Minister of State Pippa Hackett has announced that she has commissioned a major report on the horticulture industry in Ireland.

The minister has sought independent experts to identify and analyse “opportunities which are emerging for the sector”.

She said that the industry is “vital” – but that a “roadmap to chart the way forward” is needed.

The report will assess the current state of the horticulture industry in Ireland across its various sectors: field crops; protected crops; soft fruit; top fruit; amenity; potatoes; and mushrooms.  

It will analyse each sector in detail, covering a wide range of areas, including: the transition to sustainable growing media; diversification; climate change; organic and integrated production; labour; and routes to market.

The report has received the support of the Horticulture Industry Forum, the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), Teagasc and Bord Bia, the minister said.

Horticulture report to be delivered in 2022

The minister said she does not “underestimate the task” of this report; as there are “many areas to be explored – but this is really important”.

She hopes for the report to be delivered by April 2022.

The horticulture sector output was worth €467 million in 2020 – it is the fourth highest sector in terms of value, with only beef, dairy and pigs greater, according to the department.

It employs 6,600 full-time staff in primary production with another 11,000 employed in downstream businesses.  

“I believe that these figures need to be looked at as only the start,” Minister Hackett added.

“There is huge room for growth and development and I want this report to help us build much further on what we are already doing.”

Parties interested in tendering for the report should register their interest online.

The horticulture industry was under the spotlight this week at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Speaking at the meeting, Growing Media Ireland (GMI) said the “urgency of the crisis facing the horticulture sector” due to peat shortages “is not appreciated by the departments tasked with solving the issue”.