The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has organised a meeting of horticulture growers for later this month to address challenges in the sector.
The meeting will take place on Tuesday, April 25, at 8:00p.m in the CityNorth Hotel, Gormanstown, Co. Meath.
The meeting is set to address a range of issues in the sector, and speakers will include representatives from Teagasc, Bord Bia and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
According to the IFA, the Irish horticulture sector is under pressure due to market challenges, input costs and longstanding issues such as labour and land availability.
Niall McCormack, the association’s fruit and vegetable chairperson, commented: “We have lost key growers from our industry in the past two years. It is projected that the area of field vegetables will contract by a minimum of 7% again this year.
“This downward trajectory cannot continue,” he added.
The IFA believes that the consolidation of growers will continue if these issues cannot be addressed.
“On one hand we have government looking to foster and expand our sustainable horticultural sector, yet unless radical changes are made the reality is that our sector will continue to contract resulting in losses of family farms.
“The unprecedented wet spring to date has resulted in additional challenges and delays for growers. The importance of underpinning our domestic Irish production has never been as important following recent shortages of certain products, and the emphasis of food security,” McCormack added.
The IFA is encouraging all horticulture growers to attend the meeting.
The meeting will take place hot on the heels of a report from Teagasc outlining the challenges in the sector.
The Horticulture Crop Input Price Inflation 2023 report, published in March, found that achieving a margin over costs continues to be challenging for many horticultural enterprises, despite some output price increases in 2022.
Teagasc estimates that the area of field vegetable production will be down by 7% in 2023, based on direct engagement with growers.
A significant number of primary producers in the vegetable sector and other sectors have ceased trading in recent years, and early indications for the 2023 season show this continuing.