Drought and rising production costs are negatively impacting yield in Ireland

The Moore Produce farm in County Dublin, specializing in the cultivation of potatoes, swedes, cabbage, and cereals on 180 acres of land, has assessed the current season as critical. According to owner Anthony Moore, a combination of abnormal drought and high production costs has led to a decline in yield. Due to the lack of precipitation in July and August, many root crops did not reach marketable sizes: for instance, instead of the standard swede weight of 800 g, figures dropped to 500–650 g, and in some places, potatoes do not exceed the size of a small stone.

To minimize losses, the enterprise has been forced to incur significant additional expenses. At present, at least 1 million euros have been invested in the harvest. To keep the plants alive, pumping stations are operating around the clock, and field work, including the application of liquid fertilizers (seaweed, magnesium, and calcium nitrate), is carried out at night. Expenses for diesel fuel reached 35,000 euros over the summer. Due to the shortage of produce, the farm has begun early harvesting, which creates a risk of exhausting stocks by the spring of next year.

The situation is complicated by strict obligations to retailers such as Tesco, SuperValu, Dunnes, Aldi, and Lidl. In response to the current conditions, the retail chains agreed to accept produce of smaller caliber and adjusted purchase prices to partially cover the farmers' expenses for irrigation and storage. Nevertheless, Anthony Moore notes that the industry needs a more significant price increase to ensure profitability.

Dairy farming representatives have also faced problems. Farmer Darragh McCullough reported that due to the burnout of pastures, he is forced to use winter feed reserves, which costs 14,000 euros weekly. A similar situation is forcing farmers to rethink established management models, including shifting to indoor livestock keeping using prepared feed instead of grazing on grass. At the moment, experts note that due to the global nature of the drought, compensating for the product shortage through imports from neighboring countries does not appear possible.