IOA welcomes Tillage Group Recommendations that can support Irish organic tillage

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has published its Final Report of the Food Vision 2030 Tillage Group which sets out recommendations for advancing Ireland’s tillage sector. The report includes a recommendation to further exploit opportunities for growing our organic tillage sector. Other actions promoting the use of Irish feed grains, developing Irish flour production and stepping up the environmental performance of the tillage sector are highly relevant to the sustainable development of the Irish organic tillage sector.

Gillian Westbrook, Irish Organic Association CEO, said “With growing interest in organic production amongst Irish farmers, the Irish Organic Association welcomes several of the recommendations in the report which an expanding organic food sector in Ireland is well-placed to exploit with the right incentives and joined up thinking. This is backed by robust demand for organic food both in Ireland and internationally, with consumers making a clear distinction between organic production and other products in terms of its positive environmental benefits.”

She added, “Irish organic producers are already leading the way in diversifying into the production of high-quality organic grains for food and animal feed, from protein and cereal mixtures for animal feed, to oats for the breakfast cereals and milling wheat for flour. Despite premium market opportunities, it is critical that going forward the implementation of the tillage report fully reflects the needs of organic tillage production such as the associated costs of organic crop rotations and the fertility-building phase of production as well as building capacities for processing and adding value to organic grains at different scales through industry collaboration”.

Notes:

For further comment please contact Gillian Westbrook, CEO of the Irish Organic Association at 087 7819967, or by email at gillian.westbrook@irishoa.ie