Funding for organic farming will increase five-fold in the next CAP, with a total of €256m to be targeted towards the sector.

That means over €50m a year, up from the current €10m.

“We want to increase the amount of land under organic farming to 330,000ha,” said Minister of State Pippa Hackett, describing the 7.5% of land as a “really ambitious target”.

The Green Party’s agriculture spokesperson later added that reaching that target would go a long way to assisting farmers in reaching the carbon reduction targets that are about to be set.

Asked whether the markets for all this extra organic produce existed, Minister of State Martin Heydon said a “critical mass” in terms of volume of production exists to develop high-end export markets, and Ireland has not yet reached that threshold.