Irish growers have a new champion in government, a Green Party minister whose constituency lies at the heart of the country’s horticulture industry.
Trevor Sergant, current leader of the Irish Green Party - he is due to stand down shortly - has been named minister for horticulture and food in the new coalition administration headed by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. It is the Greens’ first time in government in the Republic - they have been given two cabinet seats - and Sergant describes his appointment as “a dream come true”.
The 46-year-old “committed environmentalist”, as he styles himself, has represented the Dublin North constituency for the past decade. As he has frequently reminded parliament, “40 per cent of the field vegetables in this country are grown in my constituency” and he has spoken emotionally about the plight of growers and the urgent need for improved prices from the multiples.
In a recent debate, he claimed that while growers’ costs were increasing the price of field vegetables - cabbage in particular - was decreasing. And he warned that without a 25 per cent price rise, the industry could collapse within three years.
Improving prices will be one of his priorities. “This is a very tough time for growers,” he says. “They are getting much too little for their produce, and that has to change. I understand the whole horticulture sector and I know, for instance, that we’re now at a stage where there are only five Brussels sprout and seven carrot growers left in the country that the supermarkets will work with. That also has to change.”
Sergant also wants to see a network of farmers’ markets across the country, offering new outlets for local produce, and is planning talks with every county manager in the Republic to promote the idea. “The retail sector has divided producers from consumers - we need to restore that link and re-establish trust, goodwill and support between those who produce food and those who consume it.”
Over the next five years, he aims to increase organic food production in the Republic from under less than one per cent to five per cent, as agreed in a programme for government. He also wants to keep the country free of genetically modified crops and foodstuffs, a development that he feels would give Ireland an important advantage on international markets as “a green, clean, GM-free free food island”.
