The first coronavirus lockdown in the months of April, May and June saw retail sales jump 22% for Codd Mushrooms, Leslie Codd, co-owner of the Carlow-based company has said.

While retail sales were up, sales collapsed by 70% on the food service side.

“The vast majority of our sales are into retail outlets, so we are projecting a net sales increase of 5% for 2020,” Codd told the Irish Farmers Journal. For the current lockdown, it is expected that retail sales will increase again and that food service will not be as badly hit as last time, with more restaurants operating on a takeaway basis. “We believe that sales will stay up. People are used to cooking at home. They like it and are interested in cooking at home,” he said.

COVID-19

Like all businesses, COVID-19 has brought extra costs to the business in the form of cleaning expenses, social distancing at work, extra canteen space and partitioning.

In addition, Codd Mushrooms has decided to test its 250 staff for COVID-19 every two weeks.

Testing will continue until at least the end of the year

“There has been a major increase in costs. We are blanket testing staff every two weeks. We’re buying in antigen COVID-19 test kits. The first time we tested, it showed up that one of our staff members was positive. The individual had no symptoms whatsoever.

“We were very lucky to have identified that he had COVID-19. He potentially could have spread it to many of his work colleagues. Testing will continue until at least the end of the year, or until a vaccine has been made available,” he said.

Brexit

Codd Mushrooms supplies mushrooms exclusively to the Irish market, so is somewhat insulated from any potential Brexit shocks.

However, it relies on some imports from Northern Ireland, in the form of compost and its disposable packaging.

“We see added paperwork. We’re not expecting tariffs, I just don’t see [tariffs happening],” he said.

Challenges

Other challenges facing the business are labour shortages and disease control.

It’s increasingly difficult to get staff

“Getting staff can be difficult. The Irish authorities launched a permit scheme in 2019 for 500 non-EEA positions in the horticulture sector, and all of these permits were used up. The industry is anxious to get this renewed for another 500 workers.

“It’s increasingly difficult to get staff. The younger eastern European staff travelling to Ireland have better English, and this opens up many different, and more appealing job opportunities,” he said.

On disease levels, he said it’s also increasingly difficult to keep disease levels low.

“There have been no new fungicides coming on to the market, and most of the chemicals at our disposal are ineffective,” he said, calling for new effective fungicides and fly control to be approved for use.

Codd Mushrooms is taking part in Just Add Mushrooms, the final instalment of a three-year campaign which is co-funded by the EU and the mushroom industry, and supported by Bord Bia.

It aims to encourage consumers to eat locally grown mushrooms and raise awareness of their health benefits, versatility and quality.