Thousands of jobs in the mushroom industry are being threatened by a supermarket price war in Britain and the strength of the euro.
Mushroom production is the success story of Irish horticulture and a major economic contributor to rural areas. It has a farm-gate value of €130 million and provides the equivalent of 4,500 full-time jobs.
However, growers say they are under the most serious pressure they have faced since the industry became established in the late 1980s.
One full-time producer, Mr Peter Dooney, says if the situation does not improve he will soon face the choice of borrowing to stay afloat or shutting down his business.
Mr Dooney, from Ballybay, Co Monaghan, grows more than 400,000 tonnes of mushrooms a year and has a full-time staff of seven. Like other growers, he has 80 per cent of his produce exported to Britain.
The recent steady rise of the euro has reduced his enterprise's income by about €8,000 a month, he says.
"The situation is fairly drastic. We're in a very tight break-even situation at the moment. But if the euro gets any stronger then we'll have no option but to borrow or close down."
The decline in the value of sterling against the euro has coincided with a price war between British supermarket chains, which is adding to the pressure on Irish suppliers.
Compounding the situation is the emergence of Poland as a major supplier of mushrooms to the German market.
Irish growers do not export to Germany, but the Polish competition has forced Dutch producers to turn to the British market, where they are competing directly with Irish suppliers.
Mr Peter Leonard, mushrooms adviser with Teagasc, says Irish enterprises are having to become increasingly big and efficient to survive.
As a result, the number of mushroom growers in the Republic has fallen from more than 400 in 2001 to 361 at the latest count. "Growers, to remain viable, have to produce higher yields than heretofore and higher quality crops."
The currency situation, he says, has seen producers' incomes fall by 10 per cent or more and is likely to become more critical in the weeks ahead.
While Mr Dooney has not had to lay off any staff, he says he is aware of other producers who have reduced their number of employees.
Any decline in the sector would hit the Monaghan-Cavan area particularly badly, as close to half the growers in the State are based in those counties.
There is also a significant level of production in Roscommon, Mayo, Tipperary, Donegal, Wexford, Kildare, Longford and Galway.
