The Vegan Society of Ireland (VSI) has written to Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon, calling for fruit, vegetable, and legume production to be recognised as a diversification option for Irish farmers. The request follows a new national survey commissioned by the charity, which found that 81% of Irish adults would like to eat more of these foods.
Ireland imports around 83% of the fruit and vegetables it consumes, according to the Climate Change Advisory Council’s latest Annual Review. The number of commercial vegetable growers in the country has dropped from more than 600 in the 1990s to fewer than 70. The Council warned that this reliance on imports leaves Ireland’s food supply exposed to extreme weather and crop failures overseas, and recommended that the Department of Agriculture assess the production potential of Irish horticulture. Council chairperson Alex White listed forestry, carbon farming, and renewable energy as diversification routes for farmers facing heavier rainfall, drought, and heat, with horticulture absent from that list.
The VSI is asking for horticulture to be added, along with an examination of what a farmer would need to convert land to growing fruit, vegetables, or legumes.
The survey, carried out by Opinions Market Research among 1,010 adults in May 2026, found that 51% believe diversifying agriculture and incentivising plant-based production should be a political priority, while 52% want Ireland to become a global leader in plant-based food. Nearly a third of respondents, 32%, named cost as the main barrier to eating more fruit, vegetables, and legumes, followed by not knowing how to cook them, at 28%. Poor supermarket availability was cited by 20% overall, rising to 27% among those under 35. Among financially comfortable respondents, 83% said they eat a lot or a moderate amount of these foods, compared with 73% of those who are not.
James O’Donovan, Chairperson of the Vegan Society of Ireland, said to Vegconomist, The public has already made its decision. Four in five people want more fruit, vegetables and legumes on their plate. Most of it is arriving here on a lorry or a plane. There is a gap in the Irish market here, not a lifestyle debate.”
