A new five-year national strategy for organic food production has been announced by Minister of State for agriculture Pippa Hackett.

The current national organic strategy was developed in 2019 and will run until 2025. The new strategy will plan the development for the sector to 2030.

Minister Hackett spoke of the progress made with organic farming, stating: “This Government has already demonstrated that we’ve the highest level of ambition for the Irish organic sector. We’ve put in place the biggest supports for organic farming in Ireland, with a five-fold increase in the organic farming scheme budget. This has already led to a rapid expansion of the Irish organic sector with a doubling of organic farmers in the last 12 months.

“This growth will continue as we open the scheme again to new entrants. Last week I also announced a new €1.7m grant scheme for the organic processing sector,” Minister Hackett said.

“We have seen great progress as a result of the actions outlined in the current strategy. It’s important that we maintain momentum and coordinate all links in the supply chain from farmer to retailer into a new national strategy to further drive the development of the sector.”