The Organic Farming Scheme is open to new applicants from Friday, November 3, and will remain open until December 8, Minister of State Pippa Hackett has confirmed.
It comes amid unprecedented interest in organics after a massive investment by the Government in support of the sector.
In the last year alone, the number of organic farms has doubled, and there has also been a multi-million euro investment in advertising campaigns to boost market demand.
Payments under the organic scheme have increased considerably, and drystock farmers entering into a contract could qualify for yearly payments of up to €300/ha during the conversion period and up to €250/ha when they have achieved full organic status.
Higher payment rates are available for organic horticultural and tillage farmers.
In addition, an annual participation payment of €2,000 in the first year of conversion and €1,400/annum thereafter has been introduced to support organic farmers.
Organic farmers also have priority access to our agri-environmental scheme, ACRES.
Announcing the opening of the Scheme, Minister Hackett said the Government has a strong vision for organic farming, and the reopening of the scheme is the latest development in what has been a transformational number of years since this Government took office.
“We anticipate the huge interest among farmers to be reflected in applications to the scheme”.
However, the opening of the scheme comes after a host of EU Member States supported a paper at a recent EU Agriculture Council meeting raising concerns over prospects for the organic sector in Europe as the cost of living crisis puts pressure on consumer spending.
While the paper said support for the sector should continue, it also suggested that if these negative trends continue, organic funding may need to be diverted to other areas.
Minister Hackett said she had just returned from an organic trade show in Paris, where she met with buyers from the major retailers in France.
“They are confident about the future of the sector and Bord Bia will continue to promote Irish organic food both at home and abroad.
“We are determined to deliver on the Climate Action Plan target to reach 10% of land farmed organically by 2030, and key to this is the enhanced budget support for organics of €256 million in our CAP Strategic Plan.”
Notably, in announcing the reopening of the scheme, Minister Hackett also highlighted that it was ‘particularly reassuring’ to see the support from the farming organisations for organic farming.
It comes after IFA President Tim Cullinan criticised the huge increase in support for the sector in 2021 and stated that the money should have been directed to conventional farmers.
However, the IFA has since appointed an Organics project team, and both candidates for the IFA president broadly support the decreased funding for the sector.
Speaking at a recent debate in Carrick on Shannon Laois, Candidate Francie Gorman said when the organic funding was announced, it was ‘sneered at’ in the association, but said it was his view that farmers would ‘follow the money’
“There are a lot of farmers who have gone organic now and we need to make sure that our organic team is resourced in a proper way and that those farmers get proper representation,” he said.
Meanwhile, Tipperary candidate Martin Stapleton said it was good the increased funding was provided and that people have the choice to go into organics or not.
However, he did have ‘reservations’ that for the farmers already in organics and had developed niche markets, those niche markets may now threatened by the fact many more farmers have converted.
(Source – Irish Independent – Indo Farming – Ciaran Moran – 31/10/2023)