Based on the budget allocation for 2021 and subject to European Commission approval, my Department is in a position to offer a one year extension to those Organic Farming Scheme (OFS) participants whose contracts expire on 31st December 2020. I was very pleased to have secured this funding in the budget for next year and to give this certainty to the applicants.
An additional €4 million has been allocated to opening a new Organic Farming Scheme (OFS) in 2021. This Scheme cannot open until the transitional regulations, proposed by the European Commission which will govern the position of Schemes in 2021, have been finalised but we are currently preparing for this reopening. It will help to further drive the implementation of the Organic Farming Strategy 2021-2025.
On the re-opening of the scheme in 2018, my Department made clear at the time that this was a limited re-opening based on some additional but limited budget. The targeted nature of the re-opening was on the recommendation of the stakeholders as part of the development of the Organic Farming Strategy at the time. 110 out of 225 applicants who applied were unsuccessful. 63 of these unsuccessful applicants who are not currently recipients of OFS payments continued to be registered as organic farmers with an Organic Control Body at the end of 2019. This figure will need to be updated in time for 2020 but we would not expect significant change.
