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The rising demand for certified organic livestock feed is sending a strong message to tillage farmers that they will have markets for grain if they choose to convert, according to Minister of State Pippa Hackett.
The results of a survey conducted by the Department of Agriculture earlier this year expects the demand for organic feed to hit 50,000t of cereals over the coming winter.
“That is a signal now to tillage farmers who are thinking about going organic and the good thing about organics is that a tillage farmer can grow a crop or part of their farm could be organic and the rest could be a regular farm,” Minister Hackett stated to the Irish Farmers Journal on Thursday.
“There is a demand domestically for that. We import far too much feed anyways. We can’t probably grow [all of that demand], but I think we are seeing a growth in organic farmers, including in the tillage sector.”
Adapting systems
However, the minister added that farmers making the switch to organics should consider system changes that reduce their dependence on purchased concentrates.
“If you are just going to go from non-organic to organic on how you feed over the winter, it is not going to work,” she said.
She gave the example of sheep farmers lambing later and finishing lambs off grass as a means of cutting costs when adapting from conventional to organic farming.
“That might not work for every farm, but if it works, then your input costs should be lower. If it is going to cost you more to go organic, you shouldn’t do it.
“If you can’t make your farm enterprise work with the system, then it might not suit and I have always said that it is not going to suit everyone, but it is an option there and Government is supporting it and the advice is there across the board.”
Minister Hackett said she is “hopeful” a new tranche of the Organic Farming Scheme will open in autumn, which will further grow the organic area.
Government’s target is for 10% of all farmland in the country to be under organics by 2030 and the “ballpark” calculation sees every 1,000 farmers entering the scheme boosting the area by 1%.
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