Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 June 2019
173. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the targets committed to, that is, number of hectares of new land into production and number of hectares of converted land, under the organic farming scheme for the 2014-2020 RDP window; and the progress to date on these targets. [24805/19]
View answerThe Organic Farming sector has seen unprecedented expansion over the last few years. This expansion has been driven by the Organic Farming Scheme which was introduced under Ireland's RDP 2014-2020.
The targets committed to under the Organic Farming Scheme were to attract 16,000 hectares of new land into production and to support 46,000 hectares of converted land. These targets have both been achieved and, in fact, have been exceeded. 26,000 hectares of new land have been converted to organic farming during the current RDP, increasing the land area under organic production to almost 72,000 hectares.
