Groups representing the Irish horticulture sector have presented an Oireachtas committee with recommendations to ensure sufficient supply of Irish horticultural peat this evening (Wednesday, October 12).
Representatives of Growing Media Ireland (GMI), the Commercial Mushroom Producers Co-Operative Society Limited (CMP), and Kildare Growers Group discussed the ongoing crisis in the sector with the Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
GMI and CMP said sub-30ha peatland must be treated as an individual bog; and where an existing site exceeds 30ha, a sub-30ha area should be permitted for harvesting horticultural peat, provided the remainder is set aside for restoration.
An estimated area of 1,500ha, less than 0.1% of Irish peatlands, is needed to provide the sector with the vital supplies it requires during the transition to peat-free alternatives.
Recommendations presented by GMI chair, John Neenan and the CEO of CMP, Orla Mc Manus will not require the opening of any new bogs from the areas outlined, as there are sufficient areas available to supply the Irish horticultural market, they said.
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions would be limited, accounting for 0.15% of Ireland’s overall GHG emissions, and as a long-term result, there will be no large-scale horticultural peat harvesting in Ireland, representatives said.
Although industry issues were discussed in three meetings last year, the government has been inactive on the topic since January, GMI said, and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH) declined a request to attend today’s meeting.
“As chairman, I am disappointed that we have the industry in again on this same subject, I would have hoped when we have dealt with them before, that more progress would have been made.
“I am disappointed that we have to revisit the supply of peat for the horticulture industry,” said committee chair Deputy Jackie Cahill.
Horticultural peat harvesting
Following a High Court ruling in 2019, harvesting horticultural peat from bogs greater than 30ha requires a complex, multi-stage licensing and planning regime, unlike the single-stage systems in EU states.
As a result, horticultural peat harvesting has all but ceased and Irish peat supplies are all but exhausted, while growers now depend on imported peat, according to CMP and GMI.
The DHLGH, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), and the Department for Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) have been urged by GMI to develop a long-term strategy for the transition away from horticultural peat, with practical solutions to support the sector.
“Despite significant research into alternatives, there are no current commercially available and environmentally sustainable alternatives that can replace horticultural peat immediately, in either quality or quantity.
“The mushroom sector uses a fraction of the total harvested peat in Ireland. Using 2019 numbers, the mushroom industry represented only 0.5% of all peat extracted on the Island,” Mc Manus said.
The CMP CEO added that the mushroom sector requires only 15ha of the total 1,500ha area needed for sustainable extraction per annum.