Oliver Moore: Season of promise for organic sector
For many who work in agri-food, once the first of the food awards are announced, you know the seasons are changing.
This year’s Great Taste Awards saw a sprinkling of Irish food producers get the coveted three gold star award. These included the fearless folk at Ballyhoura Mushrooms, Quinlan’s Kerryfish (organic), Cuinneog Country Butter and James Whelan Butchers.
While the Great Taste is perhaps the best known of the food awards, in cheese terms, Nantwich is considered the biggest.
So it’s big news indeed then that Mossfield Organic Farm was awarded the Waitrose Trophy for ‘Best Cheese in the Specialist Cheesemakers Section’ at the recent International Cheese Awards in the Cheshire town.
This highly coveted award was presented to Mossfield Organic Farm for their organic mature gouda.
The Birr on-farm enterprise also took home gold, silver, and bronze medals from Nantwich for their organic farmhouse cheeses.
Ralph Haslam of Mossfield Organic Farm has been a dairy farmer since 1970, converting to organic in 1999. He started making cheese in 2004, and by 2005, had picked up a gold medal at the World Cheese awards in London. And so it rolled on, with Bruce Springsteen’s chef joining in on the action: when the Boss came to town, two full wheels were commandeered for the crew.
There are quite a few factors in making up Mossfield’s success. There’s the incredible dedication of Ralph Haslam to his land. Specifically, he has reseeded fields, with expert advice from consultants like the UK’s Abacus Organics, based on the needs of each field. There is an incredible and very specific array of grasses and herbs for his cows in each field, and each field gets unique treatment.
His 350 acres in the Slieve Blooms has moved from Friesians, to now encompass 100 Rotbunt cows.
Then there’s the 8000 square feet state-of-the-art facility built for making and storing cheese on the farm. That helps.
But success stories like Mossfield can mask the weak state of the organic sector in Ireland.
With the opening of the organic farming scheme for 2015, 504 new entrants applied to join. This means that we may, finally, be able to say that 2% of farmers in Ireland are now organic.
Still this is amongst the lowest in the EU – only Malta and Bulgaria are below us, in percentage terms.
However, not only will those who join the Scheme get higher payments than other years, a new TAMS (Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Schemes) II Scheme has been announced for organic farmers. The Organic Capital Investment Scheme has an indicative allocation of €8m until 2020.
The Scheme is open to all organic farmers who meet the general eligibility criteria, offering a standard rate of aid of 40% on investments up to a ceiling of €80,000. The Scheme is co- funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD).
All applications must be made on-line, either by the farmer or by an advisor authorised to act on his or her behalf. Copies of the Organic Capital Investment Scheme terms and conditions are available on the Department’s website.
Organic producers may also qualify for grant aid under some of the other TAMS II schemes.
For qualifying young farmers, the Young Farmer Capital Investment Scheme (YFCIS) is now open to applications also (the closing date is September 18) with funding of 60% of investments.
Who knows?
With these supports, and the slightly younger age profile of organic farmers, maybe a few more Mossfields may emerge in the years ahead.
