Oliver Moore: Trust slams lack of state investment
A robust case for better investment in organic farming was made at the Oireachtas joint committee on agriculture by the two main organic certification bodies (OCBs) recently.
They also refuted some of the claims made in earlier hearings regarding numbers leaving the Organic Farming Scheme.
Helen Scully of the Organic Trust enthused: “At no other time in the 25 years in which we have been involved in certification has there been such an appetite within the supermarket and retail communities to give store space to organic food.”
And yet the scheme is closed to potential new entrants.
“The reopening of the Organic Farming Scheme and the political will to allocate an additional budget to facilitate this is a prerequisite… to sustain sectoral growth we suggest an additional budget of between €15m and €20m to be allocated to the end of the current rural development programme for organic production to fulfil the same.
"In other EU member states studies have indicated that there is a direct correlation between the amount of government support for the organic sector and the success of that sector — with the likes of Denmark, Holland, Germany and Italy being prime examples.”
She added that public procurement investment pays off, as seen elsewhere in the EU.
“Organics can be used as a main player in the revitalisation of rural communities through ongoing support for organic farming and processing by having a viable option available to bring people back to the communities they had to leave behind due to the economic downturn.”
Gillian Westbrook of IOFGA endorsed this position with more evidence. With regard to the utilisable agricultural area (UAA), “there is an existing target of 5% [certified organic UAA] yet the department only ring-fences enough money for 2%. In view of that, no one should be surprised that we do not reach 5%.”
Countries with more organic acreage invest more in rural development, and “more is allocated in the budget than drawn down” she added.
Organic beef and tillage farmer Pat Lalor of the Organic Trust pointed out that either “the department does not have the funds, or is not allocating them. There is a waiting list of people who want to get into the organic scheme. I do not doubt that if it was opened, many more people would get involved in organic farming.”
Both Westbrook and Scully refuted the notion that a significant number of farmers leave the OFS after their five-year contract is up.
“Of those whose OFS contracts expired on 31 December 2016, more than 90% signed up to the contract extension,” said Scully.
And Westbrook added: “About 3.1% of farmers leave the scheme each year. That is a natural fallout which we have seen year on year. Statistics indicate that the farm size of those who leave varies.
"It is a voluntary scheme. It is not going to suit everybody. If people are not viable then they will leave. I would like to see it at zero, but 3% is relatively acceptable.”
One area of mild disagreement between the representatives of the OCBs sector was on profitability.
Westbrook suggested organic was more profitable than conventional in some cases: “The average market price of beef is €4.70 per kg. It has always averaged 20% to 27% more than conventional beef — it once reached 37% more.
"On the dairy side the premium is about 22.8%. There is a market. That is what makes it viable… on a 21 ha suckler-to-finishing farm there is a gross margin of €1,775 per ha when the top conventional farm is just over €1,000 per ha.”
Pat Lalor of Organic Trust — a farmer — said that “the premium of 20% to 25% is not a lot when straw and feed are taken into consideration.”
Nevertheless, the overall stats (in a Teagasc report by Dan Clavin some years back) do find organic overall more viable than conventional.
