Offaly Minister welcomes funding for organics and forestry

Minister of State in the Department of Agriculture with responsibility for Land Use and Biodiversity, Senator Pippa Hackett, has welcomed strong financial backing for organic farming, forestry and the horticulture sector in Budget 2024.

“This is a budget with a very strong environmental focus, both within my own department and across Government. I am very pleased to have secured funding of €57 million for organic farmers in 2024. This increasing funding is a reflection of the huge interest and resulting scale up of organic farming. We have doubled the number of organic farmers and the land area farmed organically since this Government came to office, and we are on track to hit our target of 10% of all farmland under organic production by 2030. I will be opening the Organic Farming Scheme to new applicants very shortly to continue this forward momentum.”

On forestry, Minister Hackett commented: “The new Forestry Programme is the most ambitious in the history of the State. Next year’s funding of €110 million will provide a strong foundation to the sector so that we can increase annual planting levels from 2024. This package will get farmers planting trees as part of our efforts to reduce emissions and improve biodiversity and water quality, both through the Native Tree Area Scheme and through the wider Forestry Programme. We will also publish a plan to implement the recommendations of the Ash Dieback Independent Review in the coming weeks.”

Minister Hackett also highlighted the support for the horticulture sector in Budget 2024: “The horticulture sector is a key focus of mine, and I am delighted to have secured a total package of €14.35 million for the sector for the year ahead. This will support a continued capital investment programme of €10 million, and €1.35 million to support the delivery of the National Strategy for Horticulture. In addition, I am pleased to confirm that I am allocating €3 million to provide advance payments to Producer Organisations under the EU funded scheme for the fruit and vegetables sector.”

Minister Hackett has responsibility for European Innovation Partnerships within the Department of Agriculture, and welcomed provision of €18 million for EIPs in 2024:

“Locally-led, results-based schemes have proven to be a massive success in recent years, both for farmers and the environment. This is why I advocated so strongly for the locally-led, results-based model to form a key part of our CAP Strategic Plan through the ACRES Cooperation Projects.

"On top of the €200 million ACRES funding from which farmers in Cooperation Projects around the country will benefit next year, we will spend €18 million in 2024 on EIPs. This funding will support farmers to take targeted action at a local level as part of schemes focussed on water quality, breeding waders, farming on peatlands, and new EIPs to be funded under a call for project proposals early next year.”

Minister Hackett welcomed funding for increased soil sampling and multi species swards as important measures for soil health.

Reflecting on the wider context within which her Budget announcements were made, Minister Hackett concluded:

“Budget Day is clearly an important milestone for any sector, but allocating funding is only one piece of the jigsaw. It is vital that we use taxpayers’ money in a strategically focused way, to bring about the long-term outcomes we want to see. The National Strategy for Horticulture provides a road map for the horticulture industry, underpinning Government’s commitment to the horticulture industry and the many citizens who depend on it.

"Similarly, I published Ireland’s Forest Strategy to 2030 earlier this month, and this too ensures that we have a clear, strategic framework guiding our expenditure, so that we can achieve the ambitious targets we have set ourselves. The organic sector is on a strong upward trajectory, and to continue building on this momentum we are currently working on an updated National Organic Strategy to take account of our increased ambitions for the sector, which we will publish next year.”