The precipitous fall in the numbers of growers involved in the mushroom sector in the south of Ireland, was outlined by the minister for agriculture Brendan Smith recently in Dáil Éireann.
The numbers outlined were from 504 mushroom growers in 2000 to just 84 currently remaining in the country.
Of course this is not exactly news to anyone within the industry – where the contraction of the sector has been observed far and wide, and discussed up and down the country.
The TD representing a Cavan-Monaghan constituency, a focal point for the mushroom sector in the South, claimed that growers are not consolidating, “they are simply being forced out by the economics of their situation.” Seymour Crawford contends that margins have been wiped out by the collapse in value of Sterling compared to the Euro, and with the banks in trouble, there is no credit available. “What is happening is what Thomas Martin – chief executive of Commercial Mushroom Producers – predicted some months ago. People are opting out of the industry, maybe temporarily, because they can no longer sustain the losses,” he said.
It all sounds a bit late to be jumping up and down about things now. To be sure, any support for the industry is welcome, but one can’t shake the feeling that as of now, things just are as they are. The TD has called for the minister “to be much more aggressive” in providing financial support to an industry that is worth €100 million (Ł89.4m) to the Irish economy. Minister Smith said he was satisfied “every support possible” was being given to the sector through national and EU schemes. The department had paid out, or approved, grants of more than €7m in recent times to help fund investments by growers. In addition, he said, the EU producer organisation scheme offered vital support. One thing we can be sure of, the numbers of mushroom growers in the country is not going to swell again anytime soon. C’est la vie.
