The Department of Agriculture has no plans to open the organic farming scheme this year.

Last week, a Department spokesperson said: “The current organic farming scheme has proved to be the most successful ever launched by the Department and all targets set under the Rural Development Programme (RDP) have already been met and all funds allocated to the scheme under the RDP have been fully committed. Therefore, there are currently no plans to re-open the scheme at this time.”

Approximately 1.8% of agricultural land is now under organics in Ireland.