Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture Andrew Doyle has announced the reopening of the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS) with immediate effect.
The closing date for applications will be 19 December 2018. Applications for the scheme must be made online and there will be no requirement to use an agricultural adviser to make the application.
Minister Doyle said that the reopening of the scheme was based on the findings of a strategy group.
“Mindful of the group’s recommendation, a ranking and selection process will be put in place that will give priority to the areas that are deemed to be in deficit, ie horticulture, cereals and dairy,” he said.
Scheme conditions
To be eligible to participate, any applicant who has not already participated in supplementary measure six of REPS 1, REPS 2 or REPS 3 or previous OFS must have successfully completed an approved training course and uploaded the formal certificate of successful completion on the online OFS application system on or before 1 September 2019.
In the case of a joint application, either participant may complete the course.
To be eligible for payment, land must be either owned or leased by the applicant for the full duration of the scheme contract and declared on their annual BPS application.
The farmer who applies for the OFS must declare all of the land on his/her Basic Payment application and must be an organic licence holder. Farmers participating in GLAS may also participate in and draw down payment under OFS, but may not claim payment in OFS for certain GLAS actions.
Ranking
All applicants must reach a minimum ranking of 25 marks to be deemed eligible for consideration for inclusion in the scheme.
A full breakdown of how the ranking system works is available on the Department’s website. Points are allocated for:
Existing OFS participants and licenced organic operators whose contract expired in 2013, 2014 or 2015. Sectorial balance enterprise as per BPS database or as per application form (more marks allocated for horticulture, cereal and dairy over beef farms). Total conversion versus partial conversion.Large operators (more points allocated for owned land rather than leased land).Mixed operators (operations with arable and forage on BPS). Payment rates
Tables 1, 2 and 3 show payment rates for the different enterprise types.
Higher payment rates are available for organic horticultural and tillage farmers.
Organic horticulture producers, with horticulture area of 1ha or more, are eligible for payments, provided that at least 50% of the area eligible for organic payment is cropped each year.
Organic tillage producers, with tillage area of 6ha or more, are eligible for payments.
For all other holdings, a minimum of 3ha is required for payments.
More information and copies of the OFS terms and conditions are available on the Department’s organics page at www.agriculture.gov.ie/farmingsectors/organicfarming/organicsscheme/organicfarmingscheme.
Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture Andrew Doyle has announced the reopening of the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS) with immediate effect.
The closing date for applications will be 19 December 2018. Applications for the scheme must be made online and there will be no requirement to use an agricultural adviser to make the application.
Minister Doyle said that the reopening of the scheme was based on the findings of a strategy group.
“Mindful of the group’s recommendation, a ranking and selection process will be put in place that will give priority to the areas that are deemed to be in deficit, ie horticulture, cereals and dairy,” he said.
Scheme conditions
To be eligible to participate, any applicant who has not already participated in supplementary measure six of REPS 1, REPS 2 or REPS 3 or previous OFS must have successfully completed an approved training course and uploaded the formal certificate of successful completion on the online OFS application system on or before 1 September 2019.
In the case of a joint application, either participant may complete the course.
To be eligible for payment, land must be either owned or leased by the applicant for the full duration of the scheme contract and declared on their annual BPS application.
The farmer who applies for the OFS must declare all of the land on his/her Basic Payment application and must be an organic licence holder. Farmers participating in GLAS may also participate in and draw down payment under OFS, but may not claim payment in OFS for certain GLAS actions.
Ranking
All applicants must reach a minimum ranking of 25 marks to be deemed eligible for consideration for inclusion in the scheme.
A full breakdown of how the ranking system works is available on the Department’s website. Points are allocated for:
Existing OFS participants and licenced organic operators whose contract expired in 2013, 2014 or 2015. Sectorial balance enterprise as per BPS database or as per application form (more marks allocated for horticulture, cereal and dairy over beef farms). Total conversion versus partial conversion.Large operators (more points allocated for owned land rather than leased land).Mixed operators (operations with arable and forage on BPS). Payment rates
Tables 1, 2 and 3 show payment rates for the different enterprise types.
Higher payment rates are available for organic horticultural and tillage farmers.
Organic horticulture producers, with horticulture area of 1ha or more, are eligible for payments, provided that at least 50% of the area eligible for organic payment is cropped each year.
Organic tillage producers, with tillage area of 6ha or more, are eligible for payments.
For all other holdings, a minimum of 3ha is required for payments.
More information and copies of the OFS terms and conditions are available on the Department’s organics page at www.agriculture.gov.ie/farmingsectors/organicfarming/organicsscheme/organicfarmingscheme.
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