Written answers

Tuesday, 15 October 2024

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Organic Farming

Photo of Christopher O'SullivanChristopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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482. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the full-year cost of all organic sector supports in 2024 and 2025, in tabular form; and the breakdown per scheme. [41040/24]

Photo of Charlie McConalogueCharlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is committed to meeting our target of 10% of all agricultural land being farmed organically by 2030.

There has been a very strong uptake of the Organic Farming Scheme over the last three years, most recently in December 2023, when a further 1,000 farmers joined the Scheme. This means that, this year, there will be approximately 5,000 organic farmers in Ireland farming approximately 5% of the land. A key element of this is providing the infrastructure and support to both those farmers looking to convert to organic and those who have already converted.

Outlined in the below tables are the expenditure allocations for 2024 and the budget for 2025 for all organic sector supports:

Scheme 2024 2025
Organic Processing Investment Grant €1.5 million €3.5 million
Organic Farming Scheme €57 million €67 million
Subvention to certification bodies for farm Inspections €900,000 €1 million
Development of the Organic Sector €500,000 €1 million

In addition, the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) supports organic farmers at a grant rate of 60%. To date,over €1.8 million has been paid in grant aid under the Organic Capital Investment Scheme of TAMS 3 in 2024.

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