A certified Irish organic label would be a huge advantage for Irish produce in global markets, the chair of the Organics Project Team at the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), John Curran has said.
Meat processors and Bord Bia have a lot of work to do to create market incentives for farmers, he said adding that the marketing of organic produce up to now has been very poor.
Markets must return a substantial premium of at least 20% for beef and lamb products, otherwise farmers will continue to sell into a conventional system, he said.
Stressing Ireland’s potential for organics, he told Agriland: “The problem up to now [was] that Ireland’s produce wasn’t marketed as being organic as it was seen as a naturally green country anyway.
“Bord Bia needs to up the game and get an Irish organic logo, so when the consumer goes into the local shop or supermarket they visibly see where the organic produce is.”
On the meat processors’ side there is a total lack of competition in the market, as there is only one processor handling organic beef and one handling organic lamb in the country, he said.
“All the processors need to get involved. There needs to be competition brought into the market and more processing sites available around the country,” he emphasised.
Organic Farming Scheme
Farms dependent on off-farm income could become viable by receiving the payments under the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS), which has been allocated a budget of €256 million over the lifetime of the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
The IFA chair said that the budget, which is limited to a certain number of hectares under organics for the next five years, might need to be rearranged to cover all 2,000 applicants in 2023.
“Basically, when you are transitioning you need to reduce your stocking rate and learn what your farm is naturally capable of feeding and producing.
“After a few years, the land and soil will adjust and start reproducing up to 75-80% of what it previously did under the old system using artificial fertilisers and pesticides.”
He added that the initial transition period allowed is two years before a farmer can sell their product as organic.
Transitioning the less-productive land, including mountain areas in the west, would not have a stark effect on the level of production in Ireland, he said adding that most OFS applicants are suckler, beef and sheep farmers from those lands.
The Climate Action Plan 2023 announced by government sets out targets to increase the land under organics to 250,000ha by 2025, and 450,000ha by 2030.
While those are ambitious but also realistic targets, Curran said the biggest stumbling block for farmers entering organic farming is the lack of knowledge and understanding.
New applicants to the OFS this year need a lot of resources, education and training to learn and adapt to the new farming system, he said calling for knowledge transfer groups to be set up within each county of Ireland.