An improved UK price deal for Irish mushroom growers is being forecast by a leading figure in the industry.
Negotiations with the multiples have been going on for some time, according to Aidan Ryan, a former chairman of the Irish Mushroom Growers’ Association, who has been active in the industry for over 30 years. He expects the increased price to be agreed before the end of the year.
The negotiations, he said, have been given added impetus by the latest blow to Irish growers - they are now being forced to import straw for their compost from the UK, which is estimated to add up to 20 per cent to production costs. “The multiples know that the position of Irish growers is no longer tenable in these circumstances, so there has to be an improved price if they are to survive. As one might put it, this could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.”
A reduced acreage of wheat last year, together with a poor harvest, is blamed for the current Irish straw shortage. But the situation is unlikely to change as farmers are now finding new uses for straw, such as mixing it with feed, spreading it as fertiliser and converting it to bio-fuel. Compost, along with labour, is the main production cost for growers, so adding in the extra expense of imported straw is a major blow.
On labour, the news is equally grim - the Irish minimum wage is due to rise to €8.65 (£5.86) an hour from July, the highest rate in the EU apart from Luxembourg.
Despite these additional costs, plus higher fuel and transport charges, Irish growers’ prices in the UK have not increased in the past decade, according to Ryan, a former member of Bord Glas, the state horticultural board now subsumed into Bord Bia. “We’ve kept going through increased yields and productivity, but over the past decade, the number of Irish growers has fallen from 570 to fewer than 100.”
Ryan, who now speaks for the Dewfresh mushroom producers’ organisation in County Meath, predicts that the current number will be halved unless action is taken - and soon.
He anticipates a price deal along the lines of that recently offered to the UK dairy industry by Tesco, “which will mean a small increase for the consumer, with the multiples footing the bill for the rest”.
He warns that if a price agreement cannot be reached with UK retailers, “we will all be importing our mushrooms from Poland in a few years from now”.
