The mushroom industry, which supplies 50 per cent of British imports, worth €95 million annually, is coming under severe pressure and one of the most serious of these is a possible loss of low-cost labour triggered by EU enlargement.
A task force set up by the Department of Agriculture and Food on the industry said that Dutch and Polish mushroom suppliers have significantly in- creased their market shares in Britain where Irish suppliers are being forced to push down prices to compete.
The number of growers in Ireland, the report found, had dropped from 566 in 1995 to 242 this year, while the output from the sector remained relatively stable over the same period.
One of the main problems facing the industry, which expanded in the 1980s on the basis of family units, is now the availability of labour. Many of the 4,000 workers in the industry now come from outside the EU, as local labour is unavailable.
"Access to non-national labour and the issue and cost of work permits has been an ongoing issue for growers. From 1st May, 2004, nationals of the EU accession states no longer require work permits," said the report.
"They are also entitled to freedom of movement and this may have consequences for the industry," the report continued.
"In an enlarged EU of 25 member-states, the availability of work permits for non- EU nationals may be considerably limited," it went on.
"In this new scenario, reliance by the industry on the ongoing availability of a low-cost workforce may be unsustainable into the future," it said.
The main recommendations in the report, which was launched by the Minister of State for Agriculture, Mr Noel Treacy, call for a reduction in variable costs in the industry of up to 20 per cent from current levels.
The industry, said the report, should switch to the most productive compost available and suggested there could be the potential for cross-Border co-operation in this area.
The report also stressed the importance of having a trained workforce.
It also envisaged a central role for the Irish Food Board in investigating the feasibility of a pan-European fund campaign for generic promotion of mushroom.
The recommendations of the report were welcomed at the weekend by the Irish Farmers' Association, which urged that money be made available to improve the quality of compost production which would ensure the survival of the industry.