Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Many issues come before the committee of which I do not have much knowledge but I do have knowledge of the organic sector because I was involved in organic farming until last year. My son has now taken over the farm, which he is farming organically. I have been farming organically for the past 20 years or so. It is an area that has never grown. It is almost impossible to sell cattle as organic if one is in a peripheral area like a peninsula. Most of the time, I end up selling them in the ordinary market. The price is poor, to say the least. The grants are also poor so one is really being organic for the love of organic farming rather than for the love of financial remuneration. I pay tribute to Mr. Renaghan, with whom I have had a lot of communication down through the years with regard to raising issues of concern to try to rectify the situation of people with, perhaps, 70 acres of land. Such people pay a licence of approximately €600 a year and pay planners approximately €500 every year to get their plans, which generate €2,000 or €2,500. It is shockingly poor money.

I will ask a few questions but, first of all, I welcome the guests. I will refer to a matter raised earlier with regard to the 225 applications made in 2018. I met many of these farmers from my own area, as other Deputies have. They were exasperated. They had done courses. Some apparently had weekends out of it. There seems to be a great deal of criteria to qualify as an organic farmer. Previously someone had to fill out some forms and understand how it worked but now course after course is required. Somebody else is making a dollar out of these courses along the way. There were 225 applications but, after doing these courses, 110 applicants did not get into the scheme. Why was this the case? Why were people left outside the system?

Is public procurement of organic produce available through a producer group? The new organic farming scheme was not full. Do the witnesses know why? What is the difference in price between organic and non-organic beef? This is a big one. Some 98% of the market is not organic. Can something be forced through with regard to the organic sector so that there will be a market available for the beef cattle raised by organic farmers, no matter what part of the country they are from? Some people cannot live in the middle of the country. Regardless of whether someone lives in the south west, the north or anywhere else, everyone should have a market open to them. Perhaps the marts should be brought further into this. They could have a special organic sale every two or three months or something along that line. It is not happening. People are selling their cattle as non-organic after rearing them as organic. It is very unfortunate. Since I entered the organic sector 20 years ago, it has not moved. That is astonishing. We have had the Green Party in government before and it is in government again now. I will be very disappointed if there is not some kind of movement on the ground very quickly. I would appreciate it if some of those questions could be answered.