Pat O'Neill (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the members of the Organic Farmers Representative Body for coming in to address us. Many of the issues have been dealt with. I understand the problem the representative body has with late payments because cashflow is very important, regardless of the sector of farming in which one is engaged.

If payments are being held up since February, the committee has to take up the issue and contact the Department about it.

Everyone has spoken about a certification body but no one has identified it. Is it a private company? Is it a closed shop or is there more than one body or group that carries out certification? Will someone identify the certification body to us? We do not know the structures for the payments. Is there a basic payment for certification plus an additional cost per hectare? Is it something like that? It is important that the body be identified.

Organic production is a lot lower than that in normal farming. It is therefore necessary to be able to realise a premium price in the market. I know we are not dealing with that issue here, which concerns supply, but, as already stated, 1% of land is involved in organic farming. If we can get more land used in organic farming, retailers and sellers would be more sure of the supply and, especially, that the products are of Irish origin. It may be beneficial in that regard to have more people producing organically.

The new GLAS scheme and the fact that people cannot receive both payments was mentioned. The latest scheme is the beef genomics scheme. Was there any concession by the Department to the practice of organic farming in the beef genomics scheme? Has anything been done on this issue?