Ireland
May 1, 2013

The Teagasc National Protected Crops Conference is taking place in Teagasc Ashtown today, Wednesday, 1 May. At the conference the major developments which are unfolding in protected cropping were outlined, such as advances in the engineering of glasshouses and important efficiencies in energy and light control.

Cutting edge plant science is now providing major advances in production efficiencies and also facilitating the enhancement of crops with desirable human health bioactive compounds.

Dr. Michael Gaffney, Teagasc Horticultural Researcher at Ashtown, put an international panel of speakers together to deliver this innovative and informative conference. Michael emphasised that “Over the next 5 years advancements in light technology, energy management and biological crop protection should result in significant yield increases across a range of crops, continuing the rapid growth of this vibrant horticultural sector.”

Jim O’Mahony, Teagasc Head of Horticulture pointed to our potential to massively increase crop production independently of the vagaries of Irish weather by taking advantage of scientific developments. Jim said development in protected horticultural production is undergoing a quantum leap in terms of glasshouse technology engineering and plant science technology e.g. use of LED lighting for plant growth and disease control. This is resulting in major increases in productivity. Coupling this with a coordinated approach to production and marketing as is being done to great advantage in our flourishing mushrooms sector can result in a significant horticultural development creating significant employment.

BACKGROUND

The horticulture sector contributes approximately €300 million to farm output annually, with the protected cropping sector contributing close on €80 million (farm gate value) to that total. Currently the retail fresh produce market in Ireland is valued at €1.2 billion, composing of €519 million in Vegetables, €545 million in Fruit and €145 million in potatoes (Kantar WorldPanel). There is also a sizeable wholesale food service market worth €100 million approximately. While not all of the produce sold can be produced in Ireland there are sizeable sectors where imported produce could be replaced by Irish grown produce for some, or all of the year. Protected cropping usually refers to crops grown under either glass, or plastic for some, or all of their cropping cycles. The most common protected crops in Ireland (€ million value at farm gate 2012) would be strawberries (€36 million), tomatoes (€9 million), cucumbers (€2 million), lettuce (€7million) and small amounts of sweet peppers, celery etc.
Consumption of protected fruits and vegetables is increasing yearly and with consumer demand for more Irish grown product, this is a sector with huge potential for growth.
 

Website: http://www.teagasc.ie

Published: May 1, 2013