Excerpted from the KPMG report, their Swot analysis of the mushroom industry looking at Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats within and to the industry.

Strengths

• Biggest direct employer across horticulture sectors

• Strong PO (Producer Organisation) representation

• ~85% mushrooms produced in ROI are exported to the UK market

• Proximity to the UK market means large-scale investments at the

grower level can be justified (e.g. adoption of technology that

facilitates cost effective production)

• Produce grown to quality assurance standards

• Highly specialised and expert grower base

• Lean technologies and processes have been utilised to increase

competitiveness and boost productivity and yield

Opportunities

• A growing convenience and food service market

• Potential to add value through innovation and product development

• Leverage consumer awareness of health benefits and changing lifestyle and food trends

• Continue to work on optimising supply chain

• Mushrooms are key to the Circular economy and are a sustainable

food product

• Carbon footprint of mushrooms and mushroom production is low

• Exotic market and exotic production. Support and training for smaller sites needed

• Collaboration with other sub-sectors

Weaknesses

• Further investment in sectoral research, development and innovations is required

• Reliance on UK market given scale of domestic market. Additional costs associated with movement of products across the border post-Brexit

• Labour recruitment and retention (especially among pickers), togetherwith rising labour costs

• Labour’s reliance on work permits and visas: overall ~6 months delay in the documents processing

• Imbalance of power between retailers and suppliers

Threats

• Retailer power / retailer consolidation putting downward pressure on prices

• Price / lack of profitability due to comparative pricing

• Foreign exchange volatility

• Impact of Brexit / Covid on labour availability

• Increased emphasis on local sourcing / UK production

• Loss of industry expertise. Some growers may shift to other activities - vertical farming etc. -opportunity but - skills and infrastructure could be lost for the mushroom sector itself

• The sub-sector is dependent on peat. Medium term will still need domestic peat - or risk of supply and cost pressures. Research for alternatives will take time, it is likely that a combination of peat and alternative products will be needed, as long as there is no alternative no

100% alternative to peat

• Polish and other EU mushrooms suppliers

• Input cost inflation - energy and fuel