The Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), Senator Pippa Hackett has welcomed an almost 20% increase in applications for the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS).
When the scheme closed last Friday (April 22), there were 380 new applicants which is an increase of almost a fifth on 2021 numbers.
The department said that just under 700 farmers joined the OFS in the last 12 months.
Organic scheme
The scheme, which aims to increase the area of land farmed organically in Ireland, includes an additional €5 million budget to take in new entrants. Participating farmers can potentially receive up to €15,000 per year.
In 2021, an additional 12,000 ha were farmed organically and its expected that this will increase by a further 17,000ha this year due to the recent opportunity to apply to the scheme.
DAFM said that this means there has been a 35% increase in the area of land farmed organically in the last two years.
Minister Pippa Hackett said she was delighted to see so many farmers engage with the scheme this year.
“It builds substantially on the 2021 reopening and I hope it will give confidence to more farmers to convert to organic farming .
“It’s extremely encouraging that farmers and their advisers are responding to this scheme. We’re committed to working with them to ensure that they get the maximum benefit under the scheme.
“The Organic Farming Scheme will again be open for applications in October this year and I would encourage all farmers interested in joining to attend a farm walk on an organic farm this summer in preparation for joining the scheme this autumn.
“The advice and knowledge is there for every farmer and I encourage all farmers to fully assess the opportunities here and join the growing number of farmers going organic,” Hackett concluded.