Press Release: IOA Welcomes New Government Commitment to Organic Promotion & Development

Today Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon TD announced the opening of a multi-annual fund to support the further promotion and development of Ireland’s organic sector over the period 2025 to 2027. The call for innovative organic projects is open until the 7th of March 2025. The Irish Organic Association welcomes the new fund as an important way to empower organic stakeholders and kick-start new initiatives regionally and nationally across the organic supply chain.

Gillian Westbrook, Irish Organic Association CEO, said, “We are delighted to see the incoming government’s renewed commitment to investing in organic sector-led promotion and development. With the latest figures for European-wide organic retail sales showing growth in 2023, the announcement of this fund over the next 3 years comes at an opportune time for Ireland’s organic sector to capitalise on market openings both at home and abroad”.

She added, “We have so many wonderful Irish organic farmers and businesses across different product categories committed to driving the organic sector forward. This offers tremendous potential to put Irish organic produce on the map. There are also many opportunities for interested farmers and businesses to go organic over the coming years. As a result, the fund should empower existing and prospective organic stakeholders on the ground to take ownership of the priorities and actions set out in our National Organic Strategy to 2030.”

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

Over the period 2025-2027, €3m is earmarked for the DAFM-operated Organic Promotion and Development fund, with a maximum grant aid available per project of €150,000 per annum. Further information is available here.

This week the latest production and market trends in Europe were published by the FiBL – the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture at BIOFACH 2025 in Nuremberg (Germany), the world’s leading trade fair for organic food. It shows that organic retail sales experienced growth of 3.6% in the EU in 2023, overall valued at €46.5 billion (€54.7 billion in Europe). Further information is available here.

You can learn more about organic food and farming by visiting the website – This is Irish Organic www.irishorganic.ie – created by the Irish Organic Association. It showcases the range of different organic produce farmed in Ireland and details some of the benefits of Irish organic food as well as how to recognise the EU organic logo.