Bord Bia has said that there is a “considerable leakage of animals” from the organic sector into conventional.
Speaking at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine on Tuesday (June 22), Bord Bia’s meat, food and beverages director Padraig Brennan said that this leakage is a particular issue for the sheep sector.
“Probably three out of every four organic store lambs that are reared organically are being lost into the conventional sector and therefore, not slaughtered or processed as organic lamb,” he said.
“There is a considerable level of leakage of animals from the organic sector into conventional when they arrive through a livestock mart, or whatever.”
Premium price for beef
Brennan said at the moment, the price for organic beef is between €4.90 and €5.00/kg.
“That is about a 10% to 12% premium over and above the average conventional animal in terms of the price that’s being achieved,” he said.
“It’s a little bit less of a premium for organic stock that might have been there this time last year or two years ago; but what you’ll find is we’ve seen the conventional cattle price increase quite a bit over the last couple of months in particular, whereas the organic cattle price tends to be that bit more stable – it doesn’t have the same fluctuations.
“I think there is a job of work to be done at an overall sector level to see how do we best coordinate supply so, when you have a producer who has gone to the efforts to convert to an organic enterprise, that their supply continues to be in that organic channel all the way through to slaughter.
“I think that would help in the overall price in turn then as well.
“Being able to coordinate that supply base better would certainly help us have more product available and probably then be in a position to supply some of the opportunities that exist on the Irish market and also overseas.”
Teagasc, whose members also attended the meeting, said it is working on a Horizon 2020 project which will include mapping the progression of animals through the value chain “to determine the extent of leakage of animals from the organic to the conventional beef sector”.
Potential market opportunities for organic lamb
According to Bord Bia, retail sales of organic food products in Ireland stood at €189 million in 2020, which represented year-on-year growth of 16.2%.
Bord Bia said it is exploring potential market opportunities for organic and hill lamb in key export markets such as France, Germany and Italy.
Representatives of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine also presented at yesterday’s committee meeting.
According to the department, subject to available funding, the Organic Farming Scheme may be reopened for 2022 – “which could happen in the autumn of this year”.
The department noted that most organic farmers are engaged in beef and/or sheep production with a relatively low number engaged in tillage and dairy.
The “deficit in supply” of organic produce in Ireland “necessitates importation which increases costs of production and therefore impacts competitiveness”, the department added.
Sinn Féin spokesperson on agriculture Matt Carthy told the committee that organics “have to form a big part of the solution to the challenges facing Irish farming”.
“We know, as a country, we can’t compete on price,” the deputy said.
“If we try to pursue a policy that’s based on quantity and price then we’ll always be beaten by Brazil or wherever. We have to compete on quality and that has to be the core.
“And in that context, to consider this country – the ‘green isle’ – that has world-renowned reputation for quality product, the fact that we have 2% of our farm land in organic use is shameful.”
Need for increased payments under scheme
Organics were also discussed at this week’s Oireachtas Committee on Environment and Climate Action, in which Dr. Oliver Moore of University College Cork (UCC) and ARC2020 said there is “the lack of an economy of scale with a diffuse spread of farmers around Ireland, and a well below EU average payment rate” for organics.
“New data sourced this month by this witness shows that the Department of Agriculture dedicates about €15 million of a €1.8 billion budget to organic farming directly,” Dr. Moore said.
“Bord Bia dedicates about 2% of its budget to organic food promotion.
“In a content of a 5% [2020] or 7.5% [2030] target for organic utlisible land area, this is clearly far too low.”
Dr. Moore recommends payment rates of €500/ha for grassland systems under the Organic Farming Scheme, and “proportionally more” for arable [€600/ha] and horticulture [€700/ha], “or priority access to other agri-environmental schemes”.
He also recommends the establishment of an organic advocacy organisation.