Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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877. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the budgetary allocations for organic farming scheme payments outlined in budget 2019; the actual amount paid out; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36158/20]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Organic Farming Scheme (OFS) is one of the most successful Schemes under our current Rural Development Programme (RDP). The Scheme has more than achieved its targets in terms of new land converted and the maintenance of organic land.  The target for the RDP was to attract some 16,000 hectares of new land into production and to support 46,000 hectares of converted land. These targets have been more than exceeded.

A budget of €56m was allocated to fund the Scheme during the period 2014 to 2020 which was the largest allocation ever to an Organics support scheme. The budget allocation for the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS) as outlined in Budget 2019 was €11 million.  Organic Farming Scheme payments totalling €9.4 million issued in 2019.  Residual payments to scheme applicants were made in early 2020 when their applications became eligible for payment.