This is a subscriber-only article
The Department of Agriculture has granted €900,000 to Teagasc’s ‘Growing Resilient Organic Farming Systems’ project, which aims to lay out a blueprint for organic beef and sheep systems, Minister of State Pippa Hackett has announced.
Teagasc will contribute an additional €400,000 in funds to the initiative, which aims to close the knowledge gap that exists in organics.
It is planned that the funding will allow for the development of benchmarking resources for organic farmers, as well as for research on organic beef systems and lamb finishing trials.
Teagasc is to integrate the research into a knowledge transfer programme for new and existing organic farmers.
The project will be lead from Teagasc’s rural economy and development centre in Athenry by Dr Kevin Kilcline.
‘Milestone year’
Minister Hackett welcomed the funding, stating that 2023 has been a “milestone year for organic farming in Ireland”.
The State’s climate targets include having 7.5% of farmland under organics by 2027, rising to 10% by 2030.
“We need to fully understand the benefits of organic farming in an Irish context and this work will ensure we have the data needed to support organic farmers as we continue to grow the sector in Ireland,” she commented.
“Research plays an important role in allowing us to adapt to our changing environment and to future-proof our farming systems.
“I believe organic farming is a ready-made solution to protect Irish farmers and to equip them with the tools needed to improve their economic, environmental and social sustainability in the years ahead.
“It is also the next step in developing Ireland as a world leader in organic farming, on our road to becoming an organic island.”
Benchmarking invaluable
Getting the lessons learned from the research out to farmers will be a key feature of the project, Teagasc’s Dr Kilcline said.
“This project provides a unique opportunity to demonstrate efficient organic farming systems to the increasing cohort of organic farmers in this country to enable them [to] enhance the sustainability credentials of their organic systems,” he stated.
“The financial benchmarking element of the project will allow us to attain a greater understanding of the financial performance of organic farmers across all the main farming enterprises and will provide an invaluable benchmarking tool for existing and newly converted organic farmers.”
SHARING OPTIONS: