Mr. Mike Neary:

I will comment first on a few issues before going to Professor Hennessy. The retail side has been mentioned previously. From our perspective and role we see engagement with the retail sector as absolutely critical. In the context of the Department strategy, the first objective set out is about strengthening the position of the grower in the marketplace. The second is about the implementation of a charter that would spread across the whole supply chain from grower to facilitator through to the retailer. Part of that process we are engaged in is about having conversations to see how a more balanced partnership can work across the supply chain. This takes something important into account. A lot of people were shocked earlier this year when during certain weeks we did not have produce on supermarket shelves, in particular back in February and March. There is now a greater focus on security of supply. That leans into having good local seasonal supply from local producers and local growers. That provides an important agenda item going forward in terms of having conversations, and engaging with retailers and others in the supply chain.

We run a number of SME programmes with three retailers, namely, Lidl, Aldi, and Musgrave, where we try to get smaller businesses on to the supermarket shelf with their products and build business opportunities. There is a piece of work to be done there. That is something everybody is aware of and certainly something we will be very proactive in with our engagement with retail as part of our remit.

The labour thing has been very well called out because many growers would have called out labour, as well as costs, as their biggest issues. A permit system was in place. Four years ago horticulture was allocated 1,000 permits and those permits have now been exhausted. Another tranche of permits is now required for horticulture to fill the growing demand for labour in that sector.

On seasonal agricultural workers' scheme, we do not currently have such a scheme to cover horticulture. Action 3 in the strategy calls for a framework to be put in place to have a non-EEA seasonal agricultural workers' scheme for horticulture. That scheme is being progressed and I hope we will see progress made over the next year to two years. The scheme is critical for the horticultural sector because people need labour when they need it and in the peak growing and cropping season one needs to have flexible labour. To keep workers all year around when there might be a downtime is a cost for the business and makes it more difficult.

Another thing to call out is the apprenticeship scheme for horticulture that was launched with Teagasc earlier this year. The scheme was a while coming down the track but it will be very important because it will, hopefully, provide a formal training mechanism for people who want to work in horticulture. The scheme will attract talent and people will get a formal qualification, which was not available before. That is looking more at the longer-term piece but we need to get new talent and fresh blood into the horticultural industry.

The issue of growing mediums has been called out. That is a major challenge. Certainly it is a cost issue for many businesses. This committee has debated peat and peat availability. As has been said, the sector was shocked because the non-availability of peat came much quicker than was anticipated. All of the industry recognises that there is a direction of travel which sees the removal of peat. The challenge for the sector is allowing a transition period to have peat available, until research is carried out, to see what are the best solutions for their growing crops and to use whatever those mediums might be going forward. In fairness, the growing media sector uses 30% of wood fibre but it still needs peat available and that is a cost because it comes in, potentially, from outside of Ireland. So there is a cost and sustainability issue. That medium thing is still a challenge.

A final point was made about standards. European standards are set down in regulation and that is a huge challenge. One thing that is hard to predict, from a grower's perspective, is that if there is good weather and a crop comes in quicker then there might be a surplus down the line. One solution that could be examined is having a conversation with the market to get the product promoted and moved through the market rather than let it go into waste. There are issues at grower level which would help that situation and earlier there was talk about waste on farms. If there was enough labour available then crops can be ready to be harvested when they are ready. Conversely, if there is not enough labour then there will be wastage.

Another area that was called out was the availability of plant protection products for growers. There is reducing armoury in place for growers currently. If that armoury is not there to protect the crop, then pests and disease will happen thus leading to more waste in the fields. These are areas that can be progressed. They will help the overall reduction in waste and provide a better situation at producer level.