A new research project is to examine the impact increased organic output will have at a national and European level.

The project, Evaluating National and EU Comprehensive Targets in Organics (ENACT), was awarded funding of €94,000, following a research call issued by the Department of Agriculture last year.

One of the main objectives of the research, which is to start soon, is to understand the effect increasing organic area will have on overall agricultural output and production.

The Department of Agriculture said the research project should investigate, in an Irish context, the crop, livestock, social and environmental impacts of different scenarios to look at the impact of increasing the organic area as set out in the Climate Action Plan.

The ENACT project is headed up by economist Kevin Kilcline from Teagasc, who said the project will be a year in length and that there is a research gap in organics.

“Realistically there hasn’t been an awful amount of research on organics in the last 20 years. There are a lot of research questions around organics and sustainability.

“What we have at the moment is dedicated National Farm Survey (NFS) samples to see exactly how farms are performing and how they’re structured.

“The fact that we have that data will be important in terms of a project like this.

“We’ll be able to model what will happen if these targets are met and what will the impact be on agricultural output and production,” he told the Irish Farmers Journal.

ENACT is one of 21 research projects that received a collective €4m in funding from the Department of Agriculture to assess the impact of meeting targets set out for organics.

Short-term

This €4m investment provides for short-term evidence-based research studies to address the emerging policy needs of the Department of Agriculture.

The output from all 21 research projects will be put into action at policy level to deliver outcomes and impact for the agri-food sector.

The European Commission’s Farm to Fork Strategy aims to increase the area farmed organically to 25% of EU utilisable land area by 2030.

At an Irish level and under the Climate Action Plan, the target is to achieve 10% organic area by 2030 with this increasing to 25% by 2040.