The Irish field vegetable sector is under severe pressure as a result of ongoing drought conditions, sector representatives have warned.

IFA horticulture chair Paul Brophy said growers are suffering losses due to yield reductions and lost crops. Producers are also incurring extra costs due to irrigation requirements.

Irrigating a crop just once costs €100/acre, according to Brophy who added that many crops have needed to be irrigated multiple times due to the dry weather.

Retailers

“Retailers and facilitators must show solidarity and lend support at this challenging time. Vegetable specifications and farm gate prices need to be reviewed to reflect the current difficult farm business environment,” Brophy said.

In the field vegetable heartland of north county Dublin, growers have received just 54mm of rainfall between March and May, compared to an average of 166mm. As a result soil moisture deficits are now higher than they were in the 2018 drought.

Brophy said farm gate prices for fresh produce needs to be increased with the drought pressure coming on top of labour issues as a result of COVID-19.

Support

“Continuing unfair trading practices among the retailers such as below-cost selling, unsustainable discounting and tendering have resulted in untenable farm gate prices. Existing producer returns include no accommodation for natural yield reductions; the vagaries of the weather or input cost increases,” he explained.

Brophy appealed to consumers to support growers through this difficult phase by buying Irish produce and looking for the Bord Bia quality assurance mark.

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