I found a link to the full text of the 60 point Organic Action Plan for Ireland, thanks to Conor Little from Trevor Sargent's office.It's an impressive plan and an easy read. The target however still seems high, it is hoping to achieve an over 500% increase in Utilisable Agricultural Area (UAA) devoted to organic farming in the space of just 4 years. The reason for such a short timeline is due in part to the developing market. The plan outlines the key markets for organic product, which aside from fulfilling our own needs, relies heavily on export markets and particularly the UK. The worry is that if we don't fulfill these markets quickly someone else will.
Because of a current gap in the market, and in part due to the large amount of land that can be converted in a relatively short amount of time, Organic Beef has been singled out as one of the biggest growth markets here. Although this does fill a niche I would agree with Ollie's comment on my previous post that it is disappointing that a larger focus is not being placed on horticulture.
The good news is that even with the slow down in the economy in the UK, the Soil Association still expect a 10% growth in the organic market this year, meaning that there should be no shortage of demand for our product in the overseas market.
If we are to increase our production so dramatically we will also need to make sure we market it properly. The Organic Action Plan allows provision for a new marketing strategy. The current strategy will not suffice as it was only designed for 1% UAA. The marketing both at home and abroad is going to be crucial to attaining our target. The plan acknowledges that 'there still seems to be an image problem with organic farming among the framing sector' and suggests ways in which this can be overcome.
If I haven't bored you to death on this subject yet and you would like to read more keep an eye on The Examiner, Oliver Moore is going to be writing about it over the next few weeks.
