Local mushrooms are under threat as the few farms that produce them could close down soon due to the rising cost of compost and transport, according to farmers.

The price of compost from the European Union has soared by 40 per cent and a container to ship it over now costs €700 more, said mushroom farmer Horace Vella, who believes his farm in Kerċem will have to close.

“It will not make it to 2024,” Vella, who produces 1,000 kilogrammes of mushrooms a month, said.

Pizza restaurants and take-aways will get their biggest shock when the local mushroom is not available- Mushroom farmer Horace Vella

The six or so mushroom farms in Malta, he said, are “on the brink of closing down” and will only survive a few months more if a solution is not found.

Producing compost in Malta is probably the only option, despite being a lengthy process and requiring enough hay, the farmer added.

Vella, who has been operating his mushroom farm for seven years, spends about €10,800 on compost every 45-day cycle – up from around €8,500 previously – to fill up the garages in which the mushrooms are grown.

Known as insulation sheds, complete with air conditioners, they cost Vella €2,500 a month in energy bills from June to September, down to a monthly €1,800 in winter.

Maltese mushroom of higher quality

The difference between a Maltese and an imported mushroom is the quality and freshness, with the local product reaching the shelf within 24 hours from being harvested as opposed to a minimum of 36 hours.

Since mushrooms do not have a long life once cut, this means they start to get soft fast and lose their protein, Vella said.

“Pizza restaurants and take-aways will get their biggest shock when the local mushroom is not available as this cuts into perfect, neat slices in their machines while the imported version is like a sponge and just squashes,” he said.

With no strategic guidance, farmers are in freefall- MEP candidate Peter Agius

Imported mushrooms, mostly from Italy and The Netherlands, often have black peat at the bottom, left there in an attempt to prolong their life slightly, Vella noted.

He also produces 250,000 kilogrammes of tomatoes every summer but he will have to “rack my brains to find something else” to sustain the farm for the rest of the year, when the mushrooms, grown year-round, stop.

The issue of Maltese mushrooms was highlighted by Nationalist MEP candidate Peter Agius who predicts “we will soon start importing all that we eat”.

Most of the mushroom farms here are now working at a loss, he contended, and the local product can no longer compete.

'Agriculture lacks the infrasctructure'

While millions of euros in EU funds have been spent on farming, the government never concentrated on strategic investments for Maltese food, Agius insisted.

“What is the point of spending millions on new farms if no investment has ever been made in branding and packaging facilities and, even more so, in processing plants for meat and vegetables,” he said.

Mushroom farmer Horace Vella speaking to MEP candidate Peter Agius, who is pressing for a more strategic approach to food security.

In the case of mushrooms, a minimal spend would have sufficed for the local production of compost, Agius pointed out, adding that with “no strategic guidance, farmers are in a freefall”. The funding spent on agriculture and individual projects – meaning more farms – is a good thing but the infrastructure is lacking, he continued.

“We need the branding and packaging facilities for all farmers. We need the meat processing, curing and packaging facilities for all pig breeders and we need the facilities to produce mushroom compost for all mushroom farmers.

“We have none of these.”

Speaking about the importance of food security for the family, Agius pointed fingers at the government, insisting it could not take a laid-back attitude in a sector that needed leadership.

“For many years, we have given the fish but not the rod and no one cared to teach the farmer how to fish,” he said.

“More can be said about fertiliser and waste treatment. Everywhere else in Europe, EU funding was used to invest in biomass plants, producing energy from animal waste, while, in Malta, tonnes of chicken, cow and pig waste are clogging up the treatment plant, with the result that we are facing an infringement procedure for throwing untreated water in the sea off Mellieħa.”