There are fears that the mushroom industry in Northern Ireland (NI) will “disappear” unless the UK government steps in.
That’s according to the Northern Ireland Mushroom Growers’ Association (NIMGA) which said “the industry will disappear in the next few years if UK Government doesn’t act to include the role of mushroom picker on its Shortage Occupation List (SOL)”.
NIMGA has said that the number of mushroom farms has reduced from “296 in 1991, to 10 in 2023, with more at risk of closure and others considering moving their businesses to the Republic”.
The organisation said that farms are struggling to recruit local people following “end of freedom of movement”, and that “favourable conditions in Republic of Ireland (ROI) gives advantage to this market”.
Mushroom farm labour
The SOL lists occupations where there is a shortage of suitable skilled labour in the UK, and where it is “sensible” to fill those shortages with migrant workers through a skilled work visa.
According to NIMGA, the occupations on the list are given some dispensations within the immigration rules, designed to make it easier for employers to access migrant labour to fill vacancies in those areas of identified shortage.
The mushroom industry in NI is worth an approximate £64.5 million to the local economy, is responsible for 40% of horticultural output in NI and provides 10% of all mushrooms sold across the UK.
Frank Donnelly, chair of NIMGA said:
“Mushroom farms have repeatedly sought to recruit local workers but despite our best efforts, this is not producing the numbers required to meet the demand.
“We are currently sitting with a vacancy rate of 15.8%, which ultimately drives costs up and means we are not able to be as competitive as growers in other regions.”
He added that the challenge of recruiting local workers to the sector is not unique to Northern Ireland, “the horticultural industry across the world has similar challenges”.
Donnelly explained that what is unique to NI is that governments in other jurisdictions have “stepped in to create more favourable visa conditions to attract workers from other countries”.
“E.g., the Irish Government introduced a Rest of the World visa for workers in some industries (including horticulture) to come and work for up to five years.
“This is on top of the access to labour from other EU member states through freedom of movement.”
The NIMGA chair said that 95% of the mushroom industry workers come from EU member states, and because of “the end of freedom of movement because of Brexit, farms in Northern Ireland have been left in a desperate situation which is not of their making”.
“Our farms are resilient but the cumulative impact of the lack of access to labour, rising business costs as well lack of competitive playing field with our neighbours in the Republic of Ireland means that farmers are increasingly faced with the prospect of closure or moving operations to the south,” Donnelly said.
