Time right to advance organic sector

THE time is right for an EU initiative on the organic sector, Agriculture and Food Minister Joe Walsh said in Brussels yesterday.

As the Farm Council president, he was formally opening a Commission-organised hearing in advance of preparing an action plan for the development of the sector.

Minister Walsh said the conclusion of the mid-term review of the CAP and the movement to a single payment system establishes a new policy framework in which farmers will have the freedom to farm in response to market demands.