Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 29 April 2021
170. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of beef farmers participating in the organic farming scheme; the total and average payment by county in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22532/21]
View answerThe Department does not differentiate between different animal farming enterprises for payment purposes for the Organic Farming Scheme. Many farmers in the Scheme have more than one farming enterprise listed on their organic licence and the predominant enterprise is not determined.
The information on the table above refers to all farmers who have a bovine enterprise. The payment figure refers to the total amount of payments received by each farmer under the Scheme since the commencement of the current Rural Development Programme. The figures quoted reflect the fact that OFS contracts commenced in 2015, in 2016 and 2019.
As the balancing payment for 2020 has not yet issued it is not included in the above table.
