Organics: ‘there’s an opportunity there’

With approximately 4,100 farms organic or converting at present, about 3% of Ireland’s total farms, head of the Department of Agriculture’s organic unit Jack Nolan says there’s “opportunity” for more.

The CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027 has set a target for 7.5% of all Irish farmland to be in organics by 2027 and a further target included in the Climate Action Plan 2023 extended this to 10% (450,000ha) by 2030.

“That’s going to be achieved. We doubled the organic numbers last year and we’re at approximately 200,000ha now, up from 70,000ha a few years ago,” he said.

Nolan robustly pitched the prospects for Irish organics, insisting it is all a “positive story” and that regardless of who the political leaders of the day are, the policy direction will not change.

Scheme

Addressing the immediate question, the Department’s organic boss said that all applicant farmers, once meeting entry requirements, will be accepted into the latest intake of the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS).

The scheme, which closed in December, saw 2,100 new conversion farmers sign up. Nolan said these should be farming organically since 1 January and that they will receive formal letters of acceptance by the end of this month.

Pending conversion compliance, and added to the 2,000 farmers already organic certified or in conversion from previous intakes, there will be at least 4,100 farmers with organic produce to market from 1 January 2025.

Nolan is adamant that this organic market will exist and said that while the “level of awareness of organic wouldn’t be great [among Irish consumers]”, the sector has two years to drive up demand.

“Last summer, Bord Bia did a small organic programme or a marketing initiative with supermarkets in Ireland that it will be repeating later on this year. That was very successful.

“Bord Bia has appointed for the first time ever a full-time [organic] sector manager. Now, we have two years to build a market. Up until this point, we haven’t really had sufficient organic product to market,” he said.

The Wexford man acknowledged that German organic demand has slipped by about 4% recently but pointed out that there is a “cost of living crisis across the world”.

“We have to be realistic about what people can afford when they go into the shop, because there is a cost-of-living crisis and that’s right across Europe.

“Surveys show that people are still buying organic but are moving from specialist organic shops towards mainstream retailers or discounters,” he said.

Leakage

A significant proportion of the livestock reared organically at present is sold conventionally and at conventional stock prices.

Acknowledging that 60% to 70% of organically produced lamb “leaks” in this way, Nolan confirmed that his Department is setting up an organic farmer “hub”, an online platform to connect primary organic producers with finishers.

“There are a couple of issues – one is scale, sheer scale. A factory is not going to kill a small number of lambs. It needs scale and it needs to be organised, and they need to be able to see in order to plan ahead and that’s happening at the moment,” he said.

Nolan highlighted examples such as a group of Donegal farmers coming together to sell their organic stock and a special organic sale set for Tullow Mart, on 1 March.

“This is all part of the infrastructure coming into place. Marts are going to see that there’s an opportunity there, for organics, and then respond to it.

“We really need people on the eastern seaboard to finish the lamb [which] has been produced in the west.

“We also need Bord Bia to look at the opportunity for lighter lambs, for example, that are coming off the hill, because there will be a huge uptake on the hill, initially, before other farmers are converted,” he said.

Farm types

On this appeal of organics for more extensive hill farmers, Nolan acknowledged that the move to change minimum stocking requirements in the OFS, from 0.5 livestock units per hectare to 0.1 units, has led to a spike in uptake in counties such as Donegal, Mayo and Kerry.

However, he refuted that this moves the OFS payment away from that for organic “produce” to that for organic “land” with minimal stock.

A farmer himself, Nolan contended that with payments, organic beef and lamb production is now more profitable than conventional and said that over 80% of new entrants are in these sectors.

Conceding that more work is needed to bring dairy, tillage and horticulture farmers into the sector, he highlighted their priority access to the scheme and higher payment rates.

“We import 60% to 70% of horticulture, our vegetables and fruit, so there’s a huge opportunity there.

“On the dairy side, to be honest, there’s a premium there at the minute for a conventional dairy.

“Is that going to last? It’s for every farmer to judge. Can they take that environmental pressure that’s coming? The derogation isn’t going to last,” he said.

Ultimately, one of the strongest appeals of organic production for the average farmer is the reduction in input costs, said Nolan.

“The whole idea, and farmers should start out with this – reduce concentrates. So, become a grassland manager, focus on that, that you’re going to save on input costs.

“You’re reducing your costs [with organics] and taking out risk.”

Budget and payments

Nolan confirmed a bumped-up budget for organics for the next five years – at €292m – made up of the €256m allocated under the new CAP and €36m remaining from a provision of €40m in 2021 through the EU’s ‘recovery instrument’.

Nolan confirmed that the OFS will again reopen later this year and suggested that as many as 4,000 farmers could enter in this next intake.

He said it is “anticipated” that the scheme will reopen every year in the lifetime of the CAP, adding that this provides certainty for interested farmers to “sit down and do the sums”.

Added to the 4,100 already organic or converting farmers, a target of 4,000 new entrants would leave over 8,000 farmers in the sector come January 2024, over three-quarters of the way towards the Climate Action Plan target of approximately 10,000 by 2030, with an average organic farm size of 45ha.

Payments will be a significant factor in driving such organic expansion, Nolan agreed, and highlighted that the organic budget is now higher than the €247m provided for Area of Natural Constraint (ANC) payments in 2022.

Nolan emphasised the importance of training for organic farmers and urged those converting to sign up to the provided and required courses as soon as possible.

He said all organic stakeholders, including Teagasc, are planning a series of organic farm walks from April and reiterated that farmers already in or interested in organics should attend.

The Department’s organic unit of 20 staff is based at Johnstown Castle. Nolan said that to cope with the uptake in farmer interest, IT systems are being upgraded.

“We aim to give [farmers] a high level of service and in fairness, the team in Johnstown Castle are running on goodwill and good morale because they’re enthused by the uptake. It’s very rewarding that you’re in a sector that’s growing.”

Nolan said agricultural advisers are “responding to what farmers want”, training in organics and “demystifying” it.

He said the Department is in discussions with Teagasc and the Agricultural Consultants Association (ACA) on how more organic training can be provided for advisers and additional specialists might be added.

“But we’re lucky we have some excellent organic farmers out there and some excellent organic advisers. It’s a matter of building on it.”