Organic farmers have said agriculture is in crisis and now is the time for the Government to boldly embrace a vision of rural Ireland around the areas of greatest opportunity.
The Irish Organic Farmers and Growers Association say Ireland needs to focus on the production of organic food, minimise agriculture's carbon footprint, completely ban the use of Genetically Modified Organisms, focus support on artisan and small scale producers rather than giant food companies and develop rural eco-tourism.
IOFGA chairperson Kate Carmody said if Ireland's green image was backed up with some real policies we can create an unequalled demand for our produce abroad.
Ms Carmody said the current regulatory system in agriculture illustrates perfectly the incoherence of current policy.
Under it organic farmers who do not use chemicals and pesticides are strictly regulated and routinely inspected.
Ironically, Ms Carmody said, the majority of farmers who are non-organic, and who routinely use chemicals and pesticides are not inspected or required by law to state what products they have used in their production.
Thus, she said, the strictest regulation is of the organic sector which forbids the use of chemicals while the non-organic sector where chemicals are used routinely does not have similar regulation.
The Irish Farmers and Growers Association is the largest organic certification organisation in Ireland representing around 1,150 farmers, growers and processors.
