Ms Gillian Westbrook:

I will take some of the questions. I will leave the one on seeds for Ms Maher, if I may, as it is her area. Climate action was raised by Senator Paul Daly and Deputy Leddin. We see there is a clear advantage in the climate argument for organics, namely, that, as identified in the Ag Climatise document, approximately 40% of nitrous oxide emissions are associated with chemical nitrogen fertilisers. I point to that alone and note that , which does not take into account the manufacturing footprint of the fertiliser. Obviously, removing that 40% nitrous oxide completely would be very beneficial. That is just a back-of-the-envelope calculation that stands out. Not that we put an awful lot of emphasis on carbon sequestration but that has a big part to play and carbon farming is becoming more and more apparent. We think organic farming has an awful lot to offer in the context of climate action. That is why the EU is supporting it as well, which is worth pointing out. There is a reason it is in there with the European Green Deal and that is to answer many of these challenges society is facing. That is why it is being supported and there is a myriad of research to support that. Various evaluations have been done and one of the Scottish systems, for example, was showing just what could be done in that it found organic farming had the single highest emission reduction opportunities. There is a huge amount of supporting information and as I said, that is why it is being supported by the policy.

The Senator referred to the quality of food. It absolutely is quality food. One of the reasons the food sells so well in the EU is because it is associated with Ireland and the whole artisan side. The organic one is often the one that actually gets there first and onto the shelf. There is a massive reputation in that regard. It is a quality product and we need to be proud that it is. Consumers, as supported by Bord Bia, have no problem spending at least 10% extra on organic products. Thus, organics should not be knocked for that but should instead be supported. On the sustainability package, I absolutely agree; the sustainability is actually in the regulations. These regulations have been developed since 1991. They were around before but were never formalised and legislated for until 1991. Sustainability is actually enshrined through the regulations. That is why the whole sustainability package and organics is certainly part of the European Green Deal.

In terms of increased demand, there is a massive increase in demand but what is more important is where the projected demands are going to be coming from. We in Ireland hover around at between 1.6% and 2% organic farmland. The rest of Europe is gearing up. We can try to sell it under some other sustainability package but members should also bear in mind there is a massive amount of marketing and support going into the EU logo put on organic foods. When all that is tied together as a package, sustainability is at the heart of organic production. It always has been. It has been a driver of it. It has been used by others since then and sometimes in an "almost organic" or "organic lite" form, or whatever one wishes to call it, but organics is very much the real thing and that is because it contributes to our environment, our climate, etc. in a positive way. We can look at other means of assessing carbon footprints and sometimes there tends to be a bit of cherry-picking in what we use. In other words, do we use the input from a contractor, or if the farmer does not use one then are we using that carbon footprint? Overall, however, I would say that organics comes out on top of all of these.