The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has announced that it will hold a national meeting for horticulture growers next week.
The event, to be hosted by IFA Horticulture Committee chair Mark Walsh, will take place at 8:00p.m on Wednesday, March 6 in the CityNorth Hotel, Gormanston, Co.Meath.
The meeting will address the major challenges in the horticulture sector with guest speakers from Teagasc, Bord Bia and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) on the night.
Horticulture
Mark Walsh said that the horticulture sector is “under severe pressure” due to market challenges, input costs and longstanding issues such as staff and land availability.
He said that these issues need to be urgently addressed or the reduction in the number of growers will inevitably continue.
“We have lost key growers in the past three years. The sector requires joined-up thinking from all government departments to address these issues, or this downward trend will continue,” he said.
The sector estimated to be worth around €521 million (farmgate value), making it the fourth largest sector in the country after dairy, beef and pigs in terms of gross agricultural commodity output value.
Last week, Teagasc reported that growers are continuing to see significant input price inflation, a trend that has been ongoing for four years.
This report, which comprised a “snapshot” of prices in January 2024 compared to 2023, found that all sub-sectors of horticulture are experiencing input price inflation across many outputs, with some exceptions, such as energy.
This year the standout cost in the sector is labour, and this is a key driver of overall input price inflation.
Since Teagasc issued the first report of this type in 2021, combined horticulture inputs have risen on average by 40%.
Teagasc said that geopolitical and climate change issues have affected international arrangements for sourcing fruit and vegetables.
The national advisory and research body said that a market response will be required to ensure the economic and environmental sustainability of Irish horticulture production into the future.