Co. Donegal has topped the list of applications made to the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS) 2025 by the deadline on Friday, November 29, 2024.
Figures by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) show a total of 703 farmers applied to the scheme, of which 85 farmers farm in Co. Donegal.
Co. Mayo and Galway also accounted for a high number of applications at 76 and 68 farmers respectively. The lowest number of applications were made in Dublin and Kilkenny, with five and six farmers applying respectively.
The vast majority of 2025 Organic Farming Scheme applicants are sheep and beef farmers, accounting for 48.08% and 41.96% of all applications respectively.
The tillage and horticulture sectors accounted for 4.41% and 3.41% of applications respectively. The share of poultry and dairy farmers looking to switch to organics is below 1%, at 0.71% and 0.57% respectively.
The county breakdown of applications made to the 2025 scheme is as follows:
County Number of herds Area in ha Carlow 9 160.61 Cavan 27 852.88 Clare 44 1755.05 Cork 45 1912.37 Donegal 85 2733.54 Dublin 5 189.18 Galway 68 4593 Kerry 61 3752.69 Kildare 13 263.93 Kilkenny 6 83.8 Laois 7 187.02 Leitrim 25 588.18 Limerick 17 323.32 Longford 21 596.6 Louth 13 230.86 Mayo 76 3322.76 Meath 14 352.62 Monaghan 10 255.14 Offaly 9 235.55 Roscommon 20 488.88 Sligo 36 1512.635 Tipperary 21 627.99 Waterford 9 518.98 Westmeath 17 538.18 Wexford 21 928.79 Wicklow 24 1004.35 Total 703 28008.905
As part of the application process, farmers must have registered with an organic certification body, either the Irish Organic Association or the Organic Trust.
The eligibility of all applicants will be assessed over the coming weeks, and farmers will be notified as soon as possible, the DAFM said.
The minimum organic farm area required to participate in the scheme is 3ha, except for horticultural producers where the minimum organic farm area required is 1ha.
All Organic Farming Scheme applicants must complete a 25-hour training course in their first year in the scheme in order to get paid.
Minister of State for Land Use and Biodiversity, Pippa Hackett said: “There is ongoing investment in the organic sector in Ireland, which has grown at pace over the past four years.
“Many farmers in Ireland are at stocking rates where they can grow enough grass without buying expensive fertiliser, so converting to organic farming makes business sense as well as bringing environmental benefits.
“Growing multi-species swards and red clover silage reduces the need for expensive chemical fertilisers and imported concentrates.
“Huge opportunities also exist for organic farmers to grow arable crops to meet the demand for organic livestock feed and food grade oats, which has more than doubled in the last few years.“