The prevailing wind

In yet another indicator of the prevailing wind in Irish agricultural policy, the organic farming sector received more good news today. Senator Pippa Hackett, Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, announced the launch of the new “Growing Organics” scheme. The new programme, which aims to support and increase organic production in Irish agriculture, will be funded by DAFM and Teagasc to the tune of €750,000 over 5 years.

Models of best practice

As part of the scheme, organic demonstration farms have been selected from across the country. These chosen farms will be used as models of best practice for organic and in-transition farmers, with a particular focus on key financial and environmental metrics, farm viability and sustainability. Today’s Government announcement emphasised that the provision of relevant technical advice to organic farmers is a key aim of the National Organic Strategy (2019-2025).

Demonstration farms: what can we expect?

Demonstrations provided on selected “model” organic farms will provide guidance for farmers in the following areas:

·       Grassland management

·       Livestock nutrition

·       Animal health and welfare

·       Financial management

·       Environmental sustainability

·       Crop management

The Government statement suggests that the data resulting from activities on the demonstration organic farms will be made available to all farmers and researchers, thereby providing fresh insight into the various aspects and challenges of farming organically.

What the Minister said

Speaking at the launch of the programme, Minister Hackett said:

“We had record attendances at our Organic farm walk programme in 2022 including a National Organic Beef Day last September. I would like to thank all those organic farmers who have held farm walks over the past number of years. The organic farm walk programme has been reviewed by Teagasc and ourselves. We are certain the best approach is a Farm Monitoring programme to examine and report how Organic Farms evolve and perform over 5 years, particularly with regard to soil health and profit monitoring. Along with €256 million CAP funding this is a key part of the infrastructure needed to support the record numbers choosing to switch to organic farming.”

The Minister continued by alluding to the challenges that organic farmers may face, while emphasising that this new programme is aimed at finding solutions to potential problems:

“Farmers need to know what are the changes required when they make the switch to organic farming. Like any farming systems there are challenges to be overcome and these will be openly discussed and potential solutions provided to farmers as part of this programme.”

Teagasc director Professor Frank O’Mara also spoke at the launch, where he expressed delight at Teagasc’s involvement in the programme. Professor O’Mara took the opportunity to thank the participating farms which he says will act as information hubs for other farmers to learn from.

Growing Organics: what’s the point?

Ultimately, it seems that the “Growing Organics” programme will set out to achieve a number of key objectives in relation to the growing organic sector in Ireland. Among these are the following:

·       An increase in the application of best practice in organic farming, particularly in relation to grassland management and livestock health

·       Measurement and analysis of the environmental footprint of organic production

·       The establishment of a profitable organic sector

·       Greater integration within Ireland’s organic sector

·       The provision of support for the sector in order to reach a target of 10% of Irish land area farmed organically by 2030

Whatever the outcome of such programmes may be, there is no denying that it is an exciting time for Irish organic farming.