Thousands of jobs at risk as peat harvesting restrictions create crisis in horticulture sector
Peat harvesting restrictions means the horticulture sector is at crisis point. File Picture.Â
A commitment from members of the Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine to arrange an urgent meeting with the Departments of Agriculture, Environment and Housing to find an immediate resolution to the crisis engulfing Ireland’s horticultural sector, has been welcomed by Growing Media Ireland (GMI).
The commitment was made during a joint committee meeting recently when GMI, the representative group for the majority of horticultural peat and growing media producers in Ireland, warned that over 17,000 jobs across Ireland’s horticultural sector are at real risk of being lost over the coming months because of ongoing restrictions on peat harvesting.
GMI is seeking the introduction of emergency legislation to enable an immediate resumption of peat harvesting.
GMI says that the entire sector has experienced extreme challenges over the past 18 months, following a September 2019 High Court ruling that means harvesting peat from Irish bogs greater than 30 hectares requires a complex licencing and planning regime.
This has resulted in horticultural peat harvesting on Irish bogs all but ceasing, while current reserve supplies will be exhausted by September.
The sector will be forced to import peat into Ireland at a higher cost both financially and environmentally.
Meanwhile, horticultural peat is a universal ingredient for nearly all plant species in almost all production systems in Ireland.
Ireland’s mushroom and vegetable industries are particularly reliant on it.
6,600 people are directly employed full-time in the sector, while another 11,000 are indirectly employed in value added and downstream businesses.
These jobs are highly concentrated in specific areas in the midlands and West and are being needlessly put at risk.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine estimates the sector has a farm gate value of €477m annually.
GMI has outlined the actions required to avert the crisis for the horticultural sector and these include:
- An immediate lifting of restrictions on peat harvesting for 2021 to avoid a shortage this year and in 2022;
- The introduction of a fair and workable licensing system to allow for the phasing out of horticultural peat harvesting over a transition period to a target date of 2030, allowing alternatives to be developed but ensuring that there is a secure supply of growing media during that period, so the sustainable horticultural sector is not jeopardised;
- A commitment to ensuring that peatlands are harvested in such a way that they are in the best possible condition for a planned and structured restoration;
- The establishment of Just Transition supports to protect jobs and businesses into the future.
“I would like to thank the members of the Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine for their pledge to resolve the crisis in our horticultural sector,” John Neenan, Chairman of GMI said.
“Their commitment to meeting with the various departments is a positive step in the right direction to hopefully securing a necessary resumption of peat harvesting.
“Thousands of jobs in the midlands and West of Ireland across our sector will be lost unless we can get back to peat harvesting this summer.”
