Rising costs, static prices and a shortage of workers are putting the Christmas vegetable harvest at risk – but also the longer term viability of the small pool of Irish vegetable growers.

Labour shortages have meant that a lot of growers have been just about able to limp to the end of the year, IFA national horticulture chair Paul Brophy told the Irish Farmers Journal.

“Workers had to be begged to stay on and in fairness you can’t blame them when the pandemic support payment is available. If there is a really wet winter this year there definitely will be a shortfall in supply.

“A lot of growers are afraid of their life that they may fall short on Christmas orders on the back of these labour issues. Swedes, parsnips, and Brussels sprouts could be scarce.”

The IFA says input costs have risen by 15% due to the expense of COVID-19 safeguards and the inefficiencies associated with the training of new seasonal workers.

It says rising costs and static prices are threatening the viability of the vegetable sector as a whole.

Grower exodus

Brophy continued: “No doubt there will be an exodus of growers from the sector in the near future. A lot of farmers have told me they are strongly considering their position and exploring other options.

“The main problem is price. Retailers expect locally grown produce and at global prices. During the pandemic, retailers have been traded off their feet and are now offering workers a bonus. Why can’t they do the same for farmers.”

The most recent National Field Vegetable Census was conducted in 2016, asking growers to provide details of field vegetable production in 2014.

There were 165 field vegetable growers in 2014, a drop of 22% since the 2008 census and continuing the trend of falling grower numbers.

IFA national horticulture executive Pat Farrell told the Irish Farmers Journal that this trend has continued to date.

“The 2015 census revealed an exodus from the sector and there are no indicators that it will slow any time soon. I estimate that a further 10% have left the sector in recent years.

“There are a plethora of reasons for this but the main ones include farm gate price remaining the same, costs continually increasing, and labour becoming scarcer.”

The field vegetable sector provided 1,106 full-time jobs in 2014, a 21% increase on the previous census. The largest 50 growers accounted for 84% of the total field vegetable production area in 2014, up from 74% in 2008.

Grower view:

Cathal Lenehan with Fernando Hernandez harvesting sprouts.

Cabbage and Brussels sprouts grower Cathal Lenehan, Navan, Co Meath

“Labour is the big challenge all year round and especially now coming into the busy Christmas harvest. If the postman stood out of the van for long enough I’d have him out harvesting sprouts with me.

“You need to have a reliable workforce for this enterprise to meet the Christmas order. If you have to go through the recruiting agencies you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel.

“The search for labour will only become more and more difficult with time. There’s no point only offering these lads minimum wage. It’s a hard job and they deserve the extra few pound.

“With the sprouts, you only have 10 days to harvest. It’s not like other vegetables that you can just forget about them for a week or two.

“We’re frontline workers keeping the country fed. To meet our orders and have confidence in the sector, labour supply will have to become much more stable.”

David Rodgers. \Claire Nash

Potato and onion grower David Rodgers, Ballyboughal, Co Dublin

“Potato and onion growers are doing OK at the minute as a result of COVID-19. People are buying Irish during the pandemic and cooking our produce at home.

“Once restaurants open again, growers will suffer. The food you receive when eating out is mostly imported such as the baby boiled potatoes.

“The biggest threat to the sector will always be price. Irish onions are expensive to grow and must be sold a bit dearer than the rest.

“We supply our onions to Tesco, through Country Crest, and have found them good to deal with. It’s the other retailers that are putting the pressure on with below-cost promotions.

“Brexit has a silver lining for growers as it has the potential to curtail a lot of imports from the UK and draw a better price out of the retailers here.”

Enda Weldon.

Brussels sprouts grower Enda Weldon, Swords, Co Dublin

“Trade has been strong all year, with retailers reporting 30% growth in sales. With that you’d imagine the price we receive for our produce would also shoot up. [But] absolutely not and in some instances prices have been cut.

“There’s a constant downward pressure on prices in this sector and retailers are forever playing games with our product.

“The crops appear to be OK in the field and we will fill the orders if everyone plays their part on the labour and supermarket sides.

“Labour is a concern for us – it’s proving hard to get. With the sprouts you can’t harvest ahead so the pressure is huge during the runup to Christmas.

“You need good hardy people for the job because you never know what kind of weather you’re going to get. We do our best no matter what the conditions and wait in hope for this season.”

Vegetable grower Alan Feighery, Kilcormac, Co Offaly

“We grow a broad range of vegetables on a small scale and sell most of these straight to the customer at three farm markets. The rest goes to wholesalers and other small growers.

“Dealing directly with the customer gives us better command over the price we receive. We have one full-time employee which takes away a lot of the uncertainty around labour.

“Since COVID-19, the markets have been a lot busier, more people are at home all the time cooking for themselves. They are more conscious of the food on their plates and appreciate that it is being grown in harmony with nature.

“It’s great to see people pay attention to what they are eating and those who produce it. The future is stable for the small producer because of local customers that we can rely on for certainty of price.”

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