The support of everybody, from government to retailers and customers, has "never been more important" for horticultural growers to continue in business.

This is according to David Currid of Grantstown Nurseries, based in Ballygunner, on the outskirts of Waterford city.

This family business has been supplying tomatoes to the Irish market since 1978. But Currid is now one of only a handful of tomato growers left in Ireland.

He produces around 230t of tomatoes annually, with a hectare of modern glasshouses.

At full production, it would have around 48,000 tomato plants for the season, according to Currid.

New season

January is a busy month for tomato growers.

Currid's new season plants arrived from the Netherlands in recent weeks, grown from seeds are sown around mid-November by a specialist Dutch plant propagator.

"We get into serious production from early April, and then that production continues until mid-November. Essentially our crop finishes then mid-November.

"We have to take out the old crop, the new seed is being sown in Holland at the same time and then the plants arrive again in the first week of January. It's a continuous rotation," Currid explained.

Challenges

Currid's business has faced a number of challenges in recent years.

In 2022, the Dutch plant raiser he had sourced plants from for years had to wind down as a result of the impact of input costs.

By the time this news was received by Currid, he had his plants "more or less ordered at that stage from that company" for delivery in the following January, as would have been normal.

"We got word in early October to say that the company was going out of business and would be unable to fulfil the order," he said.

Over the years, Currid has built up contacts in the Netherlands and was successful in finding another company that could supply the plants.

"We have stayed with that company since then and it has worked out very well," he said.

Currid outlined how his business used to raise its own plants in the past.

"Modern tomato plants are grafted onto a rootstock," he said.

"It builds in a resistance to stress and disease and pests.

"The grafting is very specialised, and really you need the specialised propagators to carry out that work."

Inputs

Currid said that labour is the biggest input for the business.

"Whilst we have a very modern growing facility, everything has to be done by hand," he said.

He added that the minimum wage has gone up nearly 40% since 2021 and this is a "huge cost" for the business.

The business has five full-time staff. During the summer at peak production, that will increase to 18 staff members onsite, with some people working 25 hours a week and most working around 40 hours.

"Once harvesting starts, the work increases dramatically because we have to harvest the tomatoes and then bring them to the packhouse and package them and get them ready for retailers," he explained.

According to Currid, robots for picking tomatoes are in development and have been rolled out in the Netherlands. Their use is still in infancy, "but they are on the way".

"The capital investment in purchasing one of those robots would be significant," he added.

'Sunshine is king'

Currid can control the temperature in the glasshouses for growing the tomatoes - but that comes at an extra cost.

"Ideally we would like mild, bright weather, but this time of the year, mild, bright weather doesn't generally happen in Ireland - if it's mild, it's dark; and if it's bright, it's cold," he said.

"The glasshouse heats up very quickly when the sun shines.

"That has a direct impact on production. When you get a very bright sunny year, you can increase production by between 5% and 8%.

"That makes a huge difference - so sunshine is king for us."

Support

Currid stressed that the support of everybody - from government to retailers and customers - "has never been more important for growers" to continue in business.

He said that the number of commercial tomato growers in the country is "dropping year-on-year", and estimated that there are six growers left, down from around nine in 2021.

"Some of the remaining growers have invested in new glasshouses, so the area of Irish tomatoes grown hasn't reduced to that extent but still, once we have 30% fewer growers, we have probably about 20% less area being grown," he said.

"We're a dying breed."

He said it is important that Irish growers can keep a certain quantity of tomatoes supplied to Irish retailers to ensure they do not "lose importance in the market".

Most tomatoes produced in Ireland are sold to the main retailers in Ireland, and Currid said there are retailers that show "strong support" for growers.

Quality

He urged consumers to consider the importance of supporting local produce when they are shopping.

"We're small businesses producing food to a very high standard," he said.

"The amount of chemicals used in producing Irish tomatoes is minimal, and the quality of the food we produce is excellent.

"It's Irish food produced on the island to very high standards, being sold at a reasonable price."