By Martin Cassidy  BBC Northern Ireland's rural affairs correspondent

A further 1,500 jobs are in danger of being lost in the Northern Ireland mushroom industry which is losing supermarket orders to low cost Eastern European suppliers.

More than 1,000 jobs have already gone, hitting family farms, packing and marketing companies and compost manufacturers. 

Mushroom production represents big business for Northern Ireland which produces 24,000 tonnes a year, typically shipping up to 10 lorries a day to supermarket depots in Britain.

Now the remaining 3,000 jobs depending on that trade are in jeopardy and the UK Government is being urged to help come up with an action plan to save the industry.

Gordon Orr of the Mushroom Industry Association said the problems first emerged last year when supplies began to flood into Britain.

Mushroom production represents big business for NI

"The prices growers are receiving are being driven down down by mushrooms coming in from outside the EU, grown and harvested with very cheap labour," he said. 

The irony of the situation is not lost on a local industry which has been under pressure to clean up its act following a BBC Spotlight investigation which found that hundreds of workers were being trafficked from Eastern Europe to provide cheap labour on Northern Ireland farms.

Supermarkets buying mushrooms from Northern Ireland may have escaped that embarrassment but local growers are now blaming the major retailers for job losses resulting from what it is claimed is their "relentless pursuit of low cost supplies". 

Farmers are also questioning whether supermarkets are vetting pay and working conditions on Eastern European farms. 

"The Northern Ireland mushroom juggernaut is now in danger of grinding to a halt," said Mr Orr.

"Growers are struggling to compete under a new internet buying regime which has been introduced by some supermarket depots.

"The auction system which some of them have started is allowing Europeans to bid for our contracts and they have substantial benefits on costs of production which we can't take advantage of because we pay the minimum wage."

Greater efficiency

Northern Ireland growers claim the internet auction system is driving prices below the cost of production.

"Itis a bit like a Dutch auction where you put a price in and somebody else can punch in a lower price. When do you stop if you want to hold your business?" said Mr Orr.

Mushroom growers and packers are now working on an action plan with the Department of Agriculture. 

The emphasis is on achieving greater efficiency as well as needing to look at new types of compost and growing systems.

Eddie Daly of the Ulster Farmers' Union said local producers have first got to stop competing against each other. 

"We will have to stand up to the supermarkets because they are big organisations and they will go where they get the best price," he said.

"Mushroom marketeers north and south will have to co-operate with each other in collection and marketing and not compete with each other."

An industry which has quickly grown to become one of the biggest employers in rural areas of Northern Ireland is now questioning whether it has a future.