Irish Launched Organic Farming Action Plan for 2013-2015

Last week, Irish agriculture minister Tom Hayes announced the launch of the Irish Organic Farming Action Plan for 2013-2015.

The Action Plan has four main objectives:increase the production base in Ireland, with a view to replacing where possible imports with Irish organic produce;promote awareness of the potential export market;seek to develop sustainable export markets for Irish organic produce as supplies become available andto identify issues which are impeding the growth of the Organic Sector with an emphasis on developing solutions.

“The target of five per cent of land area under organic production set out in the Food Harvest 2020 Report is indeed a challenging target that we must together strive to achieve. The Action Plan I am launching today is a very important element in this process and one that I hope all stakeholders will embrace”,Minister Hayes said.

The minister paid tribute to the work carried out by his predecessor, the late Minister Shane McEntee “who was the driving force behind the establishment of this Action Plan”.

The Minister said: “This Action Plan will be central to assisting our efforts to develop the Organic Sector to its full potential as recognised by the Food Harvest 2020 Report”.