Written answers
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
Department of Agriculture and Food
Horticulture Sector
8:00 pm
Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 1041: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the number of commercial producers of edible horticultural products here to date in 2009; the number of commercial producers of edible horticultural products here in each of the past ten years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38687/09]
Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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The table estimates the number of commercial producers of edible horticultural products between 1999 and 2009 where data are available.
| Estimate of the Number of Commercial Producers of Edible Horticultural Products (1) | |||||||
| Year | Field Vegetables (2) | Potatoes(4) | Apples (3) | Mushrooms(5) | Protected Food crops (2) | Protected soft fruit. (2) | Soft Fruit(outdoor) (2) |
| 1999 | 377 | 1046* | 87 | 145 | |||
| 2000 | 956* | 504 | |||||
| 2001 | 905* | ||||||
| 2002 | 294 | 832* | 46 | 365 | |||
| 2003 | 289 | 95 | 65 | 58 | |||
| 2004 | 801* | 228 | |||||
| 2005 | 238 | 732* | 157 | ||||
| 2006 | 735* | 119 | |||||
| 2007 | 700** | 40 | 85 | 74 | 53 | 30 | |
| 2008 | 865*** | 85 | |||||
| 2009 | 215 | 825*** | |||||
| Notes | |||||||
| The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food or Teagasc do not carry out annual censuses of horticultural producers2) The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has a programme in place so that most sectors are surveyed every 3-4 years3) Under Directive 2001/109/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (as amended), Ireland and other Member States are obliged to carry out a survey of apple orchards every 5 years4) The potato figures are derived from * National Potato Census figures, ** Farm Structures Survey *** SPS applications (excluding growers under 1Ha)5) Source: Teagasc |
Although, there have been significant reductions in the number of growers in certain sectors, the volume and value of output in most sectors has remained relatively stable and in cases has increased significantly. This reflects the consolidation and development of these sectors and the horticultural industry in general.
The value of field vegetable and protected food crop output is significantly higher today than in 1999. However, the significant decline in the number of outdoor soft fruit producers reflects a shift to production under protection to allow production of higher quality and higher value crops in line with consumer demand. In the case of mushrooms, despite the significant reduction in grower numbers, the value of output has not been affected to the same extent and held up well over recent years as remaining growers have increased scale and adopted new growing technologies.
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