Urgent support required for the less than 100 commercial field growers left in Ireland – Doherty

Ireland’s horticulture sector is facing extinction unless support is provided urgently, a Fine Gael Senator said.

Senator Regina Doherty said that the IFA painted an “alarming picture” at a meeting with the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

“The problems the horticultural sector is facing are immense, with skyrocketing input costs and gas prices which are approximately five times higher today than in 2020. Margins continue to get tighter for growers with retailers relentlessly pushing down the retail prices of their produce,” she stated.

“The Government needs to listen to vegetable growers. From listening to grower representatives, it’s clear that the horticulture sector isn’t far from extinction. There are less than 100 commercial field vegetable growers left in Ireland. This is clearly a crisis. Support must be provided.

“To help with input costs, the Government needs to get the Natural Gas Carbon Tax relief up and running. The delays in implementing this relief aren’t acceptable. It’s been dragging on for months and the Department of Finance need to explain why this scheme isn’t in operation. Growers are facing huge energy costs and this relief is one way to support vegetable growers with their energy costs.

“At the committee, the IFA also called on the re-introduction of the Horticulture Exceptional Payment Scheme. I agree that this support needs to be continued. The conditions facing growers which drove the introduction of this measure haven’t changed, so why should it be discontinued? The Minister for Agriculture needs to confirm that there will be a continuation of the scheme. If the government says it supports farmers, then they need to show support by re-introducing this scheme.”

“One of the key messages to come out of the committee meeting yesterday is that there must be an end to below-cost selling and there needs to be more fairness and transparency in the horticulture sector when it comes to pricing. There can’t be any delay in setting up the agri-food regulator. It needs to hit the ground running, conduct analysis on pricing arrangements and shine a light on how retailers price produce”.