Peat shortage ‘will put up food prices’

Ireland is having to import turf as reserves run dry

IRELAND is having to import peat from Latvia as national reserves run dry – and 17,000 horticultural jobs are being ‘put at risk’ as a result.

On Saturday morning, 4,000 tonnes of peat arrived into Drogheda Port in Co. Louth.

Growing Media Ireland (GMI), the representative body for horticultural peat and growing media producers, has claimed that this is the first time the country has had to import horticultural peat.

And with many shipments from Baltic States and other EU countries expected over the coming weeks and months to supply Ireland’s horticultural sector, GMI is calling on the Government to fix the ‘financial and environmental crisis now engulfing Ireland’s horticultural sector’.

Chairman of GMI John Neenan, said the ‘ban on harvesting’ in Ireland over the last two years has meant Irish reserves of horticultural peat are ‘now exhausted’ and ‘we are fully reliant on expensive imports from abroad’.

He said: ‘This has resulted in hugely increased costs, which will have a real impact on the competitiveness of Ireland’s fruit and vegetable sector, and ultimately will lead to higher food prices for families.

‘Horticultural peat is a universal ingredient for almost all plant species in almost all production systems in Ireland.

‘The message we are sending out is that Ireland is quite happy to import peat and cause greater environmental damage than sourcing it at home with a workable licensing system that will provide for a transition to alternatives over the coming

years. Countries in the EU have taken such a practical approach by phasing production out over the next decade.’

Mr Neenan added: ‘We are now calling on the Ministers of Agriculture, Environment and Housing to find an immediate resolution to the financial and environmental crisis now engulfing Ireland’s horticultural sector, and provide for a return to production in Ireland.’

All sectors of Irish horticulture including mushroom and small fruit and vegetable growers in north Dublin and throughout rural Ireland are understood to be severely affected by the peat shortage.

GMI said that food prices are expected to increase as a result of peat importation the cost of which will be passed on to the consumer which, in turn, puts thousands of jobs at risk.

Peat harvesting ceased in Ireland in September 2019 following a High Court ruling which required harvesting of peat from bogs greater than 30 hectares to have a proper licensing and planning.

A request for comment was put into the Department of Agriculture, but no reply was forthcoming by the time the paper went to print.

‘Crisis is engulfing the sector’