The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association (ICSA) has welcomed the move by Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), Pippa Hackett to reopen the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS) to new entrants on March 9, 2022.

ICSA Organics chair, Fergal Byrne said: “This is welcome news, particularly as proposed changes to the scheme should make it more appealing to full-time farmers and those on marginal lands.

However, the ICSA said more clarity is needed around the shape the Organic Farming Scheme will take under the next Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 2023-2027.

“Speculation that payments under the organics scheme will increase by just €30/ha from 2023 needs to be addressed if the department [is] serious about persuading a significant number of farmers to switch to organics. An increase of €30/ha simply does not go far enough,” Byrne continued.

ICSA said that it is also concerned that "such little importance" is being placed on the marketing of organic beef and lamb.

“Over the last number of weeks, we have listened to Bord Bia outline [its] plans for 2022 and beyond as part of [the] Meat Marketing Seminar. Organic meat was barely mentioned," Byrne added.

"The ambition to quadruple the number of farmers producing organically means we need to quadruple our markets for organic produce, yet I saw no evidence that Bord Bia have any sort of plan to achieve that," he continued.

The ICSA said that it is critical that a strategy to significantly expand exports of Irish organic produce is developed in conjunction with the push to expand the sector.