How many farmers are in the Organic scheme per county?
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon has provided a breakdown of the number farmers participating in the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS) per county.
The minister published the data in response to a parliamentary question from Sinn Féin TD Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh.
Ní Raghallaigh asked the minister for the number of farmers participating in the OFS in each county, and for the change in participation levels over the last three years.
The information provided by the minister shows that Cork is the county with the most participants in the 2026 run of the scheme, with 541 farmers in the OFS.
Cork is closely followed by Donegal, with 521 participants.
Mayo is the county with the third-highest number of participants, with 472.
Three other counties - Galway, Kerry and Roscommon - each also have over 400 participants in the scheme this year.
On the other end of the scale, Dublin has the lowest number of participants in the OFS this year, with 21.
Louth saw only 10 more participants, with 31.
The third-lowest number of participants is in Carlow, with 50 farmers involved in the scheme.
Five other counties - Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Monaghan and Waterford - each also have less than 100 participants in the scheme.
The total number of farmers in the scheme in 2026 is 5,572.
The full breakdown per county is as follows:
| County | No. of farmers in 2026 |
|---|---|
| Carlow | 50 |
| Cavan | 293 |
| Clare | 316 |
| Cork | 541 |
| Donegal | 521 |
| Dublin | 21 |
| Galway | 436 |
| Kerry | 421 |
| Kildare | 88 |
| Kilkenny | 83 |
| Laois | 80 |
| Leitrim | 282 |
| Limerick | 203 |
| Longford | 110 |
| Louth | 31 |
| Mayo | 472 |
| Meath | 108 |
| Monaghan | 83 |
| Offaly | 114 |
| Roscommon | 439 |
| Sligo | 229 |
| Tipperary | 221 |
| Waterford | 65 |
| Westmeath | 138 |
| Wexford | 106 |
| Wicklow | 121 |
| Total | 5,572 |
The minister also outlined the change in participation levels over the last three years since 2023 (which includes four separate scheme years, i.e. 2023, 2024,2025 and 2026).
As the number of farmers joining the scheme has increased in recent years, there has been a downward trend in the number of farmers joining the scheme for the first time each year, with 1,800 new entrants to the scheme in 2023 and 260 new entrants in 2026.
Minister Heydon commented: "Organic farming is acknowledged within the EU as delivering a high level of environmental performance, contributing to soil health, water quality, biodiversity, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
"In Budget 2026 I allocated €58.6 million for OFS to support farmers in the production of organic food," he added.
