Oliver Moore: Department replies to OFRB concerns

Following the appearance of members of the Organic Farmers Representative Body at the Oireachtas joint committee on agriculture, this column received replies from the department regarding their concerns.

OFRB chairman, Pádraig Finnegan, questioned the need for the organic certification bodies (OCBs), claiming that Bord Bia should do the task instead of the OCBs — because farmers “must pay outrageous fees to private certification bodies ... the joint committee recommended that the Department should attempt to reduce the duplication of inspections by making Bord Bia the certification body”.

When this column put the above to the department, it replied: “Ireland has opted to delegate authority in this area to a number of organic control bodies, and does so by way of service agreements.