Farmers are being encouraged to consider changing their farm enterprises to organic status, where the use of artificial fertilisers, pesticides and other chemicals are excluded and an approach that does not damage the environment is adopted.
Just 2% of Irelands farmland is used for organic farming, but a Government scheme has opened with the aim of increasing this to 7.5% by encouraging more farmers to go organic.
Situated under the shadow of the Mullaghmore mountain in the heart of the Burren, Seamus Howard's 55 hectare organic farm has recently been converted from mixed farming to a dairy-only enterprise.
He supplies milk from 100% grass-fed cows to organic producer Glenisk, and is in the middle of restocking the farm with organic-bred Fleckvieh cows from Austria, most of which are due to calve any day now.
Seamus grew up with organic farming and is continuing the approach his father took to farming.
"I've grown up with it since a child, my father did nothing else but organic. It is a way of life first of all, you can take an extra bit of pride in what you're producing because you know what’s going in, the inputs are 100% natural. There's no pesticides, no chemicals and we take great pride in that," he says.
He adds there is a higher price to be obtained for his organic produce.
"At the moment we are supplying grass-fed yoghurt into Germany and there is a nice premium on that, its 50c a litre and it going to go up. There's big demand there and there isn’t enough (organic) milk on the shelves," he says.
Seamus has just hosted one of a series of nationwide organic farm walks organised by Teagasc and the Department of Agriculture, to demonstrate how his organic farm operates, including through re-seeding grazing fields with plants like red clover that fix nitrogen in the soil, and promote plant growth without artificial fertiliers.
The Government wants more farmers to covert to organic. The minister behind the effort, Senator Pippa Hackett - herself an organic farmer - says it is a win-win situation.
"Farmers at the moment are under a lot of pressure; they have to reduce their fertiliser use, their pesticide use and at the same time we are asking them to improve their water quality, improve biodiversity on their farms, improve animal welfare," she says.
"Organic for me can deliver on all of those things. As an organic farmer myself I know the value of organic farming. I can see what its brought to my farm, in terms of environmental outcomes, but also in terms of output and income "
The Minister has reopened the Organic Farming Scheme to applicants who might like to convert to organic systems.
Livestock farmers will qualify for payments of €220 per hectare of land for two years, while converting to organic farming. Reduced payments apply once established.
The organic farming scheme is open for applications until 8 April.
