The move by 2,100 new farmers to apply to convert to organics is a “huge vote of confidence” in the sector, says Minister of State for land use and biodiversity Pippa Hackett.
“It’s a huge vote of confidence I think from our farming sector and our farmers, that they have faith in the system, that it will work for them,” she said.
The minister was speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal this week on the applications to the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS) 2023.
Some 2,100 new farmers signed up to commence conversion in January and a further 2,000 farmers already in conversion or certified organic have applied to the scheme. This brings the total pool to approximately 4,100.
Minister Hackett said it is her “intention” that once farmers have “filled in their applications correctly” they will be accepted to the scheme, which provides a significant annual lump sum and area-based payments.
“I don’t think there’s any operational concerns with these numbers. We may need to revisit the budget that we allocated for it, but I think that will be ok. It’s about just getting going from January,” she said.
The majority of new organic entrants are beef and sheep farmers.
The Green Party minister described the surge in organic interest from farmers as a “huge step change” since she took office and acknowledged the work of the Department of Agriculture, Teagasc, advisers and the organic certification bodies - the Irish Organic Association and the Organic Trust - in driving this.
Marketing
With the 2,100 new farmers to be finished conversion in January 2025, pending compliance, there will be a significant increase in the level of organic produce requiring marketing.
Minister Hackett highlighted that Bord Bia has appointed a new organic sector manager, Emmet Doyle, who will commence his role in January 2023. She said she will meet with Doyle to see what his plans are.
The Minister also suggested her trade mission to Germany this year demonstrated the demand for organic produce on the continent.
There is set to be a signifcant increase in organic beef and lamb requiring marketing for Janaury 2025.
“The trade visit during the summer showed to us certainly that in Germany the market is there for a lot of our produce, but it’s about capitalising [on] that,” she said.
She also said that the fact that the majority of organic entrants are beef and sheep farmers was “to be expected”, as conventional milk prices and dairy incomes are so “strong” at the moment.
ACRES
The Irish Farmers Journal also asked Minister Hackett about the significant over-subscription to ACRES, where 46,000 farmers have applied to enter the scheme for 2023 when the original budget was for 30,000.
The Minister did not agree that it would be a ‘red line’ issue for her or her party to have the farmers included and did not say whether or not she would be encouraging her party leader Minister Eamon Ryan to ensure the coalition finds the money for the additional intake.
She said accommodating the 16,000 additional farmers in the scheme is “more than just about the money” and described how instead it’s about seeing “how it can be operationalised”.
“It is very much a farm-by-farm approach that’ll have to be taken. There’s a lot of burden on advisers. We’ve seen the burden on them to process these [ACRES applications].
“That’s one element of it, the processing, but the being on the ground, doing the farm scoring, there’s a lot of work there and we’ll just have to see if that’s possible,” she said.
However, the Minister noted the strong interest from farmers in the agri-environmental scheme despite “a lot of negativity about ACRES at the start”.
“People were saying this isn’t [a] thing farmers are going to be interested in, but you can see there’s huge interest in it,” she said.
Read more
Lump sum payments and significantly higher organic payment rates
Emmet Doyle fills first full-time organic post at Bord Bia
The move by 2,100 new farmers to apply to convert to organics is a “huge vote of confidence” in the sector, says Minister of State for land use and biodiversity Pippa Hackett.
“It’s a huge vote of confidence I think from our farming sector and our farmers, that they have faith in the system, that it will work for them,” she said.
The minister was speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal this week on the applications to the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS) 2023.
Some 2,100 new farmers signed up to commence conversion in January and a further 2,000 farmers already in conversion or certified organic have applied to the scheme. This brings the total pool to approximately 4,100.
Minister Hackett said it is her “intention” that once farmers have “filled in their applications correctly” they will be accepted to the scheme, which provides a significant annual lump sum and area-based payments.
“I don’t think there’s any operational concerns with these numbers. We may need to revisit the budget that we allocated for it, but I think that will be ok. It’s about just getting going from January,” she said.
The majority of new organic entrants are beef and sheep farmers.
The Green Party minister described the surge in organic interest from farmers as a “huge step change” since she took office and acknowledged the work of the Department of Agriculture, Teagasc, advisers and the organic certification bodies - the Irish Organic Association and the Organic Trust - in driving this.
Marketing
With the 2,100 new farmers to be finished conversion in January 2025, pending compliance, there will be a significant increase in the level of organic produce requiring marketing.
Minister Hackett highlighted that Bord Bia has appointed a new organic sector manager, Emmet Doyle, who will commence his role in January 2023. She said she will meet with Doyle to see what his plans are.
The Minister also suggested her trade mission to Germany this year demonstrated the demand for organic produce on the continent.
There is set to be a signifcant increase in organic beef and lamb requiring marketing for Janaury 2025.
“The trade visit during the summer showed to us certainly that in Germany the market is there for a lot of our produce, but it’s about capitalising [on] that,” she said.
She also said that the fact that the majority of organic entrants are beef and sheep farmers was “to be expected”, as conventional milk prices and dairy incomes are so “strong” at the moment.
ACRES
The Irish Farmers Journal also asked Minister Hackett about the significant over-subscription to ACRES, where 46,000 farmers have applied to enter the scheme for 2023 when the original budget was for 30,000.
The Minister did not agree that it would be a ‘red line’ issue for her or her party to have the farmers included and did not say whether or not she would be encouraging her party leader Minister Eamon Ryan to ensure the coalition finds the money for the additional intake.
She said accommodating the 16,000 additional farmers in the scheme is “more than just about the money” and described how instead it’s about seeing “how it can be operationalised”.
“It is very much a farm-by-farm approach that’ll have to be taken. There’s a lot of burden on advisers. We’ve seen the burden on them to process these [ACRES applications].
“That’s one element of it, the processing, but the being on the ground, doing the farm scoring, there’s a lot of work there and we’ll just have to see if that’s possible,” she said.
However, the Minister noted the strong interest from farmers in the agri-environmental scheme despite “a lot of negativity about ACRES at the start”.
“People were saying this isn’t [a] thing farmers are going to be interested in, but you can see there’s huge interest in it,” she said.
Read more
Lump sum payments and significantly higher organic payment rates
Emmet Doyle fills first full-time organic post at Bord Bia
SHARING OPTIONS