Talamh Beo has called for special supports for Irish farmers supplying domestic markets.

The grassroots sustainable farming organisation said the recent news of the liquidation of a major vegetable growing business was disappointing.

Fergal Anderson, founding member of Talamh Beo said: "Our thoughts are with the grower and with the more than 40 workers whose jobs are affected.

He added that the development unfortunately "comes as no surprise".

"The current system is built on specialisation, scale and integration into long and complex supply chains.

"At the centre sit the supermarkets, pushing price and manufacturing demand.

"Vegetable growers face particular challenges, not just the weather, but labour costs, below cost selling devaluing their produce, and expensive machinery and input costs.

"It is a highly skilled, demanding form of agricultural production which it seems our government is happy to let slowly disappear," he contended.

Food security

According to Fergal, at the same time, conversations about food security "are becoming more prominent in Brussels, often linked to concerns about geopolitical instability and disruptions to global supply chains.

"These discussions highlight an important reality: countries that depend heavily on imported food are more vulnerable to external shocks."

Ireland is particularly exposed, according to Fergal, who is based in Loughrea, Co. Galway.

"Around 83% of the fruit and vegetables consumed in Ireland are imported, leaving the country highly dependent on international supply chains for some of the most basic components of a healthy diet," he said.

"Public discussion often suggests that Ireland has only around 60 commercial vegetable growers left, down from 400 in 1998.

"However, this overlooks a much broader landscape of smaller scale producers, market gardeners, mixed farms, and community-based growers supplying local markets, veg boxes, shops and restaurants across the country, a wider local food sector that remains largely invisible in national policy discussions."

Local food producers

Talamh Beo is developing Ireland’s first national database of local food producers.

Its preliminary work indicates there are 300 local food producers supplying local markets across Ireland, 120 of which are small to medium scale producers growing and supplying vegetables.

"It operates almost entirely without dedicated policy recognition or support, sustained primarily by the energy, commitment, and initiative of the people doing the work"

Talamh Beo is advocating for an agroecological food system built on diversity, diverse farms, diverse crops and production systems rooted in local economies.

"Instead of relying on imports and a few large scale producers here in Ireland, we need a decentralised system, with more farmers and vegetable producers in every county and every townland," Fergal contended.

"The most resilient food system is the one embedded in your community.

The Talamh Beo founder said the first step is "institutional recognition" of these local food producers, primary producers supplying food to the domestic market.

"The specific needs and challenges of this sector need to be understood and met; specific supports for labour, finance, access to land, and most of all supporting incomes; including through our flagship proposal, a basic income for local food producers," Fergal said.

"We can build a better food system because we have many working examples to build on, examples of which have emerged in a policy vacuum, surrounded by obstacles.

"Give the local food sector some support, some recognition and watch it transform how Ireland feeds itself."