The recent surge in interest in the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS) continues, with approximately 700 farmers applying under the 2024 intake by the closing date of 29 November.

The Department of Agriculture explains that this figure is the number of farmers who applied to the scheme via the agfood.ie portal.

There is a two-stage process to applications and farmers must also have registered with an organic certification body, ie either the Irish Organic Association or the Organic Trust.

Acceptance into the scheme is dependent on both applications being submitted.

As such, the Department explains that “the eligibility of all applicants will be assessed over the coming weeks and farmers will be notified as soon as possible”.

A high percentage of applicants are expected to have again stemmed from the suckler / beef and sheep sectors. The latest breakdown of OFS participants shows 38% of farms with sheep as their primary enterprise, 27% cattle rearing, 23% cattle finishing, 4% tillage, 2% mixed livestock and 1% for each of dairying and other farming enterprises.

Scheme acceptance

An additional €10m in funding was allocated to the OFS in Budget 2025 bringing total funding to €67m for 2025.

Reports indicate the extra funding would have been sufficient, depending on farm size, to support in the region of 900 extra applicants.

This means that it is probable that all eligible applications submitted in 2024 will be accepted into the scheme.

The recent intake brings the total numbers of participants to over 5,700 with the percentage of utilisable agricultural area farmed organically now increasing to between 5.5% and 6%. It brings the target under the Programme for Government of 7.5% of land farmed organically by 2027 closer in sight.

Organic farming is also a major component of the Climate Action Plan, with a target of 10% of utilisable agricultural area farmed organically by 2030.

Payments update

Meanwhile, the latest Department of Agriculture schemes payment update published on 29 November shows €677,842 paid in the latest payment run. This follows €43.5m paid to approximately 4,180 farmers in the previous week. Payment runs will continue on a weekly basis as cases are cleared for payment.