Commercial mushroom growers in Ireland are coming under increasing pressure due to the rising cost of production and a weakening of sterling against the euro.

In the last 30 years in Ireland, the number of mushroom growers has reduced from 700 to 50.

Commercial Mushroom Producers (CMP) represent 90% of the industry and its CEO Donal McCarthy said about 40% of its members had exited the industry since the Brexit vote in 2016.

Rising demand from the dairy industry for straw has seen the cost of the main raw material in mushroom compost rise. This year, due to a shortage of supply, straw had to be imported from the Iberian Peninsula.

Currency

As 90% of mushrooms are exported to the UK, currency plays an important role. Following the Brexit vote, sterling moved from 72p to 90p against the euro, severely damaging the price received by growers. McCarthy said it was important this returned to “its natural home” of 81p.

Despite the challenges faced by the industry, he said he remained optimistic.

McCarthy said: “Despite losing a number of growers in the last three years, we’re still growing 95% of the volume we were. The UK has a total mushroom market of 190,000t, of which 130,000t is retail. We’d have nearly half of that so we’ve achieved a lot.

“The people that are in this industry are so resilient. We’ve all been through the wars. At the end of Brexit, we’ll look back and say it forced us to do things we thought were impossible up to now.”

Innovation

McCarthy said the industry had made major advances when it comes to innovation, value-added product and differentiating packaging.

“If you grow white mushrooms and send them across the Irish Sea, that just gets you in the game,” he said.

Growers have invested heavily in research and product development and recently launched mushrooms naturally fortified with vitamin B12 in the UK. These are targeted towards vegetarians who often lack B12 in their diet. “We need to keep mushrooms relevant to consumers,” McCarthy said. “There are 3,300 jobs across mainly rural areas depending on it. There are few other industries that can provide the employment we do.”