many uses of this versatile plant for products like felt, linen, composites and oil.

They toured the farm and were introduced to the traditional process of breaking flax by hand to extract the fibre - an age-old technique that the princess even tried herself.

Helen reflected on the significance of the visit, saying it will help to shine a light on their mission to create a nature-friendly natural fibre industry in Northern Ireland.

“It means a lot when people take an interest in our work,” she said. “Hosting their visit really gives us confidence that this emerging community of flax growers and processors is starting to make an impact.

"We spoke about the importance of nature-friendly farming, of putting sustainability right at the heart of all our processes, and of the need for collaboration to build a better and fairer textile system.”

You can watch a reel of the royal visit on Instagram here.