Teagasc’s Achievements 2025 report notes that the horticulture sector had a largely positive season last year, but significant challenges remain largely to do with labour costs.

Good growing in 2025 meant a good fruit set especially for apples, and innovations in strawberry production like ever-bearer varieties, heated glasshouses and LED lighting systems are increasing the potential season from April to December.

However, 153 growers reported crop losses or structural damage as a result of Storm Éowyn.

Labour costs and availability represent a major challenge, accounting for almost 43% of input costs and the cost of labour also rose by over 7% from 2024 to 2025.

Within key sectors, such as mushroom production, 77% of the labour costs are associated with harvesting.

However, the mushroom sector has been investing significantly in automation to reduce the reliance on labour and in 2025, 16 robots were operational, with three tunnels fitted with semi-automated solutions.

Within field vegetable production, 650 hectares of field vegetables are now planted by automatic planters.

Significant opportunities exist for Irish farmers in the organic sector, as in 2025 organic vegetable retails sales were valued at €53.6 million, growing 9.9% year on year.

Organic carrots, tomatoes, broccoli, onions and cucumbers are the best sellers, although imports currently account for around 70% of retail sales in Ireland.

The flower industry was worth €11.5 million in 2025, with 80% of production exported.