Consumers ‘can save jobs by buying home-produced horticulture goods’
More than 3,000 jobs are sustained by solid domestic sales of potatoes and mushrooms, along with a very strong export trade. A similar support for other products could potentially have a similarly positive impact.
Teagasc horticulture programme manager Jim O’Mahony said: “There are opportunities to add value to existing horticulture output and increase Irish production by displacing imports. Over half of the seed potatoes used in Ireland are imported and the opportunities to replace these with homegrown seed potatoes are being actively explored. Similarly 95% of apples consumed in Ireland are imported, so the possibilities to grow more apples in Ireland are also being identified.
