Pippa Hackett (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Carthy for the acknowledgement of the scheme as it is. I am fully committed to the development of the organic sector in Ireland, which is why the organic farming scheme was reopened this week for the second year in a row. That has been a long time coming. An increase of €5 million has been secured in the budget allocation for the scheme this year. Again, this additional funding would facilitate an additional 50,000 ha of land under conversion, which would represent an increase of more than 50% in the area currently farmed.

I am confident that the funding provided this year will be sufficient to allow all eligible applications to be accepted into the organic farming scheme. The scheme is now being heavily promoted in order that all potential participants understand the benefits of the scheme and feel fully supported if they wish to submit an application.

Teagasc and independent agricultural consultants also play a vital role in outlining the benefits of organic farming at farm level. The organic farming demonstration programme, which is run by Teagasc in conjunction with my Department, is an example of how this operates, whereby farmers can obtain a practical knowledge of an organic farming system.

With regard to the Government targets for organic conversion for 2025, 2027 and 2030, the current programme for Government is committed to aligning Ireland’s organic land area with that of the EU average at the time of the negotiations of the programme for Government, which was 7.5%. All organic policies are designed to achieve this ambitious goal. I will continue to progress the implementation of the national organic strategy for 2019 to 2025, which sets out ambitious growth targets in line with the market opportunities.

Along with the increase in funding for the organic farming scheme this year, under the new Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, I proposed the allocation of €265 million, which is a very sizeable and significant increase in funding towards this sector. To attain that land area of 7.5%, we will need to add an additional 80,000 ha every year during the lifetime of the CAP. The ambition is big and we certainly need to address the issues to get farmers to engage with the scheme.

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