Organic food production in Ireland has received a major boost with the announcement that one of the State's foremost teaching centres for conventional farming is to become a national training and development centre for organic production.
Teagasc, the agriculture and food development authority, confirmed yesterday that Mellows College, Athenry, Co Galway, is to convert 160 acres there to full organic status and will discontinue conventional agricultural training there at the end of this year.
A statement said the initial emphasis would be on organic beef, sheep and cereal production, with Mellows becoming the national training centre for demonstrating the best practices in organic farming.
The training facilities at the college will provide introductory and update courses for new and existing organic producers, and Teagasc will also examine the provision of a full-time nationally accredited certificate course for young people interested in careers as organic farmers or in servicing the organic sector.
Dr Liam Downey, director of Teagasc, said the new training and development unit would adapt and disseminate the research and information developed in Teagasc and elsewhere.
He said that the Teagasc Research Centre at Johnstown Castle, Co Wexford, had already carried out extensive trials on organic meat and cereals, and a major research project was under way at Johnstown Castle on organic milk production.
Dr Downey said organic production in Ireland had increased more than fivefold since the introduction of the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS), under which farmers enter into a contract to farm in an environmentally sensitive way.
"The area under organic production has increased from 13,000 acres in 1993 to around 100,000 acres, or about 1 per cent of total farmland. The number of registered producers has increased fourfold to around 1,000 at present," he said.
He said the decision to discontinue conventional agricultural training at the college was due to over-capacity nationally, but the college would continue to provide comprehensive skilled training in farm management programmes and young-farmer courses.
The Athenry college has only 30 students studying conventional farming this year, which reflects a reluctance by young people to go into farming. It has a capacity for 50 residential students.
A Teagasc spokesman said that the demand for conventional agricultural training would be met at the remaining nine teaching colleges in the State, three of which are operated by Teagasc and the remainder privately run but in which teaching is provided by the State agency.
The announcement by Teagasc was welcomed by Ms Noreen Gibney, chief operations officer of the Irish Organic Farmers' and Growers' Association, who said the demand for organic produce here far exceeded supply.