Horticultural growers 'hanging on a knife edge' as they call for regulator to be established

"It is projected that the area of field vegetables will contract by a minimum of 7% again this year. This downward trajectory cannot continue," the IFA said.

Many horticultural growers are "hanging on a knife edge" as they call for the Agri-Food Regulator to be established without further delay.

Irish Farmers' Association president Tim Cullinan has said that the Irish horticulture sector is "haemorrhaging".

Speaking after a well-attended national horticulture meeting in Meath, Mr Cullinan said that illegal and unfair trading practices at any stage of the supply chain "will not be tolerated, and IFA will bring these to the attention of the relevant authorities".

"Our sustainable horticultural sector is in demise and the Office of Fairness and Transparency must be robust and the legislation must give real powers to address these longstanding issues before the industry is completely eroded," he said.

Knife edge

IFA fruit and vegetable committee chairman Niall McCormack said the industry had lost key growers in the past two years, and many growers present at the recent meeting are "hanging on a knife edge".

"It is projected that the area of field vegetables will contract by a minimum of 7% again this year. This downward trajectory cannot continue," Mr McCormack said.

"Irish growers are proactive and positive by nature. 

"At the meeting, stakeholders discussed what our industry can do in terms of self-promotion and marketing, collaboration, and research to overcome challenges but none of this is relevant if we are not in business.

"We should be shouting about the positive attributes of our sector in terms of food security and our environmentally sustainable produce, however, time and time again we are in crisis mode to save our sector."

Mr McCormack stressed that this "simply cannot continue".

Crippling

Speaking during a debate on the Government’s Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill this week, independent TD for Clare Michael McNamara sought for amendments to be made that could explicitly allow for the outlawing of the cancellation of orders of perishable goods at very short notice, and the practice of returning unsold produce without any payment, "both of which are crippling the Irish horticultural sector".

"We know that the number of horticulture producers in Ireland is decreasing year on year," Mr McNamara said. 

"Even though this country is ideally suited to growing food, including horticultural products, more and more of it is being imported. 

"We know this has a detrimental effect on our environment because imported food has a far greater carbon footprint than food produced in Ireland. 

"If we are serious about the environment, eating organic carrots flown from one part of the world to another is not going to help our environment in any way." 

Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue told politicians that this bill is "historic in its objective and rationale". 

"There is a commitment from the Government to make sure this legislation drives on, delivers for farm families, and delivers on transparency in the food supply chain," he added.