Commencement of Organic Farming Scheme 2022 balancing payments for Longford farmers

The Minister of State in the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine, Senator Pippa Hackett (pictured), has confirmed the commencement of the 2022 balancing payments for the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS), two months ahead of schedule.

The payment will be for the final 15% of the annual payment to the farmers who farmed organically in 2022 under the scheme. Making the announcement the Minister said the balancing payments will continue to be processed in the coming weeks.

She continued noting: “Over €10m has issued so far to farmers in the OFS for 2022.
“A key priority for my Department is ensuring farmers receive their payments each year on time. As such, I am very pleased these balancing payments, which provide support to farmers in their conversion and maintenance of organic farming, are commencing two months ahead of schedule,” said the Minister of State. “Over the last two years, I am very encouraged by the strong uptake in the Organic Farming Scheme especially in the most recent tranche which saw 3,423 eligible applications received,” noted the Minister of State.

“Of these, over 2000 are new to Organic Farming. This increase in land under organic production brings us closer to our target of 10% of organic land area by 2030 as set out in the Climate Action Plan. “I plan to reopen the scheme later this year for new entrants and would encourage all farmers to seriously consider joining.”