A shortage of straw is hurting the Irish mushroom industry.
“The country’s major supplier of compost is now being forced to import straw from Britain, resulting in an increase of over 20% in the cost of compost in recent weeks,” said Aidan Ryan, an industry spokesman.
He reports that increased costs and ever-tightening margins have led to a mass exodus from mushroom production. The number of growers has dropped from 570 in 1997 to less than 100 today.
“In addition to spiraling compost prices, environmental costs have also escalated due to new regulations on the disposal of spent compost. Production costs continue to spiral but prices have remained static for the past ten years. Something will have to give if home production of mushrooms is to survive,” he warned.
Mushrooms have been a major success story in Irish growing over the past 20 years and consumers had been provided with a consistently high quality product. He said the future of this top quality product was under threat unless growers got an increase in price.
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