Horticultural crops in danger of further decline if support is not put in place, IFA warns
Be More Will Food Supply Without Shortage Food Government Intervention, Growers The Ifa Horticulture Retail Said And Of There And Exiting Production Intermittent
Horticultural crops are in danger of further decline if changes are not made and support is not put in place, the Irish Farmers' Association has warned.
There are shortages of horticulture food crops such as tomatoes and cucumbers on Irish shop shelves due to bad weather conditions in Europe.
Highlighting the need to support more domestic fruit and vegetable growing, IFA field vegetable and protected crops committee chair Martin Flynn said that the current shortages are a "result of soaring input costs and of the imbalance of power in the food supply chain".
"This week marks one year on from the invasion of Ukraine. There is still huge concern around the outlook and the cost of input materials and energy costs," Mr Flynn said.
"The price of gas is still four times higher compared to the average of the previous decade.
The increased costs of growing all horticulture crops, compounded by the price pressure from food buyers, means that there is no room to account for events such as weather or input cost spikes, Mr Flynn said.
"High energy prices have meant that growers cannot afford to heat glass in our sector for early crops. We are tired of hearing from Government that more Irish produce is required when we simply cannot afford to expand the shoulders of our season," he said.
The "imbalance of power" in favour of main retailers has "driven margins for growers so tight that it's inevitable the current shortages will become more common in the future", Mr Flynn cautioned.
"We welcome the progress of the food chain bill through the Oireachtas, but on its own, it will not be enough to safeguard the supply of fresh fruit and vegetables," he said.
"It’s clear from the current shortages of vegetables from Spain and Holland that retailers cannot rely on imported produce. The first step that retailers must undertake is to listen to their grower suppliers of Irish produce."
Without retail and Government intervention, the IFA said there will be more horticulture growers exiting food production and intermittent shortage of food supply.
