The Agricultural Consultants Association (ACA) has been unsuccessful in its application to the Department of Agriculture for organic advisory funding.

ACA president Michael Ryan said that it was extremely disappointing that the funding they received previously will no longer be available.

The association had two organic specialist in place dealing with technical queries that advisers receive from their farmer clients.

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“They have been of great assistance to our clients but unfortunately we don’t have the funding to keep those people in place now.

“The knock on affect is that ACA advisers will not have the supports going forward to support organic clients. Any technical queries organic farmers have will have to be directed to the Department,” Ryan said.

He argued that ACA do not receive any state-aid funding, unlike Teagasc, despite providing the same service to farmers: “We’re not getting what we feel is our fair share when it comes to funding in general and it’s our clients who are at a disadvantage – we’re dealing with 55,000 farmers across the country.

“We have lost our general secretary and we’ve lost an employee and we’re not replacing those at the moment,” he said.

Opportunities

A spokesperson from the Department said: “While there is no dedicated funding stream for the private advisory sector, the Department has taken many opportunities, through competitive calls and projects, to develop and grow the Irish organic sector as envisioned by the Organic Strategy 2024 to 2030.

“Through these competitive processes, both private and public bodies have an opportunity to apply for available funding. The process is competitive, and any applications are dealt with on merit and on the basis of alignment to the overall strategy of delivering a strong and vibrant world class organic sector.”