IFA Fruit and Vegetable Chair Niall McCormack said that measures in Budget 2025 were disappointing for the Irish horticulture industry. Overall funding for the horticulture industry was reduced by almost 25% to €8.5M.
Last year there was funding of €10M for Investment Aid for the Development of the Commercial Horticulture Sector and a further €1.35M for Investment Aid for Innovation and Diversification in Horticulture. This year the combined funding for both schemes is €8.5M.
As part of the Horticulture Strategy, there is an ambition to increase the farm gate value of the sector by 30% to €688 million by the end of 2027. With a 25% reduction in the overall horticulture budget announced yesterday this is becoming increasingly unrealistic, he said.
As part of the budget, it was announced that horticultural growers who planted and declared field-grown food crops in 2024 on their BISS application will receive the €100/hectare tillage payment announced as part of Budget 2025. While positive, this level of funding will do little to combat the soaring input costs that growers in these sectors are experiencing.
Over the last three years as outlined in the Teagasc report, combined horticultural inputs have risen by an average of 40%. The impact of the increase in the minimum wage in January will further erode growers' margins. Our sector has been in disarray for a long time now and unfortunately, we are continuing to lose growers from the industry.
Source: ifa.ie