Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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772. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will report on the progress implementing the actions of the Review of Organic Food Sector and Strategy for its Development 2019 – 2025, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15107/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Organic Strategy Forum was established last year and one of the main objectives of that group is to continually review the actions contained in the Review of Organic Food Sector and Strategy for its Development 2019 – 2025.Together with this, the Organic Strategy Forum was tasked with identifying and agree critical actions to increase participation in organic farming and guide the future direction of the Organic sector in Ireland.

The strategy forum comprises a multidisciplinary team of my Department, state agencies and lead representatives from across the organic sector in Ireland, including farm bodies, processors and advisory services . Since its inception in April 2022, a significant tranche of work has taken place.

It is a reflection on the work of the group and its effectiveness that 2,131 new farmers joined the Organic Farming scheme in December 2022 which saw 3,423 eligible applications received. The remaining 1,292 applications represent those whose contracts finished on 31st December 2022.

There are now approximately 200,000 hectares under organic production, which represents 4% of the utilisable agricultural area. This includes farmers who commenced farming organically this year under the most recent intake to the scheme. This brings us another step closer to our ambitious target and provides certainty to those who have decided to convert to organic farming.

The target set out in the Programme for Government is to achieve a rate of 7.5% of the total land area farmed organically by 2027 while the revised target set in the Climate Action plan is to achieve 10% organic land area by 2030. Under the Climate Action Plan, our main priority on organics is to increase the area of organic production to approximately 445,000 hectares by end of decade.

Under the new CSP, for the years 2023-2027, I have secured a budget of €256m for the organic sector with the aim of building upon this growth and developing the sector further. This allocation has facilitated enhanced payment rates, including the introduction of a participation payment for farmers, to support the maintenance and conversion to Organic Farming.

My Department continues to engage with the Organic sector and support Farmers with practical measures and to capitalise on the increased participation in 2022. I am confident the support measures we have put in place will assist in achieving our targets and encourage many more farmers to make the transition to organic farming.

The Organic Forum will undertake a review by end-2023 of the implementation of the Actions in the current strategy.

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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773. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the allocation to and value of monies paid from the organic processing investment grant scheme in each of the years 2018 to 2023 inclusive, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15108/23]

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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774. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of applicants that received funding from the organic processing investment grant scheme in each of the years 2018 to 2023 inclusive, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15109/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 773 and 774 together.

The Organic Processing Investment Grant Scheme provides funding to organic processors who wish to invest in developing facilities for the processing, preparation, grading, packing and storage of organic products. It is a demand led scheme and all eligible applications received are assessed based on the terms and conditions of the scheme.

The table below outlines the funding allocation, the level of expenditure and the number of applicants who received funding for years 2018-2023 under the Organic Processing Investment Grant. The scheme has not yet opened for applications for 2023.

I am fully committed to the development of the organic sector in Ireland. The current Programme for Government includes a target of 7.5% of land area to be farmed organically over the lifetime of this Government. We are well on the way to achieving this target as there has been a two-fold increase in farmers converting to organic farming since 2022 and I am confident this will lead to a corresponding increase in applications for funding in the organic processing sector. In this regard, I will ensure there is sufficient funding in place to satisfy this anticipated increase in demand.