Irish farmers will in future be able to look at organic farming as a real option when they move to receiving the single payment system from January next, Mr Noel Treacy, Minister of State for Agriculture and Food, said yesterday.
Receiving the first progress report of the National Steering Group for the Organic Sector, Mr Treacy said that while the sector was still comparatively small, there were now real opportunities for expanding it.
"From January next, with their single payment entitlements established, farmers can consider options like organic farming. There are real openings in the market. Demand is steady and growing. There is actually room for import substitution in the fruit and vegetable sectors."
Mr Treacy referred to the proposed changes to the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS). REPS offered major financial support to organic farmers, and the changes now before the European Commission would bring the maximum payments to such farmers up to €18,505 a year for the conversion period (up to two years) and €13,555 a year after that.
Mr Treacy said he was pleased with the progress report which showed that most of the recommendations made were either addressed or in the process of being addressed.
He was particularly pleased that a national label for organic produce had reached the design stage.
The report gave the most up-to-date picture of the organic sector and showed that there were 923 registered organic farmers farming 29,850 hectares of land in the State.
There were 777 full time jobs in the sector, 937 part time jobs and 1,800 seasonal jobs on organic farms, one-sixth of which were in Co Cork.
It noted there were 18,000 organic cattle in the State and of these 600 were beef producing suckler cows.
It found there were 286 sheep owners producing 31,000 sheep organically. However, there was a large loss of young sheep and calves into the conventional sector.
A total of 77 of the farmers specialised in vegetables, with 64 poultry producers and 34 goat farms. The survey found a total of 40 cereal and 30 potato growers.