Ms Mary Lynch:

I will elaborate on the barriers for tillage farmers coming into organic tillage. As an adviser, the biggest issue I note is that conventional tillage has become very high-input, which means that for a farmer to change to a system with very low inputs is a major step, even simply of mindset. On foot of the way the tillage sector has developed in Ireland, we are talking about many farms which are 100% tillage. For them to convert to organic requires putting a fertility building phase into their systems. As part of the previous OFS, there was a double payment during that period, which definitely helped many farmers to get through two-year conversion time when they could produce cereals on only 50% of their land. The €220 per hectacre payment was not enough to compensate them for doing that.

There are many technical issues also. If they have been 100% tillage, they do not have any fencing or water. This is a challenge if they switch to having livestock grazing, even if it is another farmer's livestock where they can co-operate with other organic producers. The fertility building phase usually involves a grass-clover mix. If one had a mixed farm, one would let one's cattle out to graze it. We need farmers to co-operate with other organic farmers who could use that part of the rotation to provide an economic return. Currently, there is no economic return from perhaps half of one's farm. If the €220 per hectacre conversion payment is not enough to compensate one, one is not going to convert.

There is a whole psychological aspect to moving from a high chemical input system to the belief that a system with no chemical inputs will work. For many farmers, that is very difficult. The best way to get over that is to bring farmers to organic farms and show them that the crops grow, they are good and that yields are achieved. That really helps but we have probably not had enough of it.

In many cases, the reality is that by having a small scheme which closed quickly, the Department did not show confidence in the system. If the Department is not willing to fund the farmers coming in, that is very hard. It appears to be saying the long-term future of the sector does not look good. Having a system where the target is so low that it is all used up in year one does not provide any confidence to the sector that there will be funding for tillage into the future. That said, I have received many more calls in the last 12 months from conventional tillage farmers who are looking at going organic. Some of them have actually made the jump already even without having an organic farming scheme in the hope that it will come. They can see that what they are doing has no long-term future as they are losing money. If they can at least make sure they do not lose money, they will be better off. If they can go back to a system with very low inputs and if any yield is at all profitable, it is better in some cases than what they have been doing. We need to get much information out there, however, to convince conventional tillage farmers that organic is a viable option. They need to see more successful organic tillage farmers to give them the confidence to make the change also.