Organic poultry farmers may suffer if bird flu spreads

Irish farmers could be forced to remove the organic title from poultry stocks if the H5N1 bird flu virus arrives in Britain.

More than 1,000 Irish organic farmers could be forced to house poultry stocks which could result in the organic free range title being rescinded by the Department of Agriculture.

The Irish Organic Farmers Association hopes the Government will make special short-term concessions for farmers.

Kate Carmody is Vice President of the Association, she said:

“I think what we’ll have to do is look for a derogation that if there is a national crisis in terms of bird flu that we’d have to bring the animals in and that they wouldn’t lose their ‘organic’ status as long as they were still being fed organically”.