Mushroom industry ‘under threat’

SOARING costs and static prices are posing a threat to the future of Ireland’s mushroom production which has an output of more than €100 million a year.

Dewfresh Mushroom Producers Organisation, whose members supply the major Irish retailers said a shortage of straw, the key ingredient in compost, is the latest bombshell to hit the industry.

Spokesman Aidan Ryan said yesterday the country’s major supplier of compost is now being forced to import straw from Britain, resulting in an increase of over 20% in the cost of compost in recent weeks.