Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 10 February 2022
101. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his proposals to increase the availability and participation of farmers in organic farming education, to increase the domestic and export market for organic produce, and to ensure the organic farming scheme is open to as many farmers as possible; and the Government targets for organic conversion in 2025, 2027, and 2030. [6886/22]
View answerRecent changes to the organic farming scheme both in payment rates and terms are to be welcomed. Beyond those, however, what is the Government doing to increase participation in education related to organic farming and market opportunities for our organic project as well as the existing Government conversion targets?
I thank Deputy Carthy for the acknowledgement of the scheme as it is. I am fully committed to the development of the organic sector in Ireland, which is why the organic farming scheme was reopened this week for the second year in a row. That has been a long time coming. An increase of €5 million has been secured in the budget allocation for the scheme this year. Again, this additional funding would facilitate an additional 50,000 ha of land under conversion, which would represent an increase of more than 50% in the area currently farmed.
I am confident that the funding provided this year will be sufficient to allow all eligible applications to be accepted into the organic farming scheme. The scheme is now being heavily promoted in order that all potential participants understand the benefits of the scheme and feel fully supported if they wish to submit an application.
Teagasc and independent agricultural consultants also play a vital role in outlining the benefits of organic farming at farm level. The organic farming demonstration programme, which is run by Teagasc in conjunction with my Department, is an example of how this operates, whereby farmers can obtain a practical knowledge of an organic farming system.
With regard to the Government targets for organic conversion for 2025, 2027 and 2030, the current programme for Government is committed to aligning Ireland’s organic land area with that of the EU average at the time of the negotiations of the programme for Government, which was 7.5%. All organic policies are designed to achieve this ambitious goal. I will continue to progress the implementation of the national organic strategy for 2019 to 2025, which sets out ambitious growth targets in line with the market opportunities.
Along with the increase in funding for the organic farming scheme this year, under the new Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, I proposed the allocation of €265 million, which is a very sizeable and significant increase in funding towards this sector. To attain that land area of 7.5%, we will need to add an additional 80,000 ha every year during the lifetime of the CAP. The ambition is big and we certainly need to address the issues to get farmers to engage with the scheme.
It needs to be put on the record once again that our current organic rates are abysmal. They are actually embarrassing for a country with a proud reputation in terms of the production of good quality food that is produced to the highest standards. The target rate of 7.5% relates to an EU average from several years ago now. We know the EU average is already way beyond 8.5%. I want to nail down this particular target of 7.5%. My question asked for our target rates for 2025, 2027 and 2030.
The CAP strategic plan, which was finally published this week, set the 7.5% target to be achieved by 2025. Is that the Minister of State's intention or is that 7.5% target for land conversion set at a later date? If not, what is the conversion target for 2030?
My understanding is that the rate is during the period of the CAP to the end 2027. At that stage it would be in conversion and organically farmed land. That is the ambition. If we go beyond that, I will certainly be even more excited about it.
There is an issue at the moment and the Deputy is correct. The levels are painfully low given our wonderful agricultural nation as a whole. To be at the bottom of the European tables, unfortunately, in terms of organic farming is something that has been personally very frustrating for me over the years. We are in a situation now where we can address this and we are actively doing so. I look forward to seeing more farmers come on board with this. As we create a critical mass of farmers in this country, I would expect to see a snowballing effect in the years to come.
In order for targets to be achieved, annual subtargets need to be set. We need to know what the long-term vision is for this sector. As well as direct investment in supporting farmers, which the Minister of State knows we welcome, we also need to see greater ancillary investment, particularly ring-fenced funding for both Bord Bia and Teagasc. We need to have advisers and researchers for those making the conversion. We also need to provide them with the assurance that when they produce the high-quality organic food, they will be able to sell it and receive a premium for it. One of the reasons we keep getting questions about organic farming is because when people look at the climate action plans, the annex on actions regarding organics is very worrying. There is a single page with some positive steps but it is not nearly comprehensive and ambitious enough to give farmers the assurance that if they make the leap towards organic, they will be fully supported by Government at every step.
Absolutely. We are supporting Teagasc and independent agricultural consultants to play a vital role. Anyone who follows anything about organics on social media will have seen a step change in how Teagasc has been engaging with organic farming. Certainly, Bord Bia this year has invested €1 million euro to support the sector. The BioFach trade fair, which is usually held in February, has been postponed until July.
I will attend that event. We hope, subject to travel restrictions and in conjunction with Bord Bia, that there will be a ministerial trade mission to Germany, which is one of our main markets, to engage in market support. As I understand it, this will be the first specific trade mission on organics organised by the Department. I look forward to that.
