ORGANIC farming in Ireland is to get a £1 million boost this autumn and an organic consultative committee is being set up to advise on its future.
The Minister of State for Agriculture, Mr Jimmy Deenihan, said yesterday a major international conference would be held in Dublin next November to examine the future of organic production.
Mr Deenihan, who has operational responsibility for the organic sector, said there had been an increasing demand for organic produce since the BSE crisis earlier this year.
"We are well placed here in Ireland to take advantage of this demand and with £1 million being available under the Operational Programme for Agriculture, Rural Development and Forestry, we can make a push on that area now," he said.
The Minister said he had a meeting earlier this week with representatives of all involved, Teagasc, Bord Glas, Bord Bia, SWADCO, the organic producing and farm groups, to set up a consultative committee.
"The first meeting of this body will be held in the autumn and we will decide then where we are going," he said.
He said the money from EU funding would be spent mainly on helping organic farmers to market and store their produce, because the largest single complaint against organic food was that it did not look as well as conventional food.
"We want to address this by investing in packaging and refrigeration and transport so that the playing pitch can be made even, he said.
The Minister said the Dublin conference would feature speakers from Denmark and Austria, where massive strides have been made in the organic area.
He said Irish farmers had opportunities under the REPS scheme to get involved in organic farming, as the scheme paid an additional £60 per acre to those who firmed organically.
He said there are opportunities also under LEADER programmes and he hoped to announce shortly such an initiative in south west Kerry.