Eamonn Crean grows berries on his 220 acre farm at Ballinavarry near Davidstown. The berries are grown in 20 acres of fruit tunnels which are part of a family tradition going back three generations.
His grandfather on his mother's side, Tom English, was one of the first Wexford farmers to supply strawberries to the Chivers jam factory in Enniscorthy while his son Paddy operated a 100ac fruit farm in his time.
His company, Greenhills, now supplies strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and other berry varieties to local shops and supermarket chains in the general Leinster region.
It's a very labour intensive operation.
"Over 50pc of our costs are labour. There is no big machinery involved with the fruit tunnels and no big government grants to ease the burden of running the tunnels. Just hard work," says Eamonn.
"Not only are people buying top class fruit and berries but they can be assured that for every €20 they spend, half is going to pay for labour," he adds.
About 70 fruit pickers from Poland and Romania should be in Davidstown next week and then they will be picking flat out until October saving the various crop rotations.
The Greenhills company recruit directly. "I don't like using the recruitment agencies in England.
"I don't like the percentages they take from the fruit pickers," says Eamonn.
His company pay the national minimum wage together with the costs of transportation and accommodation for the fruit pickers.
"Irish people are not interested in this work. They used to come for a week or 10 days and then pack it in. They are just not interested in it now."
The past two growing seasons in Wexford have been good.
Yet this has to be marked against the previous two poor seasons and the level of imports into the Irish market, explains Eamonn.
He is not particularly enamoured with the Dutch who quickly export what they can't sell on their own fresh food markets to other European markets. Eamonn calls it produce dumping.
Source: independent.ie