Strengthening the Irish potato and vegetable sectors

What is next for potato and vegetable production?” is a key question for primary producers who strive towards sustainable, profitable, competitive and efficient production.

As an agronomist with O’Shea Farms, I am right at the coal face of this industry, and I get to see the challenges firsthand.

Primary producers face increased regulations from European sustainability directives, climate change impacts, competition from imports, lack of independent research, difficult market conditions and falling consumption.

Indeed, potato and vegetable producers worldwide face the same issues, hence my Nuffield research focused on how we can learn from other countries to respond to those challenges.

The objective of my study was to answer the ‘what next’ question for primary producers and whether the future can be sustainable and profitable for the industry.

My travels brought me to eight different countries, with a particular focus on the UK, Israel, US, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands. I visited primary producers, businesses and research facilities targeting three key areas: production, markets and consumption. Sustainable production was my main interest. However, primary producers need to be profitable to be sustainable. Production is also impacted by market trends and falling consumption.

The study identified concepts and actions for the future of primary vegetable production in Ireland.

The “lowest hanging vegetable” for primary producers and the industry is import substitution. Unfortunately, we are seeing the volume of imports, especially of potatoes increasing year on year.

This is clearly visible on supermarket shelves, along with a growing food service sector and Government-procured food contracts that haven’t any criteria to be Irish.

Markets and supply chains have already been developed in many cases, with homegrown produce easily substituted, creating better food security and sustainable local economies.

Creating risk sharing in the supply chain is crucial.

Lessons from Irish dairy

The risk involved can be mitigated by more knowledge transfer and grower-to-grower learning like what exists in the dairy industry.

Dairy farmers in Ireland benefit from more joined-up research and development with well-developed knowledge transfer systems for the industry to progress towards a more sustainable future.

The dairy and meat supply chain also values Irish produce in terms of carbon footprint and advantage to local economies. In the potato and vegetable sector, this risk sharing will not be possible without the collaboration of packers/facilitators, supermarkets, food boards and policymakers. They need to work together to provide the resources required to develop and implement policies and strategies to champion homegrown produce.

Producers and suppliers need longer-term supply contracts. One-year contracts are not sustainable. The investment required to improve efficiencies has spiralled. One-year business plans for investments upwards of €1m are not plausible. Longer-term contracts create security and offset risk on these investments.

Canada

One of the best examples of collaboration is the Prince Edward Island (PEI) Potato Board. PEI is the largest potato producer in Canada with 84,000ac. It grows 1.1m tonnes of potatoes, with 14% of fields growing potatoes and is all underpinned by the PEI board.

The PEI board has a one-stop shop for marketing, advocacy, negotiations and activities to support potato production. It has one goal: profitable and sustainable potato production.

Markets are now driven by convenience. Research from Rabobank shows that the average person spent 22 hours a week in the kitchen in the 1970s, but only three hours per week in 2023. Product development is key to drive the industry into the next generation of production.

Consumption of potatoes and vegetables has been in decline over the past decade, despite the fact that all healthy eating advice agrees consumers should eat more.

The industry has a product that can improve the health of populations and reduce the cost of health care, but it needs the correct strategy and collaborations to leverage this huge advantage.

Recommendations

Finally, to summarise my recommendations, we need to:

C: cultivate local production

Encourage domestic agriculture to reduce reliance on imports and ensure food security through supportive policies.

R: risk management

Implement risk-sharing policies to protect farmers from market volatility and environmental challenges.

O: optimise sustainability

Adopt policies that reduce the carbon footprint, shorten supply chains and promote sustainable farming practices.

P: promote innovation

Support research and the adoption of new crop varieties through policies that foster agricultural innovation and knowledge transfer.

BACKGROUND Thomas Murray is a 2023 Nuffield Ireland scholar and an agronomist with O’Shea Farms in Piltown, Co Kilkenny. Murray’s research topic, presented at the Nuffield Ireland conference last November, looks at the challenges of potato and vegetable production in Ireland.