Information sharing and shared trust were the key topics at a Teagasc Organic Farm Walk on the farm of John Hamilton in Newtowncunningham last week.
John and his son Zach hosted the Agriculture Minister and fellow farmers to their enterprises for a walk and talks about their suckler
herd, a midseason lambing flock of ewes and tillage
enterprise.
The St Johnston family started the conversion to organic farming in 2009 and achieved full organic status in 2011.
Donegal has almost 500 organic farmers, representing 10% of the national total.
Sharing information is a key way to make farming as profitable and enjoyable as possible for farm families in Donegal, according to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue.
He said: “We need the continued active involvement and cooperation of all stakeholders – farmers, researchers, industry leaders, and consumers, to develop a sustainable resilient agricultural sector in Ireland. We need people to understand when they make a choice in a shop it has an impact on what happens in our fields. Working together, we can build a robust, sustainable agricultural sector that benefits our environment, our economy, and our health.”
The Minister added: “I want to encourage arable farming in Ireland and growing your own feed is one of the most impactful aspects of organic farming. By growing a combi crop, farmers can reduce their reliance on imported feeds, which are very expensive in an organic situation. My department allows for 50 per cent rate of protein aid to be paid on combi crops which I hope will encourage increase in the area,” he commented.
Programmes like the Organic Farming Scheme, he pointed out, provide financial incentives for farmers to convert to organic practices.
“Research initiatives focus on developing and promoting best practices in organic agriculture. We know that organic cattle numbers will double, and organic lamb numbers will treble by 2026. That is why we are supporting Bord Bia in accessing premium markets for Irish organic product. They have a new organic manager in place who has hit the ground running. From a position two years ago where Bord Bia had no-one fully assigned to organics, there are now three staff dedicated to it. Last year, the government used Brexit Adjustment Reserve funding to allow Bord Bia run a national organic advertising campaign and they successfully applied to the EU for funding for a new marketing campaign that will kick off this September. This is a €2.7 million campaign promoting pasture fed organic beef and lamb and will focus on the key EU export markets for our organic output,” he said.
“We also doubled the amount of support available to invest in organic processing capacity this year, to €3 million. So far, we have had two tranches open for applications with a very high level of interest. All organic farmers are registered with one of our control bodies either the Irish Organic Association (red jackets) or the Organic Trust (green jackets), I would like to thank them for the important work they do upholding organic standards in Ireland on behalf of my department.”
