Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 8 October 2015
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Organic Farming Scheme: Organic Farmers Representative Body
10:00 am
Mr. Enda Monaghan:
The stocking rate. At the moment we have to carry half a unit per hectare and on the mountain areas they are not carrying that. They might have three or four hectares for a half unit. Our payment is based on a stocking rate. However, if the stocking rate were reduced for the mountains or even front-loaded, we would get them on it then. It would be essential for the mountains to have a good organic scheme. As Mr. Lambert said, they will get Pillar 2 anyway; there will be a scheme for them. To bring them into it, certification costs would have to come down to zero and their stocking rate reduced or front-loaded.
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